Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Matt Hardy On A WWE Return, Jeff Hardy, Being TNA Tag Team Champs, The BROKEN Universe

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets are on sale now for INSIGHT LIVE in Toronto, Las Vegas & Indianapolis with VIP Meet & Greet! Matt Hardy (@MattHardyBrand) is a professional wrestler currently signed to TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Dallas, TX to discuss why he and his brother Jeff Hardy chose to stay with TNA and why it has been a perfect fit, The Hardys becoming Tag Team Champions again and what this reign means to him, the inspiration for Broken Matt Hardy and the Broken Universe, why he never broke character, boxing a kangaroo, how much longer he thinks he can wrestle for, the epic WrestleMania 33 return, if a WWE return could happen as part of the ongoing TNA partnership and more! Quote I'm thinking of: "A man is great not because he hasn't failed; a man is great because failure hasn't stopped him." - Confucius Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight33 to get 33% off your order of Mitopure while supplies last ORGAIN: For 30% off your order, head to https://Orgain.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT SQUARESPACE: Head to https://www.squarespace.com/INSIGHT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code INSIGHT VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Here we go. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for being with us on this one. There's a lot of wrestling podcasts out there. So thank you for choosing to spend the next hour with us hanging out here.

And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a twist of fate on that follow button so you'll know exactly when new episodes come out. Also, it's the easiest and best way to support the show. Just a quick little one second, boop, tap of a button. I'm not asking you to pay for a monthly subscription service on Patreon like some other shows do. And that's okay that they do that. I'm just saying if you're listening right now, could you click a button? Could you just click a button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever it is that you're listening?

If you're feeling extra generous, you can leave a rating or review or you can leave a comment on Spotify to just say that you're listening to this. All of that would be the icing on top, the cherry on top, if you will. So I'll thank you in advance for all of that. Tickets are on sale now for Insight Live in Toronto. I'm coming home, baby. Friday, February 28th, it's the day before elimination chamber. Tickets are on sale for Indy, Toronto, and Las Vegas. So we've got shows that are happening before the Royal Rumble, before elimination chamber, and before WrestleMania. You can grab those tickets at CVVTix.com. That's CVVTX.com.

We've also got some VIP tickets there, which include a special AskCV before the show, and then a meet and greet with me after the show. So CVVTicks.com. I will see you in Indianapolis and Toronto and Las Vegas for those. Matt Hardy is back on the show. Also, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy are back in TNA. There is a lot of history there in TNA. That's where the whole broken Matt Hardy character was created.

He wouldn't be saying delete, delete, if it wasn't for TNA and what he did with the broken universe. And also the cinematic matches might not have looked the way that they looked during the pandemic if it wasn't for the success of what they were doing with the broken universe and the cinematic matches that they had there. The Hardys are currently the TNA World Tag Team Champions. They defend those titles this Sunday, January 19th. at TNA Genesis. It's live on pay-per-view from Dallas, Texas. Tickets are on sale now at TNAW wrestling.com.

Also, when you're done with this episode, check out Matt Hardy's podcast that he co-hosts with John Alba. It's called The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy. Recently on the show, they talked about the possibility of the Hardee's returning to WWE. There's a partnership there, right? TNA and WWE have been working together. So we talk about that a little bit more during this conversation as well. But there's a lot to cover with Matt Hardy. Because you think about this, the Hardy boys together as a tag team, one of the most influential tag teams of all time, one of the most popular tag teams of all time. Then you think about Matt and Jeff individually, a real argument could be made there that they've had Hall of Fame careers on their own. So lots to talk about here.

snap a screenshot and a lot of some that you're listening and tag us. He's at Matt Hardy Brand. I'm at Chris Van Fleet when you tag us. And let's dive into this. Please welcome Matt Hardy. Matt, always good to see you. Yeah, man. It's always good to be here with you, Chris.

And look, you're a champion this time around. Champion again, yeah. This is pretty cool, man. This marks 13 for Jeff. Jeez. What a career. Pretty good. We've had a pretty good career.

Our goal in the beginning was to be the world tag team champions one time. And if we did anything past that, we totally exceeded it. So we exceeded it pretty good. What does this one mean to you? I think this particular title just shows that people need to get their tenses right. You know, a lot of people say in past tense, you know, the hardies were great. But present tense is what they need to speak in, that the hardies are great. You know, we had a couple years at A.A.

where people thought, oh my God, maybe these guys are done or they're finished, whatever. We came back to T&A and kudos of TNA for putting us in a position to succeed. And we rock and rolled as the original OG Hardy Boys, more or less. And then we ended up earning a tag team title shot. And we built to that full metal mayhem at Donald for Glory, which was full middle mayheminged with all of Jeff's art on the tables and ladders and chairs and whatnot. And we earn these titles. And these mean a lot to us.

And we're really happy to be back and be very prevalent again in our position. What we're seeing in TNA right now are the OG hardest, including what you guys are wearing. Are these the actual clothes you guys were wearing in the 90s? Yes, mine are. Jeff, his pants were burnt whenever his house burned down. But mine are original. I still have two or three pairs of the originals left because they sponsored us when we first started doing it. And they would chip us tons of tons of kickwear pants, yeah.

And he found a couple of the shirts at our dad's just recently. And the shirts we wore Final Resolution were some of our OG Hardy shirts, too. Isn't this so funny that the fashion just comes right back around full circle? It's wild, yeah. Like, so, kudos you for hanging on to them, right? Yeah, yeah, I'm big on that. I'm big on hanging on the stuff. It means a lot, too, like, you know, memorabilia.

It's very important. I love to look back at that stuff and be reminded of a certain time, a certain feeling I had during that era. But you talked about the OG Hardies. That was very important for us to go through and win these titles as the G. Hardies. And now we're at the point, I think in 2025, one of the important things that the Hardee's are going to do are start to evolve again. I think it's time to reinvent a little bit and go in a totally new direction. You're seeing little bits and pieces of that and some of the

promos we've been done recently. And what does that look like? I think it looks like the Hardy Boys, once again, I found success. The Hardy Boys are feeling good. They're physically feeling good. They're mentally and emotionally feeling pretty good about what they're doing. And, you know, they're going to understand and be able to comprehend and understand that they are these legends, you know, that people speak of, these icons that people speak of after doing this for 33 years and maybe even lean into that a little bit. Did you get to a point in your career where you didn't think you'd be wrestling at this age? You didn't think you'd be wrestling in your 50s? Yeah, I didn't. I never really thought about it, I guess. My approach in life, I live every day

like it's my last, but I am also living, simultaneously, living like I'm preparing myself to live to be 100 years old. You know, that's kind of my mindset, you know, because just life is so short, life is so precious, you know, especially after those incidents with Jay Briscoe, and then the thing with Bray Wyatt and Wyndham, you know, just them passing away like that so quickly and unexpectedly,

you know, you never know, man. Do you also feel like maybe you wrestle every match like it's your last match? I think so. I think you guys leave it all out there. I think we try to, especially when you realize you're kind of on that back end of your career and you really want to submit your legacy. I think you kick in and you work a little extra hard.

So it was tough whenever we did the whole final resolution thing because we did the fourth rope show where we became the first champions, the first tag team champions of fourth rope, which is a project with West Side Gun. And we did a TLC match that night. So we did that. And then the next night it was a tables match where we went through tables and we went nuts, when it's crazy, and then we actually had a match to the third night as well. So those

are a little trickier to bounce back from when you're a little older. Like Jeff and I, we're a big cold plunge guys. I know you're an advocate of the cold plunge. Every day. I think, yeah, that has added so much longevity to both of us, I think, physically in our careers. As you sit here right now, what hurts?

I mean, my lower back, my hips, that's my biggest issue. And that's, I miss not being at home, not doing the cold plunge. because there was no bathtub in the hotel, so it was just like a little bit of a cold shower or whatever. But I mean, I get in that cold plunge every single day,

and I sit in there like 45 minutes. And it just, it's crazy the feeling that it gives you after sitting in that once you get out. It's tough to get in. Sometimes you're like, I really don't want to get in there. Or it's, you know. Isn't that funny?

It's hard, but then once you come out, it's just so you feel so good. It's such high. There's not a day where, like, my mind's not playing tricks on me. Right. Like,

oh, you can answer this email first, or you could eat first or what. And standing out there with no shirt on, it's freezing outside. I'm like, I could probably, I can go in later on. Yeah. It's amazing that, like, mental games, your own brain is playing with you. Of course, yeah. It's really a great, it's a great way to find self-control too.

You get in there, and, like, you freak out, and you kind of meditate, and you get control of your body. You get control of your temperature. You get control of your mind. Yeah. And then, like, once you kind of focus and you find your chi in there, then you kind of get through. And then once you get out, you have that amazing dopamine. Yeah, and also, if you can do something hard at the start of your day, then other things that day might not seem as difficult. Yeah, I mean, it's a great way to mentally and emotionally start the day.

How has your, so that's your recovery, but how have your workouts changed over the last decade or so? My workouts have changed more where I'm doing a lot more cardio. I try to do hard cardio. I just make sure that's important. And I just try and I start with my cold plunge in the day and then I'm cold and then I warm up doing cardio, burn those calories. and I think that's like a, so your body burns calories, so your metabolism feeds up as much as possible can when you're a little bit older

or at an advanced stage like I am. And I do that, and then I usually do one body part, and then I implement some stretching in yoga in every day. You could have gone anywhere after AEW. What made TNA the right fit? It just worked out right because they offered me something, just a couple days out with the Moose thing, doing a little program with Moose,

and I went in initially. on a handshake deal. And we said, I'll work through against all odds. And we'll see what I end up doing by the end. And, you know, if that ends up being the last day, then we have a match. He retains the title. And, you know, then I'll go wherever. And it turned out that Jeff's deal had expired to AW one day before that.

So it was crazy timing. And then he ended up showing up that day. It was a huge reaction. And Jeff said, man, I love what you've been doing. And it's been so cool. And, like, I think we should have a run here. You know, it seems like this is a really good spot. for us, they would put us in a position to succeed, which they have, and we can help TNA because

they've been hot this year. You know, with Joe Henry, they've had the NXT exchange, which has been great. And then they're really having a true resurgence. And we think we've helped add to that, which is very cool. The original idea was, it was just going to be you, it's just going to be Matt Hardy in TNA. Yeah. And then we got this beautiful thing of the Hardee's reuniting. Right. And look what it's turned into now. Yeah. So you were in a position in AEW where you were making a lot of other talent look good. Now you're in a position where you guys are the champion and you're also able to make other talent look good. Yeah, I mean, once again, I can't compliment AW enough for putting us in a position to succeed. And that's what's real important, especially with a legacy

act like myself and Jeff. You know what I mean? We, we are guys who are still very beloved. We're like generational talent because we have different generations that like us and adore us and follow us. We have a very, very strong following, a very, very diehardy following in fan base. And the fact that they have done that and they gave us opportunities. I mean, we don't need to go out there. The show doesn't need to be all about us. We don't need to be on every single week, but we can contribute to T&A. And they've done a great job in utilizing us. What do you think it's been about the Hardy Boys that have allowed the audience to, you've endeared yourself to them. They love you guys. No matter where you are, whether you're wrestling independently, whether you're wrestling as a tag team,

they love you. What is it? I mean, I think there's a real authenticity to myself and Jeff. I mean, so many people said when we first burst on the scene back in WDB in 1999, and we got over, you know, we were wearing the kickwear pants and the tight shirts. People said, like, these guys seem like regular guys. You know, they seem like guys, if they weren't wrestlers, I'd be friends with them because they're just like cool guys. They've got this cool way they dress.

They do crazy things. They're like, you know, they're just fun. I would be friends with them. And I think people look at us and go like if these smaller guys can achieve superstardom and make their dreams come true, then hey, maybe I can too. Because I think it's inspirational because we seem like something that is very attainable. And I still think people look at us and they see everything we have overcome and they've seen us do all these things, especially Jeff.

Jeff is an anomaly that he has destroyed his body for 33 years doing all these crazy stunts and maneuvers and table breaks and ladderfalls and everything else. if these guys can still keep, if they can take a lick and keep kicking like they're doing right now, then maybe I can't too. You know, I think it's motivational. I think it's a perusal.

I mean, you talk about Jeff having all those great spots. You've had a ton of them yourself. Yeah, I mean, we have. And I have too. I look in the mirror every morning

and I'm still like very grateful that I'm able to walk, you know, and move like a normal man. You know, I'm beat up a little bit. But once again, I will. We swear by those ice bass,

those cold plunges. They're super beneficial. official and I felt great since I've been doing them. I've been doing them for over a year now. Like if Jeff wasn't your brother raising the bar of these crazy antics, these crazy stunts, everything you've done in your own would be just absolutely wild. Yeah, no, it would be. It's crazy because I can do that stuff good, but Jeff is the epitome of what the Hardy Boys represented. That's why I was so happy whenever I got the chance to kind of break away from him and do Matt Hardy version of one, the sense of magnitude.

Because whenever I'm playing an over-the-top, almost delusional character, you know, larger than life, that's where I really shone. Prize Picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active users. It's the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Because unlike other apps, on prize picks,

it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. You can also now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. Download the prize picks app today and use the code Insight and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code Insight of prize picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive that $50 bonus.

It's guaranteed. Prize Picks, run your game. How many different versions of you have? have their bit. Can we go through all the gimmicks start to right now? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you initially had me doing independent stuff as high voltage. This, right? Yeah. Yeah. Every time of the clock goes near your shot. That came from that commercial. It was like a snare commercial. Yes. Yes. And that's where I got that from. And this was like the Ferris Bueller song. Yes. And this was like lightning. You know, that was kind of like my thing. It was like a lightning bowl.

And then eventually high voltage, we sent in demo tapes to WCW. And then they took the name. I know I have actual knowledge that they utilized my name and then took it and gave it to the tag team of high voltage. And then I changed my name to surge just to kind of get a new name. Sounds like an energy drink. Yeah, you're right. And then once we came to WV, obviously, we were Man Jeff Hardy. Also in an era when people weren't using their real names.

Yes. Well, we got lucky because we were enhancement talent. you know, starting in 1994, and they, you know, we went by our real names, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy. And they said, oh, if we teamed them up, let's call them the Hardy Boys. It's catchy because it sounds like the old detective books, right? And just lo and behold, because we kind of made our name there and people got used to calling us that, you know, by our real names. We were able to keep our real names whenever we started with WWE, which was truly a blessing. The WWE have to add a Z to the end for, like, is that a copyright thing?

They added a Z so it would be theirs, I think. That was specifically why they did. So they do, you know, people ask like, oh, yeah, Hardy Boys, you use that. I mean, Hardy Boys is a W. property, especially with the Z. And I would guess the Dudley Boys are too. Sure. You know, they put their own spin on it so they can own it.

But now it's the Hardee's when you're in TNA. Yeah, yeah, the Hardee's is what we go by. And it's still, it's still a while that we still call herself Hardy Boys, you know, but it does have a better ring to it than Hardy Men. The Hardy Men. So after we started doing that, there was a point where we were with Michael Hayes, obviously. We got a little more serious, a little more brooding. And then we actually did join a brood with gangrel that we did. As we went forward, we were still doing Hardy Boy stuff.

How badass was that entrance? It was the best. That entrance was the coolest, especially every time you would ride up. Sometimes if they didn't have, if they didn't have the space to do it, they didn't have the stage or do it. They would just light a fire and we would like run and stand in it and then walk out or whatever. But whenever you would come up and go through the stage with that music, It is one of the most exhilarating entrances ever. It was so great. That theme song was so cool. Yeah, such a banger, as the kids say.

Such a banger. Where does it go from there? And then you eventually split up the Hardys, and then you have Matt Hardy become version one, the true version one of himself, where he's not this Hardy. Oh, yeah. The Sensei of Matitude.

We start doing that. I come back in 2005 after my knee surgery is Matt Hardy, and it's kind of like the Will Not Die version. more or less. Once I get into the version where I turn on Jeff at Royal Rumble, and we end up going to WrestleMania 25 and having that extreme rules match, I'm cold blood, Matt Hardy. I come to T&A.

Oh, I'm sorry, I was the Black Cloud. It's kind of what I was going by. That never got over huge, though, because then, like, Jeff was leaving, and they wouldn't turn me back babyface. I come to TNA, 2011. I was cold blood, cold blood, Matt Hardy. Can we talk about the hair you had when you did? debuted in TNA?

Yeah. What was the idea behind that? I just want to do something different. And if I'd been in a better place mentally, I think I could have made that into something special too. I was burnout on our levels, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I just, I needed to take some time off and go away for a little bit and get my shit together. That idea with the hair is obviously reinventing, trying to do something different,

trying to be, you know, seem like a new version of Matt Hardy, whatever it may be. I end up going to Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor, I'm doing Big Money Matt Hardy now. We're kind of leaning into my history and how big of a star I am and how much TV exposure I've had and how much money I've made from it and whatnot. Then you have me come back in our rejoin Jeff and T&A is the original Hardee's. And we do that up to an extent where Jeff has gone away. I end up winning the title is Big Money Matt, do a double turn with EC3.

And then once that ends, we segue into Broken Matt Hardy. And Jeff becomes Brother Nero, which is really interesting. funnest year of my career by far we come back to wb russomania 33 i'm doing like this uh kind of like a morphed character i feel like i'm still trying to retain the broken matt hardy identity but we were playing regular hardy boys and you talk about it like it's not the greatest return of all time oh russomani 33 yeah yeah i mean it was it was it was amazing one of those things we are so grateful to have had that moment you know like we it it we it we it We really kept it to a very small circle of people that knew about it.

So there were some people that speculated. It may happen. You know, it may not happen. But it did. And it's crazy because the TNA, after we'd done all the broken Matt Hardy staff, the broken universe, brother Nero, just the tens of thousands of people in there going, delete, delete, delete, delete how we had gotten that over and established it. And it was, you know, all over the wrestling industry.

It was so, so cool. Did you feel that wave from the audience? Like, did you feel that rush of energy from them? Yeah. I mean, it was a very surreal moment. Looking back, it's still, whenever I picture it, a lot of times I have vivid memories in my head of something that, you know, has an event linked to it,

that you really have a vivid memory, and it's very crisp. This one is weird. It's almost like there's static around the outside of it because it's like surreal. It almost felt like a dream because it was just so chaotic. and we walked out like we hadn't been in that venue.

And that was a long round. Long round. I mean, we literally had got there and we ran up right before we were going out. You know, they were doing all they could to keep it quiet all the way up to the moment we walked through the curtain. And then once we stepped out, we saw that massive crowd and just the sea of humanity, you know, delete,

delete and all the excitement, people going nuts. And I see it's kind of in slow motion, this blurry around the edges because it was so surreal. It was very like dreamlike in the other ways. But what an amazing moment. we're both so grateful that we had. Then you get that. I leave.

I leave W.2. I end up doing a little broken Matt Hardy and then big money Matt again. And then back to the Hardy Boys. And then we came to T&A and we won the titles kind of as the OG throwback to the original Hardy Boys. Do you think about how much longer you can do this? I just, I think I'm just going to ride the spiral till it ends. You know what I mean? I'm just going to, I'm just going to ride the spiral till it ends.

I think in the past I have, I'm just going to see how I feel and just roll with it. I try not to think too far ahead. I try not to overwhelm myself. I'm more of a day-by-day person. I just try and get through every single day, make it as good as possible. Is there also the idea that you could continue on without Jeff or vice versa, Jeff continues on without you? Or do you think that when you guys are done, you're going out together, the Hardy Boys are done

together? Probably. I would imagine it would probably go out that way. We came in that way. We would probably go out that way. And then, you know, for Jeff, I can see him. He'll end up being an artist living in Cameron with Killan or whatever he's doing. You know, I think I'm a lifer in the business.

I'll be working somewhere in as a producer or an agent or creative or whatever else. Just because I'm so passionate about pro wrestling, I think once I stop being an in-ring performer, I will still contribute. The magic you made as broken mat was just, it was so special. Thank you. Did you realize that, like from the very beginning that you had lightning in a bottle? whenever the contract signing aired, and it was a very polarizing segment because we wanted to shoot things a different way,

we wanted to look very different, we wanted to be weird and strange, because this character was supposed to be weird and strange. And I knew when we got such a polarizing reaction to that segment, some people thought, like, it's the most amazing thing. This is a throwback to old-school 80s wrestling and the larger in life characters,

and other people said like this is the worst shit I've ever seen you know but I knew the the polarizing reaction meant we were on to something because we we struck a nerve right and then once we did the final deletion there was a little mixed feedback in the beginning and then people said oh okay I get what they're doing now like they're kind of you know they're they're doing something and they're kind of letting you in on the act to a degree because there's times where we would break you know the fourth wall and there's there's times where we do things unique that were only for inside fans you know and whatnot. We would try and produce stuff. J.B. Jeremy Borash was so good at this. They would totally be memeable as broken mat or would be a gift, whatever. And like people were sending like,

you know, delete memes and gifts back and forth to one another. And it was, it was pretty amazing. I knew after the final deletion happened and we got some momentum rolling following that, that we had really tapped into something special. Big credit to TNA for allowing you to run with that too. Yeah. Because like you said, it was polarizing at first. Like, and, and, and, and, you know, And they could have said, I don't know, we're going to lean in. This doesn't seem like it's going to work. Yeah, yeah. They totally could have said like, this isn't worth taking the risk.

Yeah. And they let you go with it. Yeah. I mean, once again, it was a risk. They were very nervous. I would never forget. We sent a final copy, and we did this intentionally. J.B.

edited the final deletion, and he sent it to John Gabbard. And we were going to clear for TV. And he did it like last second. So, like, he kind of had to be sent in to go to TV and be on air, whatever. And he said, well, I watch this back. And some people told me, said, you know, only a wild man would let this school on TV. He said, I guess you can call me the Wildman from here on out. Wow.

And I'll never forget, Dixie texted me that morning or that afternoon before final delish show. She said, I'm so nervous about tonight. I hope everything goes good. And it did like a record high number on the channel it was on. And there were so many people seeking it out and the DVRs and trying to record, whatever else. And then it was like viral online, right? Yeah.

So many ways. So it was, man. I mean, pro wrestling in many ways, especially if you're talking about, creating a new genre or new character, new persona is a risk. But I mean, in the big scheme of things, isn't it what life is? It's a risk, right?

Well, that's certainly what your life in your career has been about. A lot of risks. You know, I mean, it's just like, you know, you take a risk when you want to start getting into the podcasting business. We're just talking about that. You had a very successful one for a long time.

You know, mine just turned three years old and going... Congrats on that. Thank you. You and John are crushing it. You know, so it's a, it's... You have to take risk, you know. And I think, I think we tried to take a calculated risk and they bet on us and it paid off. I think that you guys created a

whole new genre there. If it wasn't for the success of the final deletion, they'd be scrambling during the pandemic era to figure out what to do. Yeah, and that is cool because, you know, they've had some versions of the cinematic matches before in the past, but nothing had ever been done quite like, quite like ours was. And it kind of was the blueprint for what people would do when they were in a pinch during the pandemic, which was cool. And it's only because it worked so well in TNA. Right. Like final deletion worked so well that they went, oh, that's a card we can play.

Yeah. Because we know it's going to work. Right. If it wasn't for you guys taking that chance, taking that risk, a real argument can be made that pandemic wrestling might have looked a little different. Yeah. I mean, that is true. And, you know, I take a lot of pride in that, too.

Is there something from that era that you're most proud of? One of the things I am most proud of is that a lot of times, if, we were shooting as opposed to going to work in Orlando, I just did all my work at home. That was great to be working at home, right? Right out the back door and, you know, start shooting fireworks at people. How were you kind of testing the waters and figuring out what would work as broken mat and TNA? It was really trial and error. You know, the final deletion taught us a lot. After we did that, it was a really unique experience. And we did that with only four people on the production side. You know, it was me, Jeff. You know, my wife was in it. My oldest kid,

Maxwell was in it, senior Benjamin, my father-in-law, he was in it. But we were running and gunning, and we shot it over the course of the night, but we learned so much from doing that. I feel like it got even stronger and better when we were doing delete her, deleter decay. You know, we told a great story in there about Jeff, you know, sacrificing himself for me to save me. And that's kind of what ended up bonding us because it was one of the things I'd, you know, part of the reason I became broken mad in the beginning was I said he was being selfish. We'd won the tag team titles and he's out riding a motorcycle and breaks his leg. You know, and finally he did something that I viewed us selfless.

And then like we bonded back together, you know, and I took him into the lake and healed him and whatnot. And he kind of became a half-ass magical character too, which is cool. But it's one of those things where you would see like, these are the things that people like. Like, for instance, I knew people loved it. When I first spoke like this, I didn't tell anyone I was going to start speaking in like this weird combination of British, with a British tone and Jamaican tone, whatever, you know, just a whole combination. It was just something I was kind of figuring out as I went. But something we learned is like people love when I say words crazy. And then when I say them over and over again because they almost want to sing along with me.

they want to say it with me. You know, so whenever I'd say like, primonition, you know what I mean? We know that that was something people love with Broken Matt. And I would try and look up archaic words that I could use for like something very normal. Just I tried to make that character so super different and stand out in that way. And that's something, a character who is cognizant of a soul that is 2,000 years old.

I think he would probably use some archaic words. What are the words that fans say to you guys at signings? I mean, every day. I hear this. it was yes it will be wonderful you know wonderful is definitely the most popular broken mat word no doubt uh and people delete delete delete delete delete delete is always there and i mean that that will be a staple of my career now regardless of what persona i'm portraying because it's just so associated with me right i've always loved yes yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean yes it's it's so funny

because like i don't normally throw yes in there like sometimes i do my podcast and i get real frustrated because i'm bad at throwing in like i'll use that word like over like stop using that you know and it's a work in progress as you do it more you kind of get more cognizant of it right and uh i would never throw yes in total conversations but if i start if i revert to broken mat that that yes pops up so naturally and it just comes in there and it's just like the it's the the filler whenever you have you're getting to your next thing if you need a moment of think or whatever i yeah it fits so perfectly how did you come up with that laugh just once again, trying to be different, trying to be something that was like over the top,

you know, we, we, a lot of, test other laughs. We did. We tried some stuff. And I think part of the charm of the whole broken universe was that it was campy. And we kind of wanted to be campy. And we wanted to, like, kind of let people in on the joke in some ways. And that's what it, that's what it's at once people started figuring that out, that it's okay. Like, we're, you can laugh with this because, like, this isn't meant to be super serious.

We had a couple serious moments here and there, like whenever Jeff sacrificed himself for me and deleted her decay. But I think the whole point of that was to have fun. It was like a fun character. It was a fun guy who says crazy things. And I was thinking about that. One of the reason I ended up offering to do this deal, like Jeff's got a very funny story. He says, he says, yeah, Matt came up to me. He said, I want you to do like a real big swan ton on me, like hurt me real bad and just I'm going to go crazy.

And I'm going to go crazy for him. I put a blonde streak in my hair. Just I've got some ideas. And he said, yeah, he just told me, I said, I had no idea, kind of the big picture of what he ultimately wanted to end up doing. What was the genesis of that? Where did you even get the concept for that? The concept from broken mat.

Well, there were so many young guys doing these amazing matches, doing all these crazy, athletic, acrobatic moves and stuff. That's when really the business, the work rate was picking up more and more and more. I said, you know, everybody's doing this. I said, let me lean into something I feel like I'd be better at. you know, an over the top, maybe half-ass delusional character, you know, this is larger than life and I could do it and maybe even tap into like the old school wrestling when you had like Pappashango or when you had Undertaker and he was more magical.

A corollingly character-based. Let me see if I can get into something like that and get it over. I said, you know, worst-case scenario, you know, I'll seem like I'm crazy and then maybe even people will buy that I'm like some sort of some sort of supernatural characters. Something has happened to me after my brain was broken and I became cognizant of where my essence or my soul has been over all these years. And I think the reason I really came up with that was because of True Blood. My wife and I, we'd been watching it. I was a big TV series person after I took time away from W.B. initially. And I'd watch True Detective, which season one was just incredible.

Dexter, still a huge Dexter fan watching the new stuff right now in True Blood. And I thought the vampire stuff was so cool. I was such a big fan of Alexander Scarsgoard, how you see him in these different errors, how he has different clothes on, he has different haircuts, different styles, and just how much stuff changes through time. I said, that'd be so amazing if you could do an immortal gimmick. I said, obviously, we're all mortal, right?

You can't really truly do an immortal gimmick when it comes to that. I said, but what if I could be aware of where my soul has been, like the different bodies has been? And like, once it leaves one body, then it goes to another. And I could say, I've been all these people,

and I can say, in theory, I'm 2,000 years old, you know, if I'm aware of where my soul has been. And that was pretty much the building blocks. broken man hardy and you never broke character yeah i mean that was something that i was very dead serious about to keep consistency because i wanted people to think if i had lost my mind and i was going crazy that he is going crazy because like as soon as you step out of that and and show people that you're normal and that you're a regular guy who can you know articulate and speak normal and you're

okay then it's obviously a character that is you know not not really you i remember i was hot they were trying to give me. I was high as far as like business going. People were buying merch and they wanted to see Broken Mad. They wanted to see Brother Neer. We want to see the broken universe stuff. And they asked me to do media for something. And they were going to have me do the wrestling observer with Dave Meltzer. And they said, yeah, you know, we're going to do this, but we would like you to, you know, you go on, talk to him a little bit about promote this event. This was with TNA. I said, well, I'll go on, but I'm not breaking character. I said, I'm going to talk about me in 2000 years old. I don't give a shit about work rates or five-star match or whatever else. I said,

I'm broken at hearty through and through, and that's where they're going to get, that jargon. And I did, you know, I really stuck to the gimmick. I did a podcast with Chris Jericho and did it for an hour. Was that hard? No, I mean, I was so locked into it. Like, once I would commit to that bet and commit to the role, it was pretty easy. I was pretty good at it. I did an interview with you and Jeff in 2016.

It was actually the day before you guys returned to WrestleMania 33. Oh, yeah. And Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor. And you were in full character. You were telling me how many, how. old my soul was. Yeah. How many vessels that I had, it had been in. Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Yeah. And I, Jeff's next to you, like just kind of like playing along. Like, yeah, man,

this is what he does. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it, it was, man. That was the, the year of doing broken mad and TNA from when I started when Jeff jumped off the top of the impact zone and put me through that table. And then we started the whole deal all the way through WrestleMania. That, that, that, year, that was the funnest year of my career. By far, nothing even compares to it. If broken mat was so much fun, is that something you want to revisit now in TNA? Well, as I said before, I think Jeff and I think we want to reinvent and we want to do something new and fresh. And, you know, there's going to be hints of broken mat. You know, broken mat is now, you know, it is part of me, you know, and it always will be part of me, you know, so there will be, there will be some broken

Matt and whatever identity I use going forward, but I think we can do something very special going forward that maybe we have transcended. You know, we have transcended pro wrestling superstars. We're something bigger, you know, and we're these angelic figures who want to put TNA on its back and bring it back to prevalence. And I think we could be filling ourselves a little bit, you know, filling ourselves a little too much after having this long legendary title ring. Hardy Boyth Hill turn, okay. Maybe. Maybe. so we could see and i i could see it being a big baby face thing too all that yeah it's hard to boo you guys yeah it's very hard to boo you guys after all this time how do you know when it's time to

move on from a gimmick i mean i you can fill it in the audience just when things are are getting stale just i like i i knew whenever whenever i was back in tna and i was doing the things jeff and i reunited it was real hot for the first little thing we're doing kind of like oh gee hardy boys i was doing a lot Matt already won it, I died stuff. But then once Jeff got hurt, and I started doing some stuff with EC3, and I volunteer said, hey, this guy's going to be kind of the face of the company. We're trying to build him, and he just won the title from Kurt Angelo. I said, let me work against him.

I said we can have a couple of matches, and maybe we can build to a ladder match, and I can put them over, and we can try and put them on the map and make them into a bigger deal for TNA. And as we were doing that, that's where it ended up that I was going to win the title. They kind of changed out last second. We happened to be in North Carolina for this amount of glory we were having. And that was an amazing moment. In Bound for a little 2015, where I was myself, EC3, and Drew McIntyre. My brother was the referee.

He was coming back from a broken leg. And at the end of the night, I'd won the title. My wife, my newborn son, Maxwell, and our dad all came in the ring. We celebrated in North Carolina. That was a really, really special moment that I dug so much. But I also knew at that time that people were like, okay, well, it's the Hardy Boys. We've kind of seen it before. I knew I had to do something different.

And that's right where I had decided to continue working with EC3 and do that double. turn and go back to being Big Money Matt and really hit it hard. Initially, I was going to do the iconic Matt Hardy and do a new version of Big Money Map, but Big Money Matt ended up still kind of coming into play as well. It's just so interesting that they've all had success because you look at a lot of people in this business and they will stick to one character. There's a lot of legends. Have one character of their entire career. Rock and Roll Express. Yeah, sure. You look at those guys. Yeah. And they play the greatest hits and it works. And I guess you guys could do that. But it's interesting that in reinventing yourselves,

you've been able to have even more success. Yeah, and I think that's what's important. I mean, once again, I was talking about, you know, series television and whatnot. You know, if you have Breaking Bad was five seasons. In theory, the fifth season was very long, almost six seasons, right? But like, you can only write for these characters

without being repetitive for so long, right? And that's why they wrap up these shows and it becomes really good, especially if the character doesn't like become repetitive. or do stuff. Yeah, before they jumped the shark. Yeah, before they jump the shark. But in pro wrestling, we've been doing this for 33 years.

And once you've been doing it for, you know, three decades. And a year is longer than a season, obviously. I mean, you have to change things up and freshen things up. So that people have something new so you don't become repetitive. So you don't become boring over and over. And that's what I think the whole art of reinvention is all about. I think you had some of the greatest spots of your career as Broken Matt in TNA. Yeah.

Like, you wrestled, you boxed a kangaroo. Oh, yeah. I mean, Jeff and I didn't, that was one of the most terrifying things. Like, people don't realize how scary that was. Like, they would tell us, too, they would say, like, look, you guys can play with this kangaroo a little bit, like, you know, you just can't hit it. It can hit you. But these guys, they're a little older and they're not as excitable as a young

kangaroo would be, but still, be very careful. That kangaroo was jacked. Oh, yeah. No, it was terrifying. the very first time we were doing it. I said, okay, I'll get out there and I'll spar with them a little bit and just show you with Jeff. And I think it was so intimidated. We were actually shooting.

And we're now and said, okay, yes, here we go. I said, let's go smoking Joe Frazier. And I go, brother Nero, I would like to allow you to go first. And Jeff was almost like, what? And again, that's kind of how that all started. Like, there's a possibility getting really hurt there. Oh, there is. And also, too, they had very sharp fingernails, too.

You know, like if they would scratch you a little bit, there was a couple times they got on my arm. cut up a little bit. It was all, you never knew what you were going to get whenever you were battling those kangaroos. It was fun. It made for great content, right? Made for great TV, but you never knew what you were going to get. There's a look on the kangaroo's face where he's like, what am I getting?

What's happening? Yeah. What are you guys doing? For sure. I guess I'll not kill you, but I gave you a lot of credit for doing that. Yeah, that was, those were wild times for sure. There's another big moment as broken Matt where it's the side effect off the apron through that like kitchen table looking thing on the outside.

Yeah. That looked so painful. That was in that contract signing. And we dug this table up. We found this table because it was like the complete opposite of a table you would see broken in pro wrestling. And we specifically wanted that table. So everything looked so different. I remember there's also a thing when J.B. was doing it where Jeff, I'm in the ring.

I want to sign the contract. He storms into the ring and I roll out. We did a couple takes on that. And I rolled out smoothly. And we did one where I got, you know, kind of caught in the ropes a little bit. And then I told J.B. He's like, oh, hey, well, we use one of these first two. He said, no, no, use the one where I get caught in the ropes.

I think that even adds more intrigue to it. They're like, you know, this is, you know, we don't want to take ourselves too serious here, you know. And then we ended up doing that thing going through that table. And it was crazy. Jeff took an amazing bump with that. Ended up being okay. That table just, it just thuds when you hit it. Yeah.

Like there was no give. Yeah. It was brutal. Is that one of the scary? your spots you've done? It was definitely creepy. We took an axe and chopped the top of that table, so the top would break off. We want to make sure. I don't think it would have if we hadn't have done that because it was one of those old school, like, they don't make them like they used to tables. What's your relationship like with fear? I don't know. Life's too short to be afraid in many

ways. I guess I know I'm a father. I have people that depend on me. I have a family that depends on me to take care of them. So like I'm very, I try and calculate my risk, I guess as far as it goes. Like, when people talk about like going through a table or whatever, I don't think Jeff and I even think twice about it, you know, like it's... Even still? Even still. I don't think so. It's something we feel confident about. If there's something that I feel like there's too big of a risk, you know, once again, calculated risk is what's all about. Then I don't want to do it. You know, I'll do something else. I'll do something that I feel comfortable with or feel safe about. But as far as like being afraid, like there's, there's not a ton of fear. I mean, if there's something I end up

not doing, it's probably because I just don't want to take the calculated risk of possibly getting hurt because there's people that depend on me in my real life. Have you been more afraid to give a move or to take a move? I would say it would be take a move. I mean, if I'm giving something, I feel pretty confident about it. I feel pretty confident with what I do. Yeah, I'm kind of in control. You know, sometimes if someone has you and they're doing something that you really have no power over that, that's a little more intimidating. Are you, like, is it, is it often a move where you're up on someone's shoulders or is it when you're laying there and Jeff is climbing something tall to jump on to you? Right, right, right. Yeah, I mean, both of those, I would say. I mean,

it's probably the scariest thing is if someone is picking you up and you can be dropped on your neck or head. Those, that's, that's probably the thing I would be most concerned about more than anything else. Congrats on three years on the podcast. Thank you. The extreme life of Matt Hardy. You and John Albor are not getting out of the park with this. Thank you.

Yeah, it's been great. It's slowly been growing each and every week, and it's cool because we've built a pretty loyal fan base. The thing about podcasting, as you know, is you just got to keep showing up. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you just got to keep showing up, got to keep putting it out there. And then the fans will also keep showing up.

Right. John kind of set you up for a possible WWE return this year, it feels like. there is uh that was actually one of his bold predictions the hardies will wrestle a match in wdb before the years over how do you feel about that i feel good about that i mean we that's one of the great things about working with t and a now you know they know that we do have a lot of love for wdb they know that we would like to want to do the hall of fame we filmed some content from wb that will probably drop him pretty soon i saw the duddlies did the day before us and i know there's just dropped recently

uh but we we have a good working relationship with them And I think, you know, the perfect storm arose. I think you could see it pop up even as T&A champs on some WB show at some point. You know, who knows? Royal Rumbles right around the corner. There's an opportunity there for a version of you to show up. Sure. Maybe at another point in the match.

Jeff to show up as well wearing these championship titles. Yeah. I mean, it's their relationship is very good. It's very good for business. the very positive WWE slash NXT TNA relationship is very good for business. And it goes both ways as well.

It does. You know, that's been really fun to see. I mean, if a TNA star goes and shows about an NXT, they seem like a bigger star. You know, it's a great star building moment for them. And with that same thing being said,

TNA is a company that has been around it for over two decades. And if you send an NXT talent in TNA, they seem like a bigger star for being there too. In 2016 and TNA, you teamed up with a young Will Osprey. Do you remember this?

Tag team matches, Matt Hardy, Will Osprey versus James Storm, and at the time, Eli Drake. Yeah. What were your impressions of Will Osprey at that time? I had seen him, some of his stuff from England earlier, just super impressive. He's just an incredible athlete.

You know, it's just, it's amazing. His athleticism and his ability to do things and do things. So with such explosion and so crisp, it's just is incredible. What did winning the TNA championship the first time mean, and then what did it mean when you won the second time? The first time was real meaningful because it was in North Carolina because my family was there, because my dad got to come in there and celebrate that moment. That was very cool. You know, obviously, Jeff had been the TNA champion before, so it was cool to also be doing that so that we had both won it.

And the second time was something that proved like that that double turn I did with EC3. It was so successful. And I think that is the most underrated match in my career in many ways. That match where we do a double turn in a Falls County Anywhere match. That just showed that I was on the right pulse as far as where I was going. Like it's time to like freshen up, do something different. Maybe it would be a hill. And obviously if that doesn't happen, that doesn't lead to, you know, broken Matt Hardy doesn't happen too.

So that kind of became the whole story of me turning heel, winning the title, my brother confronting me and asking me like, what am I doing? and that leads to us feuding once again. That is what opened up the door to do Broken Mat Hardy. And, you know, I can't imagine my career now without that period of the broken universe because it was just so instrumental in so many things. Do you think at some point you'd want to have another singles run? Maybe be a three-time TNA champion?

Maybe. I mean, never say never. You know, I think it's very important to Jeff and not to really cement our legacy is one of the best teams to ever do this. That legacy was cemented a long time. Yeah, yeah, but we want to keep adding to it. How many more of these do you want to win? I don't know.

I'd like to have more than the Dudleys. Just so they can't say they're the most decorated tag team of all time. How many do they have? I don't know the exact number, but they racked them up whenever they were doing ECW, right? Sure. So it's someone that just said earlier today when we were doing promotion or yesterday, I said that, you know, I want to introduce you to the most influential tag team of all time. And that's a pretty, pretty correct term.

I get that. And they were even saying, like, you know, not even just for pro wrestling, but like for different cultures and whatnot, which is so cool. And then we've also been introduced as the most popular tag team, you know,

so we're in there. Those are hard to argue against. You know, and that's cool. We're very grateful for that. But it's so funny because that's always what Bubba and Devon threw out of the most decorated tag team, and they still got us there.

They've got like 20 titles or something along the suns. But when you talk about most influential, think of all of the people over the last, 20 years that wrestle the style that they wrestle because they saw the Hardy Boys do it in the 90s. Yeah, no, I mean, the influential is something I really like because that that does ring true. Was there ever a point early on when someone in WWE said, you guys shouldn't wrestle that way? That's a little too unsafe. No, we never really got that. It was, you know, we did that first ever tag team ladder match and they really gave us permission to kind of go out there and

her own picture. That was no mercy, right? Yeah, there was no mercy 99. And following that, it kind of became like this snowball that started rolling down the mountain and got bigger and bigger and stronger and faster. You know, then that went to the first ever tag team tables match at Royal Rumble 2000 versus the Dudleys. And then that leads to the triple threat triangle ladder match, which in essence was the first

TLC at WrestleMania 2000. But when that snowball is rolling down the hill like you're talking about, and you're gaining more momentum and you're trying to always outdo that. last match. Right. You get to a point now 30 years in where you go, well, how can I outdo all this other stuff? Yeah. I mean, well, that's also one of the things that I am critical about.

I remember hearing this from Stone Cold Steve off. So we were on a flight. We were coming back from Europe. And he said, I think the album was the reeducation of Lauren Hill. Do you do that, right? And he said, he said, ah, you know that album, the reeducation of Lauren Hill? He said, we need to do that with wrestling fans, too. he said like they've raised the bar so high that you can't go any further like it's the characters

are paramount the stories you know the angle i mean that's what it's all about at the end of the day there's the match is just a match and i and i do believe that i'm a huge advocate for that now i mean if you like great wrestling awesome but like the most important thing in the entertainment business of pro wrestling is the story and the character and that those are things you can always change you can do things new like you're not going to be able to top yourself over and over and like human beings, how much can the human body absorb, you know, and still end up being healthy when it's all said, done. I mean, you are the living, breathing answer of that.

Yeah, I guess we are. And it's one of those things. I wish I would have had this mindset back when I was doing house shows in the early 1999, you know, in 1999, 2009, 2000, 2001, whenever nothing hurt, you know, and we'd go out there and kill ourselves every night, beat ourselves up every night, and then bounce right back. Just that character work is so instrumental. It is so important, so paramount. And I'll never forget that.

And I still think in a lot of, in a lot of different areas in pro wrestling, you know, there are people that get, I don't know if it's the sickos or whatever Tony calls them, but you get so into the wrestling, right? And they want to see these five-star matches and the work rate, and these guys go nuts and, you know, beat each other up and take all these crazy bumps, whatever. And I'm all for that. I do. I love a great wrestling match.

You know, when you can do all that stuff, that's amazing. You go out and do it. but like at the end of the day, the most important thing is like your character work in the story that's going on. That's where people become invested. And that's when your product grows. And that's when, you know, you have people that might not be diehard wrestling pants, but something catches them like a broken mat hard.

You're like a stone coat Steve Austin or like a rock or, you know, whoever it may be. And they're like, wow, this guy's, you know, it's really special. I dig what this guy's doing. I want to tune in next week to see what he's doing. How did you know when it was time to step away for a little bit, from wrestling and kind of re-center yourself. I just knew when my body was so beat up and I had worked so hard through 2010,

you know, and at one point, you know, they just said, oh, well, I said, I heard, can I have some time off? I said, oh, well, you're one of the guys we depend on. We'll leave you on the road. And we'll just go, you know, to the doctor, see what they can do. And all doctors do is like write your prescription for pills,

you know, and that's kind of where that happened. But once I started going down that very slippery slope, That's where I said, okay, I've got to take some time away. I've got to get myself together and make things work the right way. And then you came back really better than ever from there. I feel like, yeah, whenever I came back, I was a lot smarter. Sure. You know, and wrestling is kind of a cruel business.

Like when you're young and you're athletic and you can do everything under the sun, you'll go out there and do it. And you don't think about the character work. You don't think about, you know, really building a strong persona and telling strong stories necessarily with your character. and like whatever the arc is and the story that you're working against your rival, until you get hurt and beat up real bad.

And you're like, God, this, I've got to tell more of a story. I've got to be more of a character. And then that's when you start doing it, but then you can't physically do everything that you could when you were younger. So it's a real twisted business in that way, kind of cursed. I don't feel like there's not a lot you can't do anymore, though.

I mean, the only thing you told me you don't do is the leg drop. Yeah, I don't do that. I mean, I used to do 450s back in the day. I mean, I could even still do those actively when we're in WWE like 99, 2000, whatever, and I didn't really do them a lot because, you know, it was so hard on my knees. And now just I have so much scar tissue in my body and just, you know, I do some yoga. I do stretching, try and stay as limber as possible. I can still do a lot of the basic stuff that I do, obviously, that I have done.

It's just I have to be real careful whenever if something is going to land on my lower back or spine, because my hips and lower back in this stuff is so tight, you know, and I just have to protect that stuff when I'm working, work very smart. People talk a lot about how moments are so massive in wrestling, right? People remember moments. And sure, that can be jumping off of a cage or jumping off of a ladder, but it can also be a great return.

And you were returning to TNA, that was a moment. Yeah, it was. We had a lot of great moments. Jeff returning to TNA was a great moment, you know, us winning, you know, the full mental mayhem match, you know, the TLC match at Bound for Glory, which is the match we help create and usher in to become a staple of pro wrestling. That was a big moment, you know. So moments are everything. And that's what that's what I really try to focus on now more than anything else, more than moves or moments.

Do you have like a list in your head of like, all right, this would be good. You know, we've got TNA Genesis coming up. Man, this would be a really cool moment if we can figure out a way to make this work. Yeah, I think this, once again, this reinvention that Jeff and I are, are wanting to get into. I think this can be real good. And I think it's something different. I think we can be extremely entertaining doing it. I think people will understand it.

And it's something that could be heavily entertaining so that casual fans may like it as well. It's important. It was very important, I feel like, because people want to see us succeed as the Hardy Boys, that we were the OG Hardy Boys throughbound for Glory. And now we started tweaking things a little bit, you know, even like calling ourselves the goats,

which that's typically the Hardys wouldn't do that, you know, because they're humble guys, you know. Yeah. But it's, we're, we're filling what we're doing a little bit here. Maybe, maybe we transcend wrestling superstars. What's your favorite Jeff Hardy match? One of my matches that really stand out, just because it was such a big deal for him at the time when it happened,

I know it's one of his favorites as well, is when he wrestled the Undertaker in a ladder match. And I know Taker was taking a lot of, pride he wanted it to be good and he wanted to make it into a great match and that moment at the end where Jeff wouldn't stay down and he came back and he adorsed him that once again such a big moment that's probably what pops in to most people's minds that and jr's call yes yes and also julys make yourself famous yeah yeah jr was great um whenever jeff won the world title that was that was an amazing moment too when he first did that in in the match the triple threat against edge and

Triple Age. And at that time, in 2008, you guys were White Hot, both had a championship at the same time. Yeah, it was very cool. It was very cool that we, you know, that show went off the air. I came out at the end of it, but, you know, I was out there as the ECW champ and Jeff was the WB World champ. It was very cool. And that's amazing considering the career you guys had together and then the career you guys have had on your own, too. Yeah, yeah. And we both take a lot of pride in that. It's just, it's amazing, man. Like, Jeff is, Jeff is such a special guy. And I feel like the headspace he's in now,

like the way his personal life is, is the best has ever been. You know, he's just really, he's just an amazing human being who has everything in Chuck, you know. So he, I feel like he looks back and goes, God, I wonder what I would have done if I would have been like this the whole while, you know? Wow.

So it's always, it's always intriguing. There's no question the Hardy Boys or future Hall of Famers. do you think that Matt and Jeff will also get inducted one day? I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. I definitely... Like I'll say it. Obviously, you guys have had Hall of Fame careers on your own. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, we want to go in to a Hall of Fame wherever it is. I think you'll be in many Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah. You know, we'll do that. But yeah, I think there is an argument to have us in a singles as well. I think in the TNA Hall of Fame, it's just Team 3D is the only tag. team in there right now.

I think, yeah. You guys will be, yeah, whenever you decide to hang him up, whenever that happens to be, you know, like there's definitely going to happen. Yeah, it will at some point, no doubt. Did you ever think, though, at some point when you guys were just a tag team, that you'd be able to have the successful single career that you had? You know, our goal right from the jump was to be the world tag team champions in one place. We want to either be the WWF World Tag Team Champions or the WCWF.

be tag team champions, just do it one time. And if we didn't anything past that, then it was all like extra credit, right? So we obviously exceeded our initial goal and aspiration many times over. I don't know if we really thought we'd be singles guys. I think there was a point where as the Hardy Boys grew 2002-ish, I think we did realize that, yeah, there's a capacity for us to both have pretty successful singles careers as well. And look at the career you guys have had. Yeah. It's been, it's been blessed, man. We've been very blessed. Always so good to be able to sit with you, Matt. And I'll ask you the question, man, you're on the show about a year ago. Maybe your answers will be the same. Maybe they'll be different. Right. But you know, gratitude is so important

to me in my life. What are three things, Matt, that you're grateful for right now? First and foremost, I am grateful for my children, my wife, my family. I'm grateful for my health. And I'm also very grateful that I am still able to live out my dream weekend and week out as a pro wrestler. That was my passion. It's one of those things where, you know, they say if you love a job so much is not really a job because you're going to work to do something you love and that really rings true. Yeah, you're doing it. Always good to see you, Matt.

You too, man. Thanks again. Thanks for having me. Always great chatting with you. Chopping it up. Chopin it up. Yeah. Okay, there we go.

I always love Matt's openness and honestness. I just appreciate how we talked about so many different things there. Same thing with the Jeff Hardy episode that aired a few days ago. If you haven't listened to that yet, go back and listen to it now that this episode's almost done. And while you're looking at other podcasts, go check out the extreme life of Matt Hardy wherever you're listening to this as well. Sure sounds like in 2025 we may see the Hardys in WWE. I mean, the Royal Rumble's coming up. We only know a handful of names that have been officially.

announced for the Rumble, and it's the big names, right? Like CM Punk or John Sina, leaves a lot of other possibilities there for some fun returns. So, I mean, that place would erupt if the Hardy Boys music hit. Snap a screenshot, let us know you're listening. Tag us.

He's at Matt Hardy Brand. I'm at Chris Vanfleet. Again, tickets are on sale right now for Insight Live in Indianapolis, Toronto, and Las Vegas. CVVTix.com. CVVTX.com. I will wrap this up with a quote from Confucius. A man is great not because he hasn't failed. A man is great because failure hasn't stopped him. Be great and be grateful, my friends.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We'll see you tomorrow for Ask CVV number 66. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job. to do with rapid fire takes so I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today no idea what you're talking about you're complaining more than you like to breathe air it's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand he's the spitfire of sports smack take advantage of but get up in here the Jim Rome show podcast what should be follow and listen on your favorite platform you've been warned