New All Elite Wrestling star Matt Hardy took time for some Q&A with The Post’s Joseph Staszewski before AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view Saturday (8 p.m. B/R Live) in Jacksonville. He will take part in a 10-man Stadium Stampede match at an empty TIAA Bank Field. It pits him and The Elite – Kenny Omega, “Hangman” Adam Page and The Young Bucks – versus Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle — Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz.
(Edited for clarity and length)
Q: How is Matt Hardy feeling right now about this new opportunity with AEW?
A: It’s been incredible thus far. I can’t say enough good things about AEW and the talent, management, creative process. Creatively I feel reinvigorated. To have the chance to actually have your voice be heard and kind of paint your own masterpiece is so refreshing in so many ways. Having the opportunity to do that … the main person, which is Tony Khan, collaborating with him, giving him ideas and kind of bouncing stuff off one another and him having faith in the performance visions is just such a welcome change.
Q: I’m sure you had heard about Tony coming in, but was there something that stood out from actually getting to work with him?
A: He is an extremely passionate supporter of the wrestling genre. He was a fan back in the day and now him being the boss, giving directions, he has a vision of what he wants to do. But he also includes the performers’ vision in that vision and they almost intersect and they make one vision and move forward. I always feel like more than anybody else in the wrestling business today, he as the head of the organization has his finger on the pulse of the 2020 wrestling fan. He really understands what they want.
I think he also understands something that might not be his favorite, but he understands why they are good for the product. Even something like “Broken” Matt Hardy and some of the over the top and the theatrics, the unpredictability and the craziness is good for the casual fan as well and that is what they are continually trying to rope in.
Q: So what can we expect from a Stadium Stampede match?
A: This 10-man tag is 10 guys that are super hungry and creative and innovative and also there’s a hot issue between myself and The Elite and Chris Jericho and his underlings, The Inner Circle. I predict very confidently this is going to be the most insane, wild, entertaining empty-stadium match there’s ever been because you have 10 guys going all at it, nothing’s off-limits in the venue. I have a feeling this is going to be a match that’s talked about forever.
Q: How high did you guys set the bar with the street fight a few weeks ago?
A: There were a couple things we threw around of doing in the street fight that we decided to kind of pull back a little bit just to save some stuff for the Stadium Stampede and I think it was a very good launching point, the street fight. I loved how we migrated ourselves over towards the football field in the background and the last shot was the dastardly villains and you see their Inner Circle graphic up on the screen behind them. That was beautiful foreshadowing.
Q: What was the idea behind all the street-fight costume changes for you?
A: Right now currently you are speaking to classic Matt Hardy, which is pretty much the standard Matt Hardy people know which has been an entity for, now this is 28 years for me. And then also sometimes, there’s a switch and you interlock with (in the “Broken” Matt Hardy voice) “Broken” Matt Hardy and all of his broken brilliance and that is the way that works. Even sometimes in the course of the match, there can be a change of personalities. Yes! Because sometimes you see “Broken” Matt Hardy and (end of voice) then sometimes you see regular Matt Hardy.
It’s like Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk in a lot of ways. There are two entities within my body and I think as time goes on one of my goals here is to create one of the most layered characters in wrestling history, and I think you are going to see many more entities from Matt Hardy, some from his past, some new. I don’t know, maybe it will end up being that maybe Matt has a lot of different personalities floating around in his head. We don’t know. But it’s going to be an interesting story and I’m very excited to tell it and paint my masterpiece in the next year or so in AEW.
Q: When you hit Sammy Guevara with a golf cart and you see him bounce off, what are you thinking at that moment?
A: The first thing that went through my mind was, “That was awesome.” Probably after I hit him I was like turning around, I told Kenny, “Oh my god there is going to be so many gifs and memes for this.” And lo and behold we were right.
Q: When you were coming into AEW, there was this double-swerve with you and Brodie Lee. As you’re seeing the fans kind of continually debating who the Exalted One is on social media as each hint gets drops, are you thinking “we really got them?”
A: I was never, and you can quote me on this, I was never, ever gonna be the Exalted One. I said, let me tease that. It makes sense and it can fit and I can play stuff off of it with my social media and making people go down a certain road and think a certain way.
We just decided like if Brodie Lee was just quiet and I can kind of do this, everyone is gonna be expecting me. We knew if he came out, anyone who was disappointed it wasn’t me or (that) I didn’t show up, they were still gonna get me 45 minutes later in the show.
It would have been amazing if it had been done before a live crowd. I would have been so, so cool, but it is what it is.
Q: Is that AEW crowd something you feel like you still need to experience when they do come back?
A: That is going to be very beneficial to me. “Broken” Matt Hardy is such a fun character. I get some flack; “Broken” Matt Hardy is a polarizing character, too, because AEW more or less is a serious promotion and they definitely focus more on in-ring and some of the die-hard fans (say) “Well, this “Broken” Matt Hardy this isn’t what we want to see. We don’t want to see the flying drone, the costume change,” whatever.
Also, pro wrestling is entertainment. We don’t call it sports entertainment but there is an entertainment component to it and always will be and that’s also very attractive to the casual fans, and I know that even looking at the numbers and ratings from some of the segments I’ve been in. I’m very happy and very proud of that. I feel like “Broken” Matt Hardy is the kind of character that a casual fan can say, “Oh my God this guy’s pretty funny or entertaining, what is this on? I want to check it out.”
Then I feel like I can still have classic Matt Hardy still always be the serious wrestler and that will be the plan going forward as right now.
Q: What was the promo like with Jericho where it’s kind of like this old school promo battle?
A: That was an interesting moment for me in my career. One, we were just literally told you have 15 minutes to go out here and speak.
It was cool because we had a little bit of an idea about what we were going to say, but so much of it was on the fly. I know Chris almost got tickled inside when I called him a “hole of the ass” because he wasn’t expecting that. That was something that definitely caught him off guard.
Q: Wresting with no fans is something everyone is trying to figure out how to do. Do you have any idea or guidelines for this, how you’d attack this process?
A: My original idea was pretty much the same idea like Tony and the powers that be had, kind of scattering some the roster around ringside. I think it’s been brilliant. I think it’s added so much to the shows and the matches to have that background noise and have some interactions.
Fans and the audience reaction, like the yays and boos and oohs and aahs and the reaction when someone kicks out of a close-fall finish and they think the match is over, that is part of the magic of pro wrestling. Just to have a little bit of that background noise and some of the good guys are on one side and the bad guys on one side helps immensely.
Q: There are some people who think wrestling should not be going on right now. John Oliver was one of the most recent ones. What do you say to those people?
A: Now that things are kind of changing and things are kind of opening up and we’re trying to do stuff, I understand where people are coming from on that from that standpoint. This is a serious situation the world is currently in.
The one thing I take pride in now is I’m still able to do things that make people smile and take their minds off the reality of the world and that is what pro wrestling is. It’s escapism in the biggest way for so many people that sit home and watch it. In this really difficult and trying time here in America, it does make me happy that we are still able to do it.
I like that AEW, they have been absolutely so professional about everything. We go in there, it’s obviously a closed set, but everyone is tested, there is a little blood test. We make sure everyone is healthy and clean when they come in there. They have been so on top of that.
Q: Were you surprised at how your WWE exit played out?
A: I’m pretty sure what happened (laughs) was, to back it up seven, eight, nine months before my contract was up they tried to get me to re-sign. They offered me a great amount of money and then I just said it’s very important. I want to speak to Vince (McMahon). I only have a few years left to do this. I want to be creative. I want to have input. I want to do stuff that I enjoy. I’m not here because I need the money now.
I’m passionate about what I’m doing. I want to be somewhere I enjoy and then I never got a conversation, I never got a conversation and then they offered me more money and then they offered me more money. I just said no, this creative thing is very important to me. I’m not here just to collect a check. I’m here because I’m passionate about this and I want to make these last few years great. I want to enjoy what I’m doing for the remainder of time I can do it.
Q: What’s it been like to have left WWE and see cinematic matches have become a big part of wrestling during the pandemic, especially in WWE?
A: It makes me smile on the inside a little bit. It’s interesting because I definitely felt like I would have been very valuable to them during that time of doing that stuff. It is what it is, Vince saw me in a certain light where he wanted to keep me around but didn’t want to let me be creative. He didn’t really want to cut me loose and that’s fine. It’s his company, it’s his decision. That’s OK with me.
Q: Do you plan on doing cinematic matches in AEW anytime soon?
A: We definitely talked about it. There are a couple of things we worked on. A lot of it is just really timing. I am positive you will see something before it’s all said and done. You’ll probably see a few things.
Q: How has it been seeing your brother Jeff back? It looks like he’s in a good place right now wrestling again on SmackDown.
A: I’m just happy first and foremost that he’s healthy, hopefully he’s happy with what he’s doing. Hopefully he can just stay in a good place in life. That’s the most important thing. He’s had a history, he’s kind of overcame everything he’s dealt with and hopefully he’s in a good place and he’s just gonna keep moving forward like I have for many, many years.
Q: Has it been weird to be separate from Jeff right now?
A: Not really. It’s been comfortable and I’m very confident with everything I’m doing. It would be nice to say, like well we can do this big angle and then Jeff and I team up and we wrestle The Young Bucks. That would be amazing and great and hopefully down the road that happens. He still has a big chunk of time left on his deal, but we’ll see what the future holds.
Q: What do you remember about Shad Gaspard?
A: When I think about Shad, I always think about his smile. He’s always joking, laughing just always an easy-going, friendly guy. Worked with him a little here and there, not a lot. Just always a friendly guy to be around. Just a good dude. Just a terrible situation and someone who finds himself in that situation. I know his son was involved in (it) and he requested his son was saved first, man it’s heartbreaking, terribly sad. My thoughts and prayers do out to their family.