NOTE: A new update on Hardy’s condition can be found at this link.
Original story:
On the post-show virtual scrum with the media following last night’s All Out show, AEW co-owner Tony Khan defended his team’s decision to allow Matt Hardy to continue to wrestle after taking a nasty bump during his match with Sammy Guevara.
During the early stages of the match, Matt Hardy was speared off an elevated platform through a table by Guevara. However, Hardy’s head seemingly bounced off the concrete floor, and it looked like he was knocked out from the spot.
The match was briefly paused while Matt Hardy was checked by the medical team, who then cleared him to return to the match as he and Guevara climbed some scaffolding for a big spot that led to the finish.
Following the match, it was reported that Hardy had been taken to the hospital for checks and a potential MRI following the spot. This seemingly upset a lot of fans, who questioned whether AEW should have let Matt continue with the match.
During the post-show virtual scrum, Tony Khan defended AEW’s decision to allow Matt Hardy to continue with his match. He also noted that Hardy didn’t try to pressure the Doctor into letting him continue, and wouldn’t have been able to even if he tried:
“Yes, there was time. There was actually it was a good amount of time just then. So, yeah, there was, the doctor did clear him. Matt did not pressure him and Dr. Sampson would not be pressured into clearing anybody. He’s pulled people from our shows without hesitation, whether it’s been over something with a blood test or with an injury. He’s really strict about that stuff and that’s why when people have had injuries that he didn’t feel comfortable about, people do in physicality or wrestling with, we never put those people out there. So I never would have gone against the doctor’s decision and most importantly, Matt would not have been able to overrule the doctor’s decision and not with the doctor himself or with me. So that is what happened. The doctor cleared him, which is the first and foremost important thing. Matt also did want to continue, but the doctor cleared him. So at that point when the doctor cleared him to continue, Matt clearly wanted to continue. That’s why we continued.”
Thankfully, at the beginning of the media scrum, Tony Khan noted that Matt will be doing ok, so it seems like this was just an incredibly scary bump as opposed to a career-threatening injury.
Thanks to Fightful for the transcription.
