Matt Hardy realizes how big of a star his brother Jeff Hardy is, but the older Hardy brother has always been able to keep it in perspective. Matt is right in the thick of his new podcast, The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, and he joined Rancid’s Lars Fredrickson and Dennis Farrell of The Wrestling Perspective Podcast to discuss what fans can expect from the series. During a near hour-long conversation, Hardy was asked about whether there ever was a concern between the brothers that one of them would be the “Marty Jannetty” to the other’s “Shawn Michaels” when they entered singles competition.
In response, Matt noted that he never worried about this dynamic because he always saw how fans love Jeff, and it wouldn’t be right to compare himself to his brother, or anyone else. Instead, he has focused on being the best he possibly can be as an individual.
“It’s funny how that became like the big analogy for the partner that was like least over or least successful,” Matt said. “I think with me having the realization of understanding like Jeff is one of the most beloved figures of wrestling ever, in history. It’s insane how beloved he is so working on a scale with him you have to realize and be realistic and like, hold up. You can still be magnificent and super popular and people dig you, but you can’t compare yourself to him cause everyone is different.
“Once again, it’s much better off when you feel like you’re racing against somebody. You feel like you’re racing against yourself to do better and to improve upon yourself. So yeah, that wasn’t a stress ever. I just wanted a chance to be able to do my own, I wanted to be able to tell my own stories and put my own recipes together to create this masterpiece that I eventually wanted to do it and I felt good about that.”
Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone
You can listen to the full “WONDERFUL” episode with Hardy below:
