Matt Hardy is exploring his options, but that doesn’t mean he’s ruling out a return to AEW.
Hardy became a free agent on Monday. He addressed his next steps on the latest episode of his The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast. Hardy and co-host Jon Alba discussed where things stand right now (recorded Wednesday April 10), and said he’s weighing his options.
“Sunday night into Monday morning, that is when my contract expired, so yes, I am a free agent right now. Just negotiating, talking. I have interacted with everyone. [I’m still] interacting with AEW, and that’s where we’re at right now,” Hardy explained. “Whenever my deal running out — that allowed me the opportunity to negotiate and speak to everyone available, really weigh in on my options, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
Alba said that based on Matt’s comments, one could assume he has spoken with companies other than AEW.
Making the right move
Matt agreed with that statement, also noting that he’s gotten plenty of requests from independent promoters. He said he’s holding off on taking those bookings for now, as he is prioritizing what he does in the “bigger scheme” of things. Hardy said he’s overwhelmed with all of the requests, but he wants to take his time and make the best decision for himself.
“I’m figuring out what I’m going to be doing. And I’m in no rush to do it,” Hardy said. “I want to make sure I go to the best place possible. I don’t want to make a quick decision, I want to make sure I am doing the right thing for me long term. So that’s where I’m at.”
Hardy clarified that he is not ruling a return to AEW out. Alba then asked if Matt knew in advance he wanted to explore free agency.
“I think as time moved on and we were so close to the finish line, I do think I wanted to wait until everything ran out where I could weigh all of my options. I could do things correctly from a legal standpoint and figure out what I want to do next,” he said. “So yeah, I’m good with it.”
Hardy closed by saying he loves AEW and believes the company is important to the health of the pro wrestling industry. He cited having a family and four young children to consider, and although he loves the AEW schedule, he’s just making sure all of the right boxes are checked.
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Optimization
Hardy spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about what he wants out of the next chapter of his career. Matt says their time as performers is limited, so he wants to help build the future while staying relevant.
“I want to be optimized wherever I’m at. If I’m with Jeff, I want to be optimized as The Hardys. That is very, very important to me, and that is a fight I’m willing to fight because if nothing else, I’ll just keep my ass at home. I don’t have to go back to working. I’ve worked really hard to put myself in this position,” Hardy explained.
“The other thing is, there are so many AEW fans, and this is diehard fans, that are so overly critical of things when it comes to the product. When they look at some guys like Jericho — Chris still kicks ass as far as in the ring. He works really hard, and sure, is he what he was 25 years ago? Of course not. But he still is extremely good. He has a name, he has value, and there’s a lot of equity in Chris Jericho. Same goes for Matt and Jeff Hardy.
“Some people get upset or hot like, ‘Oh, come on, get them out of here. They’re not who they were.’ We can. We can go out and be a huge benefit to any promotion and I believe that, and that’s another hill I’ll die on. I think there’s a way to use us where we’re in a position of relevancy because we still have to win and we have to be kept at a certain level. But we can definitely help build the future tag teams of tomorrow. That’s what both of us want to do.”
