On the latest episode of his “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, Matt Hardy reflected on his match with Adam Cole at ROH Final Battle 2012. Hardy defeated Cole in a singles match at the event.
According to Hardy, Jim Cornette had originally planned to have him win the ROH World Title from Cole at the event.
While Cole was not ROH World Champion at that time, the original plan implied that he would have defeated Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens) before that point for the title.
Hardy said, “Jim’s initial idea was for me to come in and beat [Adam Cole] for the title, as opposed to it being a non-title match, as it was. Which I thought was interesting.”
Hardy further stated that the plan was to give Cole an obstacle to overcome, with the latter then winning the title back from him. However, those plans were eventually nixed.
Delirious was the booker at the time and Hardy said, “I don’t think they were a fan of Cornette’s creative.”
Cole became ROH World Champion at ROH Death Before Dishonor XI in 2013.
