During a recent interview with the New York Post, Matt Hardy commented on what it’s been like to work with Tony Khan creatively, the Stadium Stampede match, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On what it’s been like working with Tony Khan: “He is an extremely passionate supporter of the wrestling genre. He was a fan back in the day and now him being the boss, giving directions, he has a vision of what he wants to do. But he also includes the performers’ vision in that vision and they almost intersect and they make one vision and move forward. I always feel like more than anybody else in the wrestling business today, he as the head of the organization has his finger on the pulse of the 2020 wrestling fan. He really understands what they want. I think he also understands something that might not be his favorite, but he understands why they are good for the product. Even something like ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy and some of the over the top and the theatrics, the unpredictability and the craziness is good for the casual fan as well and that is what they are continually trying to rope in.”
On saving stuff for the Stadium Stampede match: “There were a couple things we threw around of doing in the street fight that we decided to kind of pull back a little bit just to save some stuff for the Stadium Stampede and I think it was a very good launching point, the street fight. I loved how we migrated ourselves over towards the football field in the background and the last shot was the dastardly villains and you see their Inner Circle graphic up on the screen behind them. That was beautiful foreshadowing.”
On what he thinks about WWE doing cinematic matches: “It makes me smile on the inside a little bit. It’s interesting because I definitely felt like I would have been very valuable to them during that time of doing that stuff. It is what it is, Vince saw me in a certain light where he wanted to keep me around but didn’t want to let me be creative. He didn’t really want to cut me loose and that’s fine. It’s his company, it’s his decision. That’s OK with me.”
On possibly doing cinematic matches in AEW: “We definitely talked about it. There are a couple of things we worked on. A lot of it is just really timing. I am positive you will see something before it’s all said and done. You’ll probably see a few things.”
