Matt takes a look at a portion of his career from the start of the 2010s.
Back in 2010, Jeff Hardy opted to join TNA/IMPACT Wrestling after his then-most recent run with WWE. Jeff would remain with the company until he and Matt went back at WrestleMania 33.
At the time of Jeff’s exit, Matt was still with the company and he dove into that period of his career on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast. Matt admitted that when Jeff went to IMPACT, the possibility of going there with him was in the back of his mind.
Definitely [TNA/IMPACT was on my radar when Jeff Hardy went there as I was still under contract to WWE]. If Jeff’s there, there’s an in and that was definitely in the back of my mind, for sure.
Staying on the same topic, Matt believes that Jeff going there counted as a strike against him. He feels if those in WWE were upset Jeff went to IMPACT, they couldn’t take it out on him but they could take it out on the next best option which was Matt.
Matt went on to guess that they never got behind him as a singles talent during that time because they figured that once his deal was up, he’d be heading to IMPACT.
I feel like, once again, with Jeff [Hardy] showing up in TNA, that was also a strike against me in many ways. They couldn’t punish Jeff. If they were mad that Jeff went to TNA, they couldn’t punish Jeff but they could punish the next best thing which would be me. So I just felt like they were never going to pull the trigger on me fully once Jeff was there because they probably figured once my deal was up, then I’m just gonna end up going to TNA and join Jeff.
Both Jeff and Matt are contracted to All Elite Wrestling. Jeff’s been suspended from AEW without pay since the summer. He can return after completing his treatment and maintaining his sobriety.
Matt is currently involved in a storyline with Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) and The Firm’s Ethan Page and Stokely Hathaway.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
