On the latest episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, the veteran talked about his status with TNA, keeping his Rebellion surprise return a secret and more. You can check out some highlights below:
On his TNA status after his return: “No, I’m just doing a per-shot, per-appearance deal right now. And we’re just kind of playing it by ear just to see how long this lasts. You know, this is while I’m still speaking to entities at AEW, still speaking to other entities and other places. And I feel like even doing that — and this is one of the reasons I say this. Because towards the end of AEW, myself and Jeff, I felt like we had cooled off so much. I wanted to put in that Matt Fact of like, ‘Matt is in no rush to sign a contract.’ Because I think I can do TNA television for a few weeks back to back. Be in a good angle, be in a good story, and I think it will help heat me back up a little bit. And I think that’s important, especially when you’ve cooled down a lot, I think it’s important to heat yourself back up and get some buzz on you and get some buzz surrounding you as far as the business goes.
“And then once again, I think there’s some other places you know, I could like to pop up and make appearances or whatever. So, as far as the contract thing goes? You know, when you sign a contract, then you are locked in. So you have to be there. And then that takes away a little bit of your freedom of creativity and whatnot, and it kind of it tightens the knot of you being able to just pop up and show up wherever you want to. But TNA, I gotta say that they were great. You know, they were open to everything, they really rolled out the red carpet for me in first class, which was amazing. And it was great to be back there. It was a great locker room, it was great to see the people I hadn’t seen in a while. And I was very happy with the weekend, it was really fun. And I felt like it was a very productive weekend. And it should lead to a couple more very fun weeks of TV coming up.”
On the creative process behind his return: “I mean they just — we talked about a couple different ideas about things we could do. And then we ended up going with the deal that I show up at the end of the night. And ironically, the last time they were in this venue — which was months back — this is where Nick Nemeth actually showed up, and it was a Lights Out thing. And he did it with Moose as well. So we kind of did a parallel to that. It was very interesting that he was actually having the match with Nick Nemeth here, then I show up and do that, you know. And then I let it be known that I want to come after the championship of the world and TNA. So yeah, we just kind of talked about the creative, we’re going to work it out. And we said we had a couple of weeks of TV we’re going to do after that. We said we would look kind of lay that out over the next couple of days, like while I was traveling and flying and whatnot.
“But yeah, we just know I had a 7 am flight leaving Raleigh Durham, direct to Vegas on Saturday, you know. And their show kicked off about — I think five-ish is when the actual show kicks off local time because it started at eight here. So I was able to get into Vegas, around 11 o’clock. This is very funny, so Right? I asked if I could be picked up, because they said, ‘Would you rather just get a ride to the hotel?’ I was staying at a different hotel from everybody else in TNA. ‘Would you rather get a ride to the hotel on your own? Or would you rather have someone come scoop you up?’ I said, ‘I’d rather have someone come scoop me up. So it’s just like, I don’t have to like to sit out there. I don’t have to do things myself and I’m like waiting.’ I just literally wanted to try and move through the airport as fast as I could. Because I didn’t want anybody to like say, ‘Oh my god, Matt Hardy is in the Las Vegas airport,’ right? So, I am sitting here, wearing a hoodie. I knew that I’d need it, I was going to Vegas, and I’d already seen the temperature. It was nice and warm and toasty. So I have a hoodie in there that I’m gonna rock. So I’m getting off the airplane, and I have my shades on. I have my headphones on as I usually do, as I’m walking through an airport. But then I was like, ‘Okay, let me grab my hoodie.’ I said ‘I’ll get off the plane. And then I’ll put on my hoodie, and I’ll have it down, and I’ll stay low. And I’ll try, on the DL, I’ll try very quietly, get my luggage, and then sneak outside to where my rides are going to be that’s ready to pick me up and go.’ As soon as I got there, as soon as I walked off the jetway and out of the gate, and I grabbed my hoodie, there was a group of like, five or six people for guys and women. And they go, ‘Oh my god, Matt Hardy, this is awesome, how’s it going?’”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
