Matt Hardy has let his feelings be known about his AEW creative.
With Jeff Hardy now back on TV following his time in rehab, The Hardys have been reunited again on AEW TV. However, despite their reputation as one of the top tag teams in wrestling, The Hardys have not been in a prominent feud with another team. AEW has prided itself on tag team wrestling with multiple younger and veteran teams on the roster. Instead of being placed as an experienced team in the division, Matt and Jeff have found themselves in throwaway matches or being afterthoughts in battle royals.
Speaking on the Extreme Life With Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy admitted that there have been some frustrations with himself and his brother regarding how they have been positioned since Jeff’s return, noting how he wanted to channel that frustration into a heel run:
I mean, I’ll say, just creatively the way we’ve been utilised the last four months, it’s been very frustrating. We’ve been very patient but there has been a lot of frustration with things we’ve done and kind of how we’ve been utilised in some ways.
So I feel like the natural thing to play off of is like channel that frustration and kind of put it into what we’re doing. And to those people, if they hate us, we will give them a reason to hate us, you know what I mean? And there’s something we can do there to evolve our characters and once again reinvent into something we’ve never done.
Because there’s never been really an aggressive, take by any means necessary, cheat if you have to, or break the rules if you have to, or be bad Hardy Boys version of The Hardys. We’ve done stuff as broken Broken Matt and Brother Nero there was a time where he was the Antichrist.
And obviously, I’ve been heel because I was like, more of the heel because he was historically the more popular of the two of us. But I think the two of us together in a new role, I think it would be very refreshing. I think it’s something that we could use to kind of get back to where we want to be.
Host Jon Alba asked the former Tag Team Champion where the frustrations have come from. Hardy stated that he feels that his accomplishments in the tag division are being overlooked and even let management know that he wanted things to change:
I mean, I just feel because we are considered one of the most one of the most iconic tag teams, one of the greatest tag teams of all time with all of our achievements and all the ground we’ve broken all the trails we blazed, I felt like we would be in some sort of circulation where we come in, have some wins here and there, we get some momentum going, then we go into a big issue with a younger guy, and then we make this younger guy look good, you know, but we haven’t really got the opportunity to do that. And that’s what I want.
I mean, there was time today after our match was over, went back to the boss said, Hey, we want to talk to you, you know, going forward and we’re going to do that or whatever. But I feel like there’s a way to get to that where you can still keep us in the mix as someone, a team that is a threat and that is relevant and current, but then you can still help build younger teams as well. And I think that’s where we need to be right now.
Matt Hardy would later in the podcast clarify his intentions. Stating that he is not bitter about how he is being positioned, but is optimistic that making his feelings known publicly will put The Hardys in a more prominent position:
Yeah, I mean, there’s no negativity, once again, life is too short to harbour negativity or resentment or anything like that. I mean, once again, I feel like it’s very, very realistic for anyone to say, Hey, this is my opportunity, and I’m very grateful but I would like to get it to this.
And that’s just a goal. I mean, that’s what life is all about setting goals and trying to be better, trying to obtain a better life for yourself, whatever it may be, and whatever the avenue is, and that is what we would like for ourselves here. And that would be our goal.
You know, we hoped that we would come back, especially because Jeff’s in this amazing spot and we would just find a way that our utilisation was a little more pinpoint where we have this direction we’re going in and we can tell the story and do what we do. You know, we can make our own music, you know, or whatever. But that’s where we want to get to, and we’re putting it out there to try and manifest it. I mean, that really is the motif of this episode.
More AEW Stars Join Matt Hardy In Expressing Frustrations
Hardy is the second member of the AEW roster to publicly express that they are not happy with their direction this week. While the November 29th edition of AEW Dynamite was being broadcast, Britt Baker expressed how she is frustrated at her lack of AEW TV time.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.