At the beginning of March, Matt Hardy announced that he let his WWE contract expire, making him a free agent. It didn't take long for Hardy to find a new place to work as he officially joined AEW on Mar. 18, making his debut on Dynamite.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, Hardy discussed his final days and meetings with WWE.
"I pitched idea after idea after idea to WWE and I never got any feedback. I would hear a little chatter here, a little chatter there, but there was never anything that stuck or sparked a creative fire in Vince's mind. It became frustrating. They were trying to re-sign me at this point, just to have me under contract so I was WWE property and I kept turning down money, which was good money. I wanted to be in a prominent role on television and I don't think Vince saw that for me."
He continued, "Even towards the end, when I did that stuff with Randy, the first time we did the deal with Randy, that was supposed to be my write-off. They brought it back the next week. That week, in the production meeting, we were going to have a two-segment match that was going to end Raw. I already made up my mind that I was gone at this point. Even though they actively tried to sign me, I couldn't have any creative assurances, and that's what I wanted. I wanted a dialogue with Vince like, 'I need to know you're going to have my back and will protect my creative interests.' That day in the production meeting Vince is like, 'I don't think we should have this match, I think Matt is leaving. I don't think he's signing.' Paul Heyman asked, 'Are you leaving?' I said, 'I don't know. If there's nothing for me here, I can go elsewhere and be utilized in a better way.' I was very honest and open with everyone. I told everyone from Vince, all the way down, what I wanted and expected if I was going to stay around. Once we weren't on the same page, I said, 'Okay, thank you very much.'"
Hardy was initially taken out by Randy Orton on the Feb. 10 episode of WWE Raw, which seemed to serve as his write-off. He was booked for a match against Orton the following week, but instead was once again assaulted Orton, serving as his official write-off.
It was reported that there was an idea to bring Hardy to NXT, where he would have more creative freedom.
"Even days after my contract was over, I talked to Triple H and he was cool. I feel like if Triple H would have been the guy that was solely in power, I would have probably had a much better opportunity of getting to do what I want creatively," said Hardy.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Hardy revealed that WWE sucks the fun out of things because it has become such a business. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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