{"id":55107,"date":"2020-08-27T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/matt-hardy-on-his-aew-experience-so-far-helping-the-next-generation\/"},"modified":"2020-08-27T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T17:00:00","slug":"matt-hardy-on-his-aew-experience-so-far-helping-the-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/matt-hardy-on-his-aew-experience-so-far-helping-the-next-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"#Matt Hardy on His AEW Experience So Far & Helping the Next Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Matt Hardy on His AEW Experience So Far & Helping the Next Generation<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Matt Hardy enjoys keeping fans on their toes. <\/span><\/p>\n

The one constant throughout the many different characters he portrays is a love for the world of wrestling. It\u2019s this passion that motivated his decision to leave WWE and sign with the buzzy All Elite Wrestling. Since March, the star has felt a creative resurgence working alongside familiar faces and new talent, like his latest rival Sammy Guevara.\u00a0<\/span>An errant chair shot to a bloody Hardy added another level of aggression to their feud. Now, the master of reinvention and evolution is set to face the Inner Circle member in a tables match on a Thursday edition of <\/span>Dynamite. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

As the road to the <\/span>All Out <\/span><\/i>pay-per-view becomes clearer, TV Insider sat down with the man known for his \u201cBroken Brilliance\u201d to talk about his AEW run thus far.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You debuted in AEW in the middle of the pandemic. What have these first few months working for this new company been like for you?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Matt Hardy: <\/b>We\u2019ve done well. Being in the middle of a pandemic is a territory no wrestling company has ever really stepped into, especially with AEW being so new. At this point, there have probably been just as many empty arena pandemic shows as regular [AEW] shows. In this first year, I think they\u2019ve done well. They\u2019ve had to adjust a lot of things. It\u2019s a totally different environment and setting. [But] it\u2019s hard to tell what acts are working and what isn\u2019t working because you don\u2019t have the immedia<\/a>te feedback you usually have in an arena full of wrestling fans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AEW fans are passionate and vocal, so social media is a good gauge right now. How important it is to you to take the audience into account?<\/b><\/p>\n

I definitely listen to the majority of the audience. It\u2019s weird in that my audience is very split. A lot of them are die-hard \u201cBroken\u201d Matt Hardy fans. Then there is a huge amount of wrestling fans, which AEW has done a great job of getting back. These fans like the serious pro-wrestling content and crave more of the \u201cRegular\u201d Matt Hardy. I try to aim more at being \u201cRegular\u201d Matt Hardy and still incorporate elements of \u201cBroken.\u201d My goal, I said this in a promo, and was honest in saying it, but I hoped I could have brought \u201cBroken\u201d Matt Hardy in front of live crowds. It would have almost been an attraction. Then, I could still also help the next generation backstage. But, I felt I was at a point where I needed to pull more of the weight and be a serious act and contribute as much as I can for our fanbase. That’s what I\u2019m [trying to do] currently.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/img><\/p>\n

AEW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How has it been collaborating with AEW head Tony Khan and being given this creative freedom?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s extremely refreshing. One of the biggest things I can say is in other companies, specifically WWE, it\u2019s easy to get disgruntled creatively. You might have these creative ideas and things you know you can do so well, but you don\u2019t get the opportunity to do them or they get completely altered. In AEW, it\u2019s amazing how you interact with Tony Khan or the Young Bucks or Cody or whoever it may be. You get together, collaborate and set a course of action and really get to do it. That\u2019s nice. It feels very rewarding to get an idea that is yours [in the ring].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you first app<\/a>eared in AEW, it looked like you were moving towards a big showdown between yourself and Chris Jericho. Was a match on the Hardy Compound planned before COVID forced so many changes?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

In all actuality, when we first started doing all that, the original plan, I think, was to have the cinematic match with Sammy. I challenged Jericho, but the idea was for it to get pushed off to Sammy. Things went differently when North Carolina and other states went into lockdown. There was this six-week period where AEW literally survived on a day or two of shooting footage, which was pretty amazing. They did an incredible job. Kudos to the crew. We had to change course in many ways. From the very beginning, I was going to end up having a feud with Sammy, and Jericho was my bridge to get to that. As far as the Hardy Compound fight with Sammy, that may happen one day. We\u2019ll see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s great about AEW is the strong emphasis on tag team wrestling. You\u2019ve been working with Private Party. What kind of progress have you seen from them?<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the things I can tell from watching their match with FTR is more aggression. I stressed to them that you have to believe you can fight and believe you\u2019re an athlete that can kick someone’s ass. That is something they\u2019ve incorporated since we started working together. I\u2019m proud they are doing that because the more they do, the more high-flying moves will stand out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a renewed appreciation for tag team wrestling. When you look at the AEW landscape, is there a want or hope down the line to see you and Jeff reunite?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

With the incredible deep division there is in AEW, I\u2019d love to have my brother there to wrestle against the Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Kenny Omega, Private Party, FTR. There is such a deep roster. I\u2019d love to do that one day if it was a possibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on AEW welcoming\u00a0 fans back for televised events at Daily\u2019s Place at 10-15 percent capacity?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It is going to be done in a super safe way. We\u2019ve sort of tested it out in recent weeks with friends and others from local businesses that help AEW. They are going to be sitting up at the top, top section. That is away from the ring. It\u2019s just great to have that background noise. It\u2019s why we had wrestlers in the crowd, to give that background noise. Part of the magic of pro wrestling matches is the crowd interactions. The drama of the match. The crowd is such an important aspect of a pro wrestling match and has been missing during this pandemic. That little reaction adds so much. A wrestling match is not truly great unless you have this emotional response in the background.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who follow you know how important your family is to you. As your kids get older and understand what you\u2019re doing for a living, how has that changed your perspective?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It was one of the reasons I wanted to go to AEW. I wanted to perform and be a standout where my kids could grow up and see me wrestle. The younger ones are just now beginning to understand it. My oldest Maxel doesn\u2019t understand why other dads don\u2019t have action figures. It\u2019s very funny because this is all he has known for his entire life. They enjoy it. I want them to watch. And if it\u2019s something they want to do down the road, they can pay back some of the money I\u2019ve spent on them over the years to help Dada when he gets old.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/img><\/p>\n

AEW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I like that Sammy was the end game<\/a> for you when working with Chris Jericho. Why did you think working with Sammy would be such a good fit?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I look back to the very first time I was in an AEW ring. The first person to put their hands on me or hit me was Sammy. I did my debut where \u201cBlood and Guts\u201d was shut down due to the pandemic. The next week we had a one-on-one confrontation with Chris. At the end of that, Sammy came from underneath the ring and hit me from behind. That was the start of our storyline. When you look back, we\u2019ve had a long-running story considering we are entering September. I think the thing that is very important, and I think Chris is also an advocate for this, is once you\u2019re established with name value, it\u2019s so important to work with the younger guy. If myself and Chris Jericho were together, we\u2019re not helping anyone. We\u2019re still doing a good story and trying to build one another. Whenever you\u2019re working with a Sammy Guevara, or Chris working with Orange Cassidy, you\u2019re building up stock in wrestling. That\u2019s something done well in AEW. We have to build these new guys for the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n