Matt Hardy Nearly Had A WWE NXT Faction Before AEW Stint

As most wrestling fans are aware of by now, Matt Hardy's last full-time run with WWE came to an end in early 2020, when he decided to leave the promotion after his contract expired and headed towards AEW. What many may not know is that WWE made a concentrated effort to keep Hardy with several different offers. On the latest edition of "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," Hardy revealed that Vince McMahon and WWE creative made several pitches to keep him, including one featuring Hardy in a stable with his brother, Jeff, and Bray Wyatt on the main roster.

Though Hardy liked the idea, he ultimately was unmoved, believing Vince would abandon the idea quickly and stick Hardy in a producer role at a time where he still wanted to wrestle. It was then Triple H contacted Hardy, offering him another pitch to try and keep Hardy in WWE.

"[Triple H] said, ... 'Maybe we can bring you to 'NXT,' and we can have you do 'Broken Matt Hardy,' and I can put three or four young guys around you,'" Hardy said. "'And you can be the leader, and that way, these guys can do a lot of the workload when it comes to working, and you can do some stuff with them too.' Almost like when Eric Young was doing the whole Sanity thing, something along those lines. 

"He said, 'I would love to do that. And I know how much the 'Broken Matt Hardy' character means to you. ... We [can] put you in a good spot, a prevalent spot there in 'NXT' ... and maybe you can still go up and be a producer and coach and this that and the other thing.' And that was, like, right when my deal was running out. I think I had just decided AEW might be the place to go, because I'll still be able to work, and I'll still be able to make pretty good money."

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