TNA World Tag Team Champion and pro wrestling legend Matt Hardy spoke with Fightful on a number of topics, including who was behind his feud with NXT star “All Ego” Ethan Page in AEW.
Hardy said, “Look at that. You know what’s so funny about that is whenever Jeff had his issues and when he’d left AEW for a while, and I was just kind of floating around, not doing anything, MJF approached me and said, ‘Hey, do you know Ethan Page?’ I said, ‘I don’t know him well, but I enjoy his work.’ He said, ‘Well, would you be up for working with him?’ That’s kind of how that started. It was an MJF thing. He mentioned it. We got together and then we told Tony, ‘Yeah, let’s do something.’ We had some ideas. We wanted to do a deal. We wanted to do a deal where we ended up kind of like under him, myself and Private Party, and we have to find out a creative way to get out of that. It’s so funny because all of that stuff, we actually did the creative for it. We kind of put it all together and it organically kind of started getting over on the show and I wish it would have had a stronger ending at the end of the day. But I’ve got to tell you just knowing and working with Ethan Page, I’m a huge fan of his. I saw a huge upside and I wish he could have got utilized a little more than he was at AEW. But I’m so happy he landed in NXT and things have been going so well for him. He’s really suited for that because he’s quite the entertainer. He’s great in all areas and all fields of the profession.”
On Private Party winning the AEW World Tag Team Titles:
“Also I got to shout out Private Party. So happy for those guys. So happy they got that moment and they got that title win and they just got the opportunity to shine in that match and be the best they could be. I’m gonna put the Bucks over huge. They made them look like a million bucks. They really knew what they had to do to make those guys and they did a great job in that match, both teams. I’m so proud of all four of those guys and their efforts in that match. Isaiah, I saw so much growth with him when it was myself, Isaiah and Ethan working together like Isaiah gets it and he is ready to be a performer on the highest levels. He gets it through and through. He understands what pro wrestling is all about. Now he understands it’s more about the moments than the moves, and I’m so proud of him for getting that.“
You can check out Hardy’s comments in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)