Matt Hardy explains his change of heart in recent weeks.
Since coming to All Elite Wrestling in March, Matt Hardy has shifted between his personas on a more frequent basis than ever. First, he was ?Broken? Matt Hardy, a babyface character that is very cinematically driven. Shortly after he debuted, he also formed a relationship with Private Party and when he was on-screen with them, he would just be Matt Hardy, the wrestling veteran.
At times, such as in the Stadium Stampede at AEW Double or Nothing 2020, Matt Hardy would shift between his variety of characters in one match. Since defeating Sammy Guevara in the Elite Deletion Match at AEW Full Gear, Matt has seemingly retired the ?Broken? persona in favor of ?Big Money Matt,? a character that is much more in line with the traditional wrestling villain displaying an egotistical demeanor at all times.
On the latest episode of Being The Elite, The Young Bucks as well as Private Party confronted Matt Hardy, wanting answers to his recent change of heart. Matt would give them those answers saying that his new shift in Morality stems from his scary fall at AEW All Out during his Last Man Standing Match with Sammy Guevara.
Matt fell off of an elevated platform and hit his head on concrete, causing the match to legitimately be called off before it was determined that Matt could continue and he quickly ended the match with Sammy. According to Matt, on this day he died on the inside because of the treatment that he received from fans after all that he had given for them and for the wrestling industry.
?I'll tell you why. This is because of September 5, 2020. If you don't know what the date is, it was All Out. All Out is when I got injured,? Began a very emotional Matt Hardy. ?I have given every fiber, every iota of my body to wrestling fans for twenty-eight years, and all they did was shit on me after that. I came to AEW, originally, to bring this broken brilliance and creative genius and entertain the fans and create my masterpiece here. But that's not what I got.
?They're going, 'Oh, he's the old guy. We want him out. We want the young guys highlighted on TV. We want these guys,' and then I had to let people remember who exactly I'm an iconic performer, and that day I was trying to do everything in my ability to give the audience the greatest match I could possibly give them and because I got hurt, they were upset with me and I didn't get hurt. But you know what happened? I died on the inside!?
Matt Hardy would then say that he spent the bulk of his career being selfless, caring more about his brother or even his immediate family when they were all on-screen as part of the ?Broken Universe.? Now, Matt Hardy says he's going to leech off of the wrestling business as payback for the wrestling business leeching off of him for nearly three decades.
?All of my life, all of my career. I've been so selfless. I've always put other people first. My brother, my partners, when I was 'Broken' Matt Hardy, I put my family on the screen, it was always about them. I was always worried about taking care of other people and not just me. What did people do?! They shit on me, they don't respect me. If everything I've done and everything I've given, I'm tired of giving. I've given and given, and now I'm going to take. [The Young Bucks] brought me here, and that was your decision. This business has leeched off me for twenty-eight years and now I'm going to leech off this business like it's leeched off me.?
In the past, Matt Hardy has opened up about All Out 2020 being a scary moment for him and feeling immense gratitude for being allowed to continue on in wrestling. You can read more candid comments at this link.
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