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Matt Hardy On A WWE Return, Jeff Hardy, Being TNA Tag Team Champs, The BROKEN Universe
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Matt Hardy (@MattHardyBrand) is a professional wrestler currently signed to TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Dallas, TX to discuss why he and his brother Jeff Hardy chose to stay with TNA and why it has been a perfect fit, The Hardys becoming Tag Team Champions again and what this reign means to him, the inspiration for Broken Matt Hardy and the Broken Universe, why he never broke character, boxing a kangaroo, how much longer he thinks he can wrestle for, the epic WrestleMania 33 return, if a WWE return could happen as part of the ongoing TNA partnership and more!
Quote I'm thinking of: "A man is great not because he hasn't failed; a man is great because failure hasn't stopped him." - Confucius
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"I'm big on that. I'm big on hanging on to stuff. It means a lot too, memorabilia, it's very important. I love to look back at that stuff and be reminded of a certain time, a certain feeling you had during that era. But you talked about the OG Hardys, that was very important for us to go through and win these titles as the OG Hardys. Now we're at the point, I think, in 2025 one of the important things that the Hardys are going to do is start to evolve again. I think it's time to reinvent a little bit and go in a totally new direction. You're seeing little bits and pieces of that in some of the promos we've been doing recently."
"I think it looks like the Hardy Boys, once again, have found success. The Hardy Boys are feeling good. They're physically feeling good. They're mentally and emotionally feeling pretty good about what they're doing and they're going to understand and be able to comprehend and understand that they are these legends that people speak of, these icons that people speak of after doing this for 33 years and maybe even lean into that a little bit."
"I never really thought about it I guess. My approach in life, I live every day like it's my last but I am also simultaneously living like I'm preparing myself to live to be 100 years old. That's kind of my mindset because life is so short, life is so precious, especially after those incidents with Jay Briscoe and then the thing with Bray Wyatt, Windham, just them passing away like that so quickly and unexpectedly. You never know."
"I mean, my lower back, my hips, that's my biggest issue. I miss not being at home, not doing the cold plunge, because there was no bathtub in the hotel, so it was just like a little bit of a cold shower or whatever. But I mean, I get in that cold plunge every single day and I sit in there for like four to five minutes and it's just crazy the feeling that it gives you after sitting in that once you get out. It's tough to get in. Sometimes you're like, Oh, I really don't want to get in there. It's hard. But then once you come out you feel so good. It's such a high."
"It just worked out right because they offered me something just a couple days out with the Moose thing, doing a little program with Moose. I went in initially on a handshake deal and we said I'll work through Against All Odds and we'll see what I end up doing by then. If that ends up being the last day, then we have a match, he retains the title, and then I'll go wherever. It turned out that Jeff’s deal had expired at AEW one day before that. So it was crazy timing. Then he ended up showing up that day. It was a huge reaction and Jeff said, Man, I love what you've been doing, and it's been so cool, I think we should have a run here, it seems like this is a really good spot for us. They would put us in a position to succeed, which they have, and we can help TNA, because they've been hot this year with Joe Hendry, they've had the NXT exchange, which has been great, and then they're really having a true resurgence, and we think we've helped add to that, which is very cool."
"Once again, I can't compliment AEW enough for putting us in a position to succeed and that's what's real important, especially with a legacy act like myself and Jeff. We are guys who are still very beloved. We're generational talent, because we have different generations that like us and adore us and follow us. We have a very, very strong following, a very, very die Hardy following fan base. And the fact that they have done that, they gave us opportunities. We don't need to go out there. The show doesn't need to be all about us. We don't need to be on every single week, but we can contribute to TNA, and they've done a great job in utilizing us."
"They added a z so it would be theirs. I think that was specifically why they did it. So people ask, Oh yeah, Hardy Boys, you use that. I mean, Hardy Boyz is a WWE property, especially with a Z. I would guess the Dudley Boyz are too. They put their own spin on it so they can own it."
"It was amazing, one of those things we are so grateful to have had that moment, we really kept it to a very small circle of people that knew about it. So there were some people that speculated it may happen, may not happen, but it did, and it's crazy because TNA, after we'd done all the broken Matt Hardy stuff, the broken universe, brother Nero, just the 10s of 1000s of people in there going, delete, delete, delete. How we had gotten that over and established it and it was all over the wrestling industry. It was so, so cool."
"I just think I'm just gonna ride the spiral till it ends. I'm just gonna ride the spiral till it ends. I think in the past I have, I'm just gonna see how I feel and just roll with it. I try not to think too far ahead. I try not to overwhelm myself. I'm more of a day-by-day person. I just try and get through every single day and make it as good as possible."
"I would imagine it would probably go out that way. We came in that way. We would probably go out that way. Then for Jeff, I could see him, he'll end up being an artist, living in Cameron or whatever he's doing. I think I'm a lifer in the business. I'll be working somewhere as a producer or an agent or creative or whatever else, just because I'm so passionate about pro wrestling. I think once I stop being an in-ring performer, I will still contribute."
"Yeah, they totally could have said this isn't worth taking the risk. I mean, once again, it was a risk. They were very nervous. I'll never forget we sent a final copy and we did this intentionally. JB edited The Final Deletion and he sent it to John Gabbert, and we're gonna clear it for TV. And he did it at like last second. So it kind of had to be sent in to go to TV and be on air, whatever. He said well, I watched his back and some people told me only a wild man would let this go on TV so I guess you can call me the wild man from here on out. I'll never forget Dixie texting me that morning or that afternoon before The Final Deletion. She said I'm so nervous about tonight. I hope everything goes good. And it did, like a record high number on the channel it was on, and there were so many people seeking it out, and the DVRs and trying to record it, whatever. And then it was viral online in so many ways. Pro wrestling in many ways, especially if you're talking about creating a new genre or new character, new persona is a risk. But I mean the big scheme of things that’s what life is, it’s a risk."
"The concept from Broken Matt, well there were so many young guys doing these amazing matches, doing all these crazy athletic, acrobatic moves and stuff. That's when really the business, the work rate, was picking up more and more and more. I said everybody's doing this, let me lean into something I feel like I'd be better at, an over-the-top, maybe half-assed, delusional character. This is larger than life, and I could do it and maybe even tap into the old school wrestling when you had Papa Shango, or when you had Undertaker, and he was more magical let me see if I can get into something like that and get it over. I said worst case scenario I'll see him, I come crazy, and then maybe even people will buy that I'm some sort of supernatural character. Something has happened to me after my brain was broken and I became cognizant of where my essence or my soul has been over all these years. I think the reason I really came up with that was because of True Blood. My wife and I were watching it. I was a big TV series person after I took time away from WWE initially, and I'd watched True Detective, which season one was just incredible. Dexter, still a huge Dexter fan, watching the new stuff right now, and True Blood. I thought the vampire stuff was so cool. I was such a big fan of Alexander Skarsgård and how you see him in these different eras, how he has different clothes on, he has different haircuts, different styles, and just how much stuff changes through, that'd be so amazing if you could do an immortal gimmick. I said, obviously, we're all mortal, right? You can't really, truly doing a mortal gimmick when it comes to that. But what if I could be aware of where my soul has been, like the different bodies has been, and once it leaves one body, then it goes to another. I could say I've done all these people and I could say, in theory, I'm 2000 years old, if I'm aware of where my soul has been, and that was pretty much the the building blocks of Broken Matt Hardy."
"I mean, that was something that I was very dead serious about, to keep consistency, because I wanted people to think if I had lost my mind and I was going crazy, that he is going crazy. Because as soon as you step out of that and show people that you're normal and that you're a regular guy who can articulate and speak normal and you're okay, then it's obviously a character that is not really you. I remember I was hot as far as business growing, people were buying merch, and they wanted to see Broken Matt. They wanted to see Brother Nero. They wanted to see the broken universe stuff. They asked me to do media for something, and they were going to have me do the Wrestling Observer with Dave Meltzer. They said yeah, we're gonna do this but we would like you to talk to him a little bit about promote this event. This was with TNA. I said I'll go on but I'm not breaking character. I said, I'm gonna talk about being 2000 years old, don't give a sh*t about work rates or five star match or whatever else. I said, I'm Broken Matt Hardy through and through and that's where they're gonna get, that jargon. I did it and I really stuck to the gimmick. I did a podcast with Chris Jericho and did it for an hour. I was so locked into it, once I would commit to that bit and commit to the role. It was pretty easy. I was pretty good at it."
"That was one of the most terrifying things. People don't realize how scary that was. They would tell us too. They would say look, you guys can play with this kangaroo a little bit, you just can't hit it. It can hit you. But these guys, they're a little older, and they're not as excitable as a young kangaroo would be, but still, be very careful, it was terrifying. The very first time we were doing I said, Okay, I'll get out there and I'll spar with them a little bit, just show you with Jeff. I think it was so intimidating. We were actually shooting and we're now. I said, okay, yes, here we go. I said, Let's go Smoking Joe Frazier, and I go, brother Nero, I would like to allow you to go first. And, yeah, Jeff was like what? That's kind of how that all started."
"That was actually one of his [Jon Alba, Extreme Life of Matt Hardy co-host] bold predictions, The Hardys will wrestle a match in WWE before the year is over. [How do you feel about that?] I feel good about that, that's one of the great things about working with TNA. They know that we do have a lot of love for WWE. They know that we would like to do the Hall of Fame. We filmed some content for WWE that'll probably be dropping pretty soon. I saw the Dudleys did it the day before us, and I know theirs just dropped recently, but we have a good working relationship with them. I think the perfect storm arose. I think you could see us pop up even as TNA champs on some WWE show at some point. Who knows?"
"One of the matches that really stand out, just because it was such a big deal for him at the time when it happened, I know it's one of his favorites as well is when he wrestled The Undertaker in a ladder match. I know Taker was taking a lot of pride. He wanted it to be good, and he wanted to make it into a great match. That moment at the end where Jeff wouldn't stay down and he came back and he endorsed him, that once again, such a big moment. That's probably what pops into most people's minds."
"My family, my health and that I get to do this."
