Matt Hardy On Initial Idea For ROH Final Battle Match Vs. Adam Cole

As the old Johnny Cash song goes, Matt Hardy has been everywhere, man. From WWE to TNA to ROH to AEW, Hardy has been a constant presence in the wrestling world for three decades, something former Ring of Honor booker Jim Cornette had hoped to take advantage of when Hardy joined the company in 2012.

"Jim [Cornette]'s initial idea was for me to come in and beat [Adam Cole] for the [ROH World] title, as opposed to it being a non-title match, as it was." Hardy said on "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," referring to his match against Adam Cole at Final Battle. "Which I thought was interesting."

Hardy says that plans were scrapped as the creative reins were being held by Delirious at the time. "I don't think they were a fan of Cornette's creative." 

According to Hardy, the initial plan was that he'd win the title so that Adam Cole had an obstacle to overcome, and then Cole would've won the title back. This is interesting as Adam Cole was not ROH World Champion when he and Hardy clashed at Final Battle, which suggests that at some point the company had planned for Cole to beat then-ROH Champion Kevin Steen during his 2012 reign.

This was not to be and Cole went on to win his first ROH World Championship in September of 2013 at Death Before Dishonor XI, at which point he had aligned himself with Matt Hardy for a period of time. A few years down the line, both Cole and Hardy joined WWE, in 2017, and both eventually left the company and reunited at AEW.