During a recent appearance on the “Insight” podcast, TNA World Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy discussed his return to TNA, the importance of The Hardys’ current title run, the possibility of a WWE return through its partnership with TNA, and other topics.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On what the current TNA Tag Team Title reign means for him: “I think this particular title just shows that people need to get their tenses right. A lot of people say in past tense ‘The Hardys were great.’ But present tense is what they need to speak in that the Hardys are great. We had a couple of years at AEW where people thought oh my God, maybe these guys are done or they’re finished, whatever. We came back to TNA, and kudos to TNA for putting us in a position to succeed. We rocked and rolled as the original OG Hardy Boys, more or less, and then we ended up earning a tag team title shot and we built to that Full Metal Mayhem at Bound for Glory, which was Full Metal Mayhem reimagined with all of Jeff’s art on the tables and ladders and chairs and whatnot. We earned these titles, these mean a lot to us and we’re really happy to be back and be very prevalent again in our position.”
On why TNA was the right fit to go back: “It just worked out right because they offered me something, just a couple days out with the Moose thing, doing a little program with Moose. I went in initially on a handshake deal and we said I’ll work through Against All Odds and we’ll see what I end up doing by then. If that ends up being the last day then we have a match, he retains the title and then I’ll go wherever. It turned out that Jeff’s deal had expired at AEW one day before that. So it was crazy timing. Then he ended up showing up that day. It was a huge reaction and Jeff said, Man, I love what you’ve been doing, and it’s been so cool. I think we should have a run here, it seems like this is a really good spot for us. They would put us in a position to succeed, which they have, and we can help TNA because they’ve been hot this year with Joe Hendry, they’ve had the NXT exchange, which has been great. They’re really having a true resurgence, and we think we’ve helped add to that, which is very cool.”
On a possible WWE return as part of their partnership with TNA: “I feel good about that, that’s one of the great things about working with TNA. They know that we do have a lot of love for WWE. They know that we would like to one day do the Hall of Fame. We filmed some content for WWE that’ll probably be dropping pretty soon. I saw The Dudleys did it the day before us and I know theirs just dropped recently. But we have a good working relationship with them. I think the perfect storm arose. I think you could see us pop up even as TNA champs on some WWE show at some point. Who knows?”
On how The Hardys want to end their careers: “I would imagine it would probably go out that way. We came in that way, we would probably go out that way. Then for Jeff, I could see him, he’ll end up being an artist living in Cameron, North Carolina or whatever he’s doing. I think I’m a lifer in the business. I’ll be working somewhere as a producer or an agent or creative or whatever else, just because I’m so passionate about pro wrestling. I think once I stop being an in-ring performer, I will still contribute.”
During a recent appearance on the “AEW Unrestricted” podcast, Anthony Henry revealed that Eddie Kingston helped him land a job in AEW.
He said, “I got the chance to wrestle Eddie Kingston, who I wrestled in Evolve and we were good friends with. That was another lucky situation where, again, locker room rapport, right? He went out of his way to make sure and try to get me a job. He could have eaten me up because he was a star, but he did not do that, instead he gave me 80% of the match, sold for me, and Tony was very happy with it I think. From there, I’ve been here since. Crazy how things work out but it was literally the day of my non-compete being up.”
Henry made his AEW debut in 2021, just days after his WWE non-compete clause ended.
