Matt Hardy On The 'Plane Ride From Hell' & WWE's Vince McMahon Tackling Kurt Angle
During a recent episode of "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," former WWE star Matt Hardy opened up about his experience on the infamous 2002 "plane ride from hell."
"Of course, I was on it, and I have a ton of memories," Hardy said. "I'll never forget, they worked really hard to get me on that 'Dark Side of the Ring' episode of Plane Ride from Hell. I very politely declined because I knew no good was — well, too, if you speak the facts and how things really went down in society and you're showing you're a good-natured person and you have to say these terrible things about people you may genuinely like. Or maybe people who have done good things to you."
Hardy explained, "It's like a lose-lose situation in many ways, and I thought we saw many examples of that, like with Tommy Dreamer, who is one of the sweetest guys in the world and really wants what's best for everyone, but he was just kind of put in an impossible situation."
Brock Lesnar Goes After Curt Hennig
Hardy then shared what he remembers most about that plane ride and how it involved a conflict between Curt Hennig and Brock Lesnar.
"When it comes to the Plane Ride from Hell, my most fond memory that I can say, which won't get me in trouble one way or the other, is that I remember sitting, talking with Undertaker, being right by that emergency exit, Curt Hennig was being hilarious," Hardy said. "He just kept, with Brock, 'Look, I'm so sorry I did this, I'm so sorry I've been ribbing you.' He said, 'Hey, can we make it okay? Here, shake my hand, Brock. Let's shake hands like men.' And I remember Curt Hennig stomped on his toes and he had on shoes and Brock didn't and he went running down the aisle."
Hardy continued, "Then eventually when he caught up to him and they came back, he picked him up like he was driving him into the turnbuckle and drove him into the emergency door there. We're at the highest elevation flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Like, 'Holy s***.' It was terrifying. I remember them hitting and me making eye contact with Taker like, 'F***,' and it was just like, 'What if this would've opened?' We would've all died. Pretty much impossible to open the thing at that height and whatnot, but it was just so crazy. You would never, ever see that on a plane in this day and age."
Vince McMahon tries to take down Kurt Angle
On a different flight in a separate incident, Hardy recalled Vince McMahon wanting to tackle Kurt Angle.
"Vince kept trying to take him down," Hardy said. "There was one point where he grabbed me and said, 'Hardy, distract the son of a b****. Tell him to come to you.' And he was going to jump out from behind like where the stewardess stands. I said, 'What am I gonna get out of this?' 'Oh, I'm gonna take good care of you [laughs].'
"Then I went and I was walking through and as I was doing this, 'Hey, Kurt, come down here. By the way, watch out, Vince is going to jump you.' And Vince grabbed him and immediately turned him around. Every single time Vince tried to grab Kurt, Kurt took him down instantly. Every time I saw it, and I saw it happen multiple times throughout the night, Kurt would grab Vince and take him down and pin his a** on the floor."
Hardy noted that McMahon just wanted to be "one of the boys" sometimes and would act out after having a drink, particularly red wine. According to Hardy, McMahon really liked Angle and Angle thought it was a "fun time."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.