Why Matt Hardy Thinks Tony Khan And AEW Need To Be Careful

One ongoing criticism of Tony Khan and AEW is that in-ring action is often prioritized over basic storytelling. As a veteran of the AEW locker room from 2020 to 2024, Matt Hardy has an insider's perspective of how Khan organizes his shows, and he offered up some friendly words of advice to his former boss on "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy."

"In AEW, Tony and company have to be careful about trying to cater too much to the diehard wrestling fans," Hardy said. "Because I feel like sometimes the diehard wrestling fans who love wrestling through and through — and this is not a bad thing about them — but they're also insatiable. I feel like you need to keep your product fresh on every level across the board, and I feel like to make it sustainable, you have to have entertainment. You have to have entertainment placed as well... You can't fill up every two hours of Dynamite every single week with amazing, great wrestling, because you'll burn through everything."

Perhaps no one in wrestling has been more vocal about Tony Khan's booking style than former WCW executive Eric Bischoff, who has not minced words when describing what he perceives as Khan's lack of storytelling vision. In the past Bischoff has said there is no hope for AEW and accused Khan of booking for chatrooms. 

Matt Hardy debuted with AEW in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, originally carrying over his popular "Broken" persona. Over the next four years he went through a hodgepodge of character changes and was featured in various mid-card storylines, some alongside his brother Jeff Hardy. He left the company in April 2024 upon his contract's expiration. Most recently, Hardy has been making appearances for TNA.