Matt Hardy made his AEW debut on the March 18, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite, re-introducing the mythical and majestic Broken Matt character to the wrestling world.
Hardy kept the Broken Matt gimmick for months as he teamed with The Elite to battle The Inner Circle, but he and Sammy Guevara ran into some bad luck and unfortunate incidents during their feud and the gimmick quickly fizzled.
“Broken Matt Hardy is a very audience-friendly character," Hardy said in an interview with Asbury Park Press. "It needs a crowd, it needs an audience, and it just was not in the cards to be Broken Matt Hardy ... because his debut was in the first-ever empty arena era, pandemic-era show, the first empty arena show that AEW had. Broken Matt Hardy is ... very theatrical, and it doesn’t translate as well to the current AEW audience that sits at home and watches (on television) because I’ve realized that this is a much younger audience. It’s a much more sports-centric-type audience."
Hardy has since pivoted to the return of his heel character Big Money Matt, aligning himself with Private Party.
“I tip my hat to (AEW president and CEO) Tony Khan. He allowed me to try kind of switching characters and see how people reacted to it. I think if we had been in arenas full of people it would have been different, but considering we’re now playing to the television audience, it was better for me to zone in and focus on one thing. And I think being Big Money Matt and being a heel, considering how I’m an older guy here and it’s such a younger demo(graphic), I think that’s the way for me to go. So I’m very happy with the groove that I’m currently in," he said.
Hardy is set to take on Hangman Page in a Big Money Match at AEW Revolution. The winner will receive all first-quarter earnings from the loser.
You can check out the current lineup for AEW Revolution by clicking here.