Matt Hardy comments on the rumors about AEW reportedly adding a third television show.
AEW launched in 2019, and its flagship show, AEW Dynamite, premiered in October. The company added a second television show, AEW Rampage, to its content lineup in 2021, and it also airs both AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation on its YouTube channel. Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast recently reported that AEW is finalizing a deal for a third weekly show. Fightful Select subsequently reported an update regarding the rumors, which suggested that the show could have a 6 p.m. ET time slot on Saturday nights.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star was asked to share his thoughts on the rumors about AEW adding another show. He noted that the company has a big roster, and it's hard to get everyone on Dynamite and Rampage. Hardy also suggested that the show could potentially follow the style of AEW Dark: Elevation by giving young stars some strong wins in order to build them up. He also used Sunday Night Heat and Velocity as another example.
"I’m okay with that. Obviously, AEW has a huge roster. It’s hard to get everyone on a Dynamite and a Rampage. If they do end up doing it, I almost think you take like the Elevation show, and you kind of transform it into a television show that airs here nationally in the US, and I’m sure it would air globally as well. I think it would be okay to have a show where you have some guys that just go out and get wins, and you continue to build them to feature them on Rampages and Dynamites. I would be okay with a show like that, almost similar to a Sunday Night Heat or Velocity, or even more of a throwback than that, a Wrestling Challenge or Wrestling Superstars. I’d be cool with that," Hardy said.
Co-host Jon Alba suggested the idea of having the show use vignettes and interviews to build up two matches so they felt like "prize fights" that had a story every week. Hardy emphasized that he would want the new show to build stars, as he described how AEW has a number of wrestlers who are mostly used to put other people over. He named Skye Blue and Lee Moriarty as two examples of talent that he would want to see a new television show build up.
“Yeah, I get that, and I do like builds for the match. But I feel like if it is an hour, if it’s an hour-long show, I feel like two matches is a little too thin. I feel like you could spend some time, I think do a minute and build up a match before. But I would almost use it more to try to build stars. In AEW, I feel like there’s a big number of talents that they go out and they wrestle in a big match, and you know they’re just putting someone over. If you see Skye Blue going out to wrestle Jade or Britt Baker or Jamie Hayter, you kind of know who’s gonna win, what’s the outcome. I would like to see them build up a Skye Blue. I would like to see them build up some of the younger guys that you have as well, like Lee Moriarty is one. I would like to see him built some. So I would like to see a package, give me thirty seconds, a minute on this person, and then let them have a match. Even if they wrestle someone that is local and they just get a very strong win, I’m good with that. I think there’s a place for those on TV and building people. I think the most important thing is that you need to use that hour of television to build equity in the guys that don’t necessarily get it on a Dynamite or a Rampage. I think that would be the most beneficial to AEW," he said.
Tony Khan recently stated that AEW has the capacity to do more TV if they get the opportunity to do so. Check out his comments here.
A recent report indicated that AEW is considering starting a streaming service. More information is available here.
Check out the card for the March 17 episode of AEW Rampage here.
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