Matt Hardy revealed the advice that Michael Hayes gave him and his brother before a famous segment on Raw.
25 years ago, the Hardy Boyz had a match against Bob Holly & Crash Holly on Raw. The pre-match saw Bob Holly insult Matt and Jeff Hardy, calling the latter “Anorexic Annie”. Holly warned that he had to be at least a heavyweight to compete with “The Superheavyweight” Crash Holly.
While Jeff & Matt Hardy were initially skeptical about taking part in the angle, Michael Hayes soon talked them into it. The former “Freebird” managed the duo early on in their careers as “Doc Hendrix”, and clearly held much influence over the two iconic wrestlers.
Matt Hardy posted a heartfelt post on Twitter about his former manager, Michael “P.S” Hayes. The former ECW Champion spoke about the segment with the Holly’s, and how he convinced them to look at the opportunity differently.
Matt Hardy credited Michael Hayes in helping to turn him into the “forward-thinking performer I would become”, and generally heaped praise on the long-time WWE producer.
“I learned a very important lesson on this day. Myself & Jeff were elevating ourselves during this period & when we learned of this creative, we weren’t thrilled with it. After speaking with our wrestling daddy @MichaelPSHayes1, he encouraged us to look at it differently & find a way to make chicken salad out of some bad chicken.” Matt Hardy wrote.
“PS suggested we go along with Bob Holly’s “weigh in” bit as a way to set him & Crash up & gain an advantage to start the match,” the current TNA star added. “This mindset he shared with us became a pivotal part of my thought process moving forward. Michael’s experience rubbed off massively on me & helped turn me into the forward-thinking performer that I would become.”
