Former WWE/AEW star Matt Hardy discussed the violence at the AEW All Out PPV show on the latest “Extreme Life…” podcast. Some critics have claimed that AEW sometimes goes too far, and that some of the actions taken during the Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Adam Page match were excessive.
Hardy stated, “The thing that I feel stood out to me the most, and maybe bothering the most is the syringe into Swerve’s mouth. I just don’t really know where it fell into the story context-wise. It just felt like they were just pulling out a syringe and using a syringe because it was a bit they could do that would be violent and look graphic and gruesome, or whatever.”
“For instance, Randy Orton and my brother did a thing where Jeff has these big hoop earrings. They did a deal when they were in Hell in a Cell. Randy went and got the toolbox out from underneath the ring, which makes sense. There’s a toolbox there. Then he comes out with a screwdriver and sticks it in his ear and then wraps it around, turns it and sells it and it looks crazy and gruesome and graphic or whatever, but like, I totally get why he could get that screwdriver and why that would come to be.”
“Does there just happen to be syringes underneath the AEW ring or does Hangman keep them in this pocket? A syringe felt very out of context for their match. I mean, they haven’t done anything in their past stories where they’ve used syringes and it hasn’t been part of the story. I feel like having a syringe and a needle in a pro wrestling match is like, I don’t know. It’s just probably not the best thing to connect pro wrestling with, just because of, you know, you think about the steroid stuff that Vince McMahon went through. There was a time where people were taking Ketamine like crazy in the late 90s. Syringes have really bad connotations. I don’t know if that’s the greatest connotation you want to put into a wrestling environment. That’s probably what I had the most pushback on. If you were going to do that and stick the syringe through his cheek or lip or whatever his intention was, then why didn’t he just reach in and try and get a knife underneath the ring or something that would have been there? The syringe was a little much for me.”
“The chair shot, once again, how he sat on his knees and he absorbed it all, I get why people do that for the shock effect or whatever. I’m not a big advocate of it nowadays. I wouldn’t encourage it nowadays. I wouldn’t do it nowadays. I get whether there’s outrage because we obviously know about the issues of CTE and head trauma. I mean, I can tell, like, I’m at least aware that I can tell that my mind doesn’t work like it used to 30 years ago just because of the head trauma I’ve taken in the past and stuff. So, yeah, I think the more we can avoid that, the better, but I do get why we went for the shock there. If it was the finish and the kill shot, then that’s one thing.”
“The bag over Bryan’s head. I remember that very vividly when Terry Funk did that with Ric Flair, so that was kind of nostalgic in some ways. I get that it was supposed to show that Moxley has turned over this new leaf, and he’s cutting out the weak and he has to be this guy that slaughters the weak. The one thing I do think that might be a drawback about that spot, if you have a family and kids and they’re watching that, I don’t think you would want your kids to watch that. So I think if they’re promoting the show strictly for the sickos, then have at it. You know, go nuts, but I think it’s going to be hard to have families that are worried about what their kids are going to be watching, to be watching some of those more violent things, much like they wouldn’t allow their younger kids to watch a very violent movie.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
