Matt Hardy believes the current behind-the-scenes chaos at WWE presents an opportunity for All Elite Wrestling to benefit from it.
On the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Vince McMahon‘s return to WWE was openly discussed. Hardy said he believes the big shake-up behind the scenes at WWE will ultimately benefit All Elite Wrestling.
“Well, first and foremost, I just want to say since we recorded our last pod, it was after we had recorded we heard all the Vince McMahon insanity, right? And now Vince McMahon is back. And he’s sitting as the head of the table of WWE currently,” Matt Hardy said. “And we also have Stephanie gone. So there’s obviously been a big shake-up. There’s a lot of sales rumors and innuendo going around.
“And if you ask me more than anything who benefits from all this, I would say AEW. So I’m very happy to be at AEW currently right now. AEW has been producing great content, I think. And one thing I love about it, at WWE, they’re playing Game of Thrones. It’s like in and out who can retain the power and who can backstab or who can get someone else out or how can I get back in, whatever it may be? Here, fortunately, it’s just TK sitting in the Iron Throne.”
When asked why he thinks All Elite Wrestling will benefit from all of this, Hardy responded by saying he believes in chaos, there is opportunity.
“Because in chaos, there is opportunity. I mean, WWE, for many, many years, has been the leader in pro wrestling and sports entertainment,” Matt Hardy said. “But I mean, now it’s really in a chaotic state. I mean, it was very controversial. Whenever Vince ended up leaving, some of the accusations against him and whatnot. And I don’t know, considering how much pro wrestling has started to begin mirroring society, which is a good thing that it has. It is no longer the Wild West. It is starting to try and mirror society and run a parallel to how our society is, be it a little more immoral. But like the Vince couldn’t have been very controversial because there’s a lot of skeletons in those closets.”
Later in the show, Jon Alba said he believed that now is the perfect opportunity for Tony Khan to elevate All Elite Wrestling to the next level. This was a statement that Matt Hardy absolutely agreed with.
“I agree. And once again, as I say in chaos, there is opportunity, and there is a lot of chaos going on right now in WWE,” Matt Hardy said. “There’s so many question marks. There’s so many unknowns, but week in and week out, I feel like Tony has built goodwill with wrestling fans, and he has also proven AEW’s worth and really instilled equity in AEW by having one of the top-rated programs every single week.
“I mean, it’s a very consistent thing. AEW is always in the mix of the top shows on cable every single week, and that is what advertisers look for. Our demographic numbers, our 18 to 34, 18 to 49, are usually pretty strong as well. And it’s really worked hard to continue to build equity over these last few years into getting a bigger media rights deal whenever we start exploring things again. It’s going to be really exciting, and I think this internal change in WWE with Vince coming back where there was some goodwill with him, and the fans felt like they were being listened to a little more, it wasn’t like, damnit there’s a pandemic fire 80 people immediately, whatever.
“I feel like the goodwill between fans and AEW being so consistent from a ratings number and being one of the top-rated TV shows and having a great demo every single week. I feel like they’re in a prime position to capitalize, and if something goes awry with this whole WWE scenario, then they exponentially have a chance to capitalize. So I think AEW, this is going to end up being a win-win for them.”
READ MORE: WWE Shareholder Files Lawsuit Against Vince McMahon, Accuses Him Of Breaching Fiduciary Duty
What do you make of Matt Hardy’s comments? Do you think Vince McMahon’s WWE return will benefit All Elite Wrestling long-term? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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