AEW star Matt Hardy recently spoke on his podcast, “the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including Sting’s final match at AEW Revolution:
“I loved it. I loved every bit of it and more than anything, I’m happy for Sting. I’m happy that Sting got the chance to tell a story in the correct fashion. He was treated with respect, he was treated with honor, and he was able to go out on his own note which was fantastic. I loved everything about it. It’s no secret, it’s funny the internet loves to talk about how I kiss ass with the Young Bucks. The Young Bucks are dear friends of mine, two of my closest friends in the business. I love them to death. They kick ass. Sting is the person who demanded to work with The Young Bucks. That’s who he chose to work with. This wasn’t the Young Bucks doing some sort of flex power. This was Sting demanding to work with the Young Bucks for his closure. That’s who he wanted to work with because he realized how good they are and how much they would bust their ass and how they would tell a good story. That’s what he’s all about, telling the story. The story that was told during this whole run. You have Sting who’s undefeated, you don’t know if he’s going to win and leaves as tag team champion, retires as tag team champion, or is he going to lose and do the thing that kind of they always did in the business when it’s time for you to step away. Do you put somebody else over and do The Young Bucks become the tag champs? That could certainly have been a possibility so it was very unpredictable.”
“I love the fact that it’s a polarizing thing, the thing that Darby did where he jumped out into the sheet of glass and the chairs and whatnot and he was out for the match. I think that spot was appropriate in many ways. I’m not saying that’s something that I would have specifically done, but I understand Darby. I know how he thinks and he is the true definition of what the Hardy Boys were supposed to be. He is a total adrenaline junkie that wants to just keep upping and upping and upping and upping and upping and upping the bar and doing something more crazy. He’s a true daredevil, almost masochistic in some ways, but you know, he did this. He’s out and you have Sting defend off both of the Young Bucks and you put him in a very vulnerable, jeopardized position which I loved. Then you get to see flashes of the old Sting, him no-selling. He goes through the table. He no-sells. He takes the super kicks. He absorbs it and he no sells and comes back and eventually taps out one of the Bucks, taps out Matt Jackson. I loved every single thing about it. It was emotional. They told a good story. Sting looked as great as Sting could possibly look in that match, in those moments, and Darby did a hell of a job carrying his end too. Kudos. A big round of applause to everybody involved. They killed it and once again, I will applaud Tony Khan for getting Sting there and sending him out the right way.”
On the Will Ospreay and Takeshita match at AEW Revolution:
“I thought it was fantastic. That match in particular, because I knew there wasn’t like a heated, hated rivalry between them or like, really these huge stakes in the match or whatever, that makes me not quite as invested in the match. The match is off the chart. It’s phenomenal, right? It’s tremendous. I can’t compliment both of them enough and they’re both sweethearts. Takeshita is amazing. I love shooting the sh*t with Takeshita just for a second. He’s just an absolute sweetheart and then Will Ospreay on the other hand, once again, big fan of his and love his work and love him as a person too, but it’s one of those things where just that match coming into it as it was, there wasn’t this build up to this match. That made me not as invested in the match. I sat back and I watched the match in amazement. I was like, whoa, whoa, but as far as I should have been invested with my heart and soul into the match, I wasn’t as much. That’s what I was saying, like this is kind of a random example. Still, I think at my core I am much more into a match and much more committed to a match and a feeling about something if I know what’s going into it and I have a real definitive love for one person and maybe a definitive wish for one person as well.”
You can check out the podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
