Matt Hardy debuted in AEW at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on, he appeared to be Chris Jericho to a match at his infamous compound but, Matt Hardy is saying that the goal was to always wind up wrestling Sammy Guevara instead.
Speaking with TVInsider ahead of his tables match with Guevara on the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT, Matt Hardy says the plan was for Chris Jericho to always pawn the Matt Hardy feud off on to his young protege leading to the rivalry we are seeing unfold on TV now.
“In all actuality, when we first started doing all that, the original plan, I think, was to have the cinematic match with Sammy. I challenged Jericho, but the idea was for it to get pushed off to Sammy,” said Hardy. “Things went differently when North Carolina and other states went into lockdown. There was this six-week period where AEW literally survived on a day or two of shooting footage, which was pretty amazing. They did an incredible job. Kudos to the crew. We had to change course in many ways. From the very beginning, I was going to end up having a feud with Sammy, and Jericho was my bridge to get to that. As far as the Hardy Compound fight with Sammy, that may happen one day. We’ll see.”
Matt Hardy has also been doubling as a mentor for Private Party, something he says is very important to him given his roots in tag team wrestling alongside his brother, the current WWE Intercontinental Champion, Jeff Hardy.
In this interview, Matt Hardy reveals he is trying to get more aggression out of the young duo.
“One of the things I can tell from watching their match with FTR is more aggression. I stressed to them that you have to believe you can fight and believe you’re an athlete that can kick someone's ass. That is something they’ve incorporated since we started working together. I’m proud they are doing that because the more they do, the more high-flying moves will stand out.”
You can check out the full interview at this link. Also, check out our live coverage of the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT at this link.
