Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy discuss The Firm Deletion.
Over the course of several months, Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy were involved in a lengthy storyline with The Firm (Ethan Page, Lee Moriarty, Big Bill, and Stokely Hathaway). The stable acquired the contracts of Hardy, Kassidy, and Marq Quen, and while Page and Hathaway initially mistreated them, Hardy forged a friendship with "All Ego." But it turned out to be a ruse, as Hardy turned on Page on the April 5 episode of AEW Dynamite. Matt subsequently reunited with eff Hardy and aligned with HOOK, and along with Kassidy, they defeated The Firm in The Firm Deletion, which was taped at The Hardy Compound, on the May 5 episode of AEW Rampage.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy and Isiah Kassidy were asked to share their thoughts on The Firm Deletion and the reception to it. Kassidy noted that he loved it, but there were some things that didn't make the final cut.
"I loved it. There was little parts that I wish they still kept in. There’s one part, after I did the Swanton, and Matt was like, ‘I knew you’d come,’ I was like, ‘I always do.’ Me and Matt, we had the perfect dap-up. It clicked. I wished they had that. It was also more little things that don’t come to mind right now. The reception has been so great. That’s what we talked about with the moan and all the crazy stuff that we did. It’s been great," Kassidy said.
Hardy responded by describing how he had a picture of what the match would be if they got to do everything that they wanted to, but weather and other obstacles got in the way. He also referenced time constraints as a challenge that they had to deal with. Overall, Hardy noted that he believed the match turned out well, and while it could have been better, he was happy with it.
"I think I had this picture of perfection about how the match would be, if we got to do everything that we could. But between weather, which is something you have to deal with, you have to work with it, and then also, there were some people that had to be out of there at a certain time, and we didn’t shoot as late as we typically did. We moved through this a lot faster than we did a lot of TNA matches back in the day. Because of time constraints and weather issues, we had to change a lot of the match, and that just made me second-guess, like, ‘Is this gonna be okay? I think we still did pretty good, but is it gonna be okay?’ It could have been so much better if we would have gotten everything. But at the end of the day, I was really happy with what we came out with. The response has been so good. It had been overwhelmingly positive, and people really seemed to be entertained by it. That’s what we’re here for," Hardy said.
Looking back on the process of filming the match, Kassidy described how he was nervous about how the match would turn out. He noted that they filmed a lot of content, and he wasn't sure what the final product would look like. Kassidy agreed with Hardy by noting that they didn't use everything that had planned, and he thought the cameos and other aspects that didn't make the cut could have elevated the match
"I was so nervous, from when we shot, all the way to the day it aired. Every day, I was just nervous, thinking about, man, how is it gonna come out? We filmed so much stuff. We finished real late, and it was like, ‘How’s it gonna come out? I really hope we did it justice.’ Like Matt said, we didn’t really get to film everything that we wanted to. If we filmed everything that we wanted to, oh man. Like the cameos and stuff that we were going to have. If we filmed everything… it still is chef’s kiss, but it would have been like two chef’s kisses," Kassidy said.
Kassidy continued by noting that he felt like everyone involved wanted to make The Firm Deletion the best cinematic match possible. He recalled how he brought three energy drinks to make sure he stayed awake, and he tried to do his past to ensure that The Firm Deletion was the best cinematic match ever produced.
"I feel like everybody in that match wanted to make this match the best possible cinematic match. That was my mindset going into it. I wanted to make this the best cinematic match. I was really hoping that we was able to film everything that we planned. I sure I brought three energy drinks so I wouldn’t go to sleep so I was up. I wanted to throw all my weight to make sure this was the best cinematic match. I feel like with the story that we had, going all the way back to September, all the way now through May, I feel like it deserved to be the best possible cinematic match produced ever. I wanted it to be the best cinematic-produced match ever. I don’t know if the fans view it that way, but I think we did a pretty, pretty good job," Kassidy said.
Earlier in the podcast, Hardy and Kassidy discussed their win in The Firm Deletion. Check out their comments here.
Kassidy also shared his thoughts on how his character has been getting over in recent months. Click here to see what he had to say.
Check out the card for the May 17 episode of AEW Dynamite here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
