In his latest podcast Matt Hardy gave his thoughts on why AEW has lost its momentum in recent years.
He acknowledged that AEW’s roster has grown far too large.
“The AEW roster is very big and there are people who want to go out there and get their TV time. Obviously, they cannot have everyone on TV with such a huge roster and a limited amount of TV time,” he said.
Hardy also believes AEW grew too fast, too soon. He cited Rampage as once being a flagship show but is now treated like an afterthought.
“Once they started Collision with this new deal they agreed to is where Dark and Elevations sunk…It was a lot. I feel like as time went on Rampage became secondary and became a third thought after Collision started,” he commented.
He also criticized the handling and booking of talent who become hot in AEW. He specifically pointed out Wardlow who he feels has the look, the ability and attitude to become a world champion anywhere.
“If you have someone like that you have to have a gameplan and you have to stick to it…You have follow through with these people and see it to the end. If you don’t, the audience will cool off or if someone goes away they will forget about them and you might lose that opportunity to ‘make’ someone. If you have a talent that gets hot and you can tell that people want them right then and right there sometimes you have to jump on that s—t and capitalize on it,” he said.
Looking back, Hardy thinks Brawl Out and the situation with CM Punk and the Young Bucks damaged the company and appeared to criticized AEW management and Tony Khan for not dealing with the situation head-on.
“I think the company has cool off a little bit. I think there is a lot going on right now. I think you need two or three main things to be the focus of the shows but there is a lot going on. Once the Punk thing happened back at Brawl Out that was very problematic for the company. I wish that could have been nipped in the bud, stopped right there and never gone any further…AEW is not in the honeymoon phase any more. That’s kind of over…AEW earned a lot of goodwill over the first few years especially during the pandemic, it was an alternative. I think through some of the stuff with Punk, the Bucks, the fights, the backstage stuff, Jungle Boy, all this stuff, that hurt some of that goodwill. That probably deterred some people from supporting the company at the end of the day. That is my honest take on it,” he said.
Hardy admitted that AEW’s schedule is what drew him to the company. He was able to spend more time with his family at home. As a free agent, Hardy is still negotiating with WWE and AEW but restated that he is no hurry to make a deal.
“I am enjoying my freedom,” he said.
TOP PHOTO: Matt Hardy enters the Casino Ladder Match at AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, at The Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA. Photo by George Tahinos, Slam Wrestling. https://georgetahinos.smugmug.com
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