Scrapped Idea For Matt Hardy To Lead An NXT Faction

AEW

As Matt Hardy continues to share career stories on his podcast, the most recent episode discusses a plan for him to lead an NXT faction.

Hardy shares copious backstage details on his captivating podcast, the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, and one nugget from the most recent episode is about a scrapped plan for Hardy to lead an NXT faction.

Speaking on his podcast, Hardy said that after he declined Vince McMahon’s offer to transition into a producer role, he felt Vince understood, saying:

“He appreciated my honesty. There’s nothing that I would say on here or say to anyone else that I wouldn’t say to Vince, that’s how much respect I have for him. I said, ‘I know how you see me. You are ready for me to move on to a producer role and I’m not ready to do that quite yet. I’m ready to still finish up in the ring. I know I have a few more years left and I’m going to go until it’s time for me to step out. That’s what I want to do. That’s my passion, that’s what I love, and it’s where I can make the most money. At the end of the day, pro wrestling is a business and it’s all about where you can make the most money.’

“He absolutely respected that. He said, ‘Well, thank you for being honest.’ Because so many people just bullshit him all the time. I’m sure, whenever I left, they knew where I was going to end up. It is what it is.”

Triple H on the other hand still seemed to have hopes that Hardy could remain, as Matt went to describe a pitch that Triple H had made in an attempt to persuade him to say, saying:

“Triple H, he called me afterward. He tried to work out deals with me doing stuff in NXT and it’s so funny, because this shows how much Vince wanted me as a producer. He said, ‘Well, we can pay you X amount of money if you do this NXT thing. But we can like double this almost if you do NXT, and I’ll put you with a group of guys. So you don’t have to do all the work, being an older guy, you’re like the leader of the group, and then you can also still go to TVs, you know, Raw and SmackDown, and then you can still do those and start being a coach because that’s really what Vince wants to see you as, is a producer.’ Someone who helps teach other talents and helps construct matches and whatnot. So Vince really wanted to see me in that when it was all said and done. I have a lot of appreciation, Triple H still tried to do what he could just to keep me in the WWE system.

“He didn’t say any specific names. He said he had three or four guys they had in mind that you know don’t have a great role, ‘But I think if I could put them with like a ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy, if that’s what you’re wanting to do now, I know you can do that because you own all the copyrights and trademarks of the Broken Universe, we could do that.’

“That was obviously very appealing. But it was one of those things where my contract already expired at this point when I was speaking with Hunter. So I’d already talked with the Bucks and Tony Khan and the powers that be at AEW. I’d already made a handshake deal to go there. It was a good deal and I thought that was my best route going forward. So you know, I just once again, just respectfully declined and said, ‘Thank you very much. I want you to know, I appreciate you reaching out to me like this, and I’ll never forget it.’ I really do. I always remember when people are good to me. I always hold that dear in my heart and I always remember that I owe them one.”

Matt Hardy is preparing for a major match at AEW Double or Nothing where he’s scheduled to team alongside brother Jeff Hardy to take on the Young Bucks in the first installment of their storied rivalry to occur in All Elite Wrestling.

Transcription via Fightful 

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• Matt Hardy
• Triple H
• Vince McMahon
• wwe

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