Matt Hardy Frustrated With The Hardys' AEW Booking
Matt thinks The Hardys should be booked differently.
Dec 4, 2023
Matt Hardy doesn't think the AEW booking of him and his brother Jeff has been too great of late.
Asked about where The Hardys stand in Tony Khan's promotion during a recent edition of his The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, the 49-year-old said:
"The first thing I would say is that we're not going to be the Hardys of the 2000s. We're still very solid in-ring performers, there is no doubt about that. Especially me, is going to be a little more basic than [Jeff] is, but we're solid and we have a huge fanbase that supports us wherever we go and we go out there and we know how to do things the right way to help elevate other people. We still have to stay in a position of importance to a degree, and that's what's important. We're looking to get into that groove of maintaining a position of importance so that whenever we do want to elevate someone, it really means something".
Asked if there was any frustration with the creative side of things, Matt added:
"Frustration with the direction I would say more than anything else. There were a couple of times...we just want to have a direction and a story and be able to go down that path. There have been a couple things we've talked about doing the last few months and stuff has changed. That would be a frustration with creative. Obviously, things change, people get hurt, it is what it is, but that would be the main frustration. There is enough equity in us to invest a very solid direction and stick with with. That's what I would like to see happen and that's what we're going to be pushing for and what I would like to see happen".
Hardy did stress his appreciation for Khan and those working in AEW, but noted that he wanted The Hardys to have a story to sink their teeth into.
"I greatly appreciate everyone in AEW because they legitimately bust their ass. It is such a hard working locker room and they have set the standard so high for matches that it gets harder and tougher to top those things. It almost takes me back to the old days where we had the first tag team ladder match, then the tables match, triangle ladder match, and then the TLC matches. It was almost like a burden and it weighed on us to try and top it each and every time. These guys having such great matches week in and week out that it's tough to try and top this stuff over and over.
"I would like to see a little more story and entertainment based stuff, authentic characters and what not in AEW to continue to draw more casual fans in, not just hardcore wrestling fans. I feel like they are there and the wrestling is always going to be there, that's what Tony [Tony Khan] loves. He's a huge fan of great wrestling matches and that's not going to go away. I'm a huge fan of the Christian Cage-Adam Copeland storyline, it has been tremendous. I love what they're doing. I want us to get into that territory where we have an interesting journey of, 'what are these two living legends going through that is making them act this way, why are they being like this? What frustrations drove them to act like this?' I think there is something intriguing we can capitalise on".
Not too long ago, Matt said that he would let his body decide when it was time for him to retire.
H/T Fightful