Ryback Shares His Thoughts On Why WWE Is Jobbing Out Matt Hardy
Wrestling Inc.'s own President, Raj Giri, once again teamed up with Ryback for another edition of his podcast, "Conversations With The Big Guy Ryback". During their discussion this time, the subject of Matt Hardy being buried and continuously losing in WWE was brought up.
Ryback believes that Matt's booking may in-part be a consequence for his brother, Jeff, getting in trouble with law enforcement multiple times in 2019. But even more than that, Ryback thinks that it has to do with Matt's disinterest in signing a new contract with WWE.
"It's certainly not doing Matt any favors with that whole Jeff Hardy situation. But in my personal opinion, based on the history of Matt Hardy and how they have booked him in the past, they've always viewed Jeff Hardy as the bigger single's star in the company's eyes," Ryback said. "Or, at least, used Jeff in better roles for the most part. With Matt Hardy, I do think the contract thing is a huge thing. And when Matt left – and this is how Vince McMahon and them operate. It happened to me when I wouldn't re-sign the contract, and they put the Intercontinental title on me to get me to be a mark and get me to sign their cheap contract, and when that didn't happen, they started to downgrade me very slowly to try to get me to be a mark and say, 'No, no, no. I want you guys to let me win. I'll sign whatever you guys want; I will sign everything over.'"
Ryback thinks that WWE has the intention of lowering Matt's value on his way out so it will be more difficult for him to get over in other wrestling promotions. Ryback speaks from experience when recalling a conversation he had with WWE's Senior Director of Talent and Relations, Mark Carrano, where he was told to sign a new contract or else face embarrassment and termination.
"They already know Matt Hardy can get himself over, and can go somewhere else and get himself over," Ryback said. "This is how they operate, rather than keeping him off television where he did the 'Woken' Matt Hardy. And look at where he was with all of that and how they have down-regulated him for no reason? It makes sense that his contract is coming up because that is what they do. They will lower your value on your way out so that it will make it harder for him to get himself over again quickly.
"He has already done it before, but there's no coincidence in that. It's sad to see that this is how they operate," Ryback continued. "We've talked about it before when I told you that I wasn't resigning, when Mark Carrano said to me that I might want to sign the contract because they are going to job me out, and pull me off TV, and are going to fire me if I don't. That was direct from the company. Me, who was at a very good level at that point."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Conversations With The Big Guy Ryback with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.