Matt Hardy Compares Darby Allin To A Young Jeff Hardy
Many have compared AEW's Darby Allin to a young Jeff Hardy and no one would be a better judge of that comparison than Matt Hardy. The elder Hardy recently joined AEW and he discussed the Allin-Jeff Hardy comparison when Matt joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.
"I do see that and Jericho actually said that to me early on before I went to AEW," revealed Hardy. "After meeting Darby and speaking to him off camera, he has so many qualities that my brother has. He really has the spirit of, 'Hey, this is who I am. If you like me, that's cool. If not, I don't give a sh*t.' He's carefree in that mentality and is a cool cat that doesn't get shook. He very much reminds me of a young Jeff Hardy."
Hardy has resurrected Vanguard 1 in AEW and he was asked about the origin of it when the idea was conceived in Impact.
"It was Jeremy Borash's drone and we mentioned incorporating the drone into something along the lines of my double or loyal servant. JB had some drones he was gonna get rid of and in the bit, we had some drones fly near my brother's house and through the window. He was swatting them with a guitar and knocking them out of the air," recalled Hardy. "A lot of people think that was CGI but that was all real with the old drones that JB had."
Hardy added that the main drone was dubbed Vanguard 1 as a play off his old WWE gimmick of Version 1.
"He was such a hit and really got over huge and then got over in AEW. What's so crazy about it is that it's a totally inanimate object that Broken Matt Hardy is able to communicate with? One of the important things about wrestling is that if people are talking about it and it's not morally wrong or bad for business, then it's a good thing," stated Hardy.
In both Impact and WWE, Hardy had cinematic matches at The Hardy Compound in North Carolina. As a remote wrestling location, that place would be ideal during a pandemic and Hardy was asked if those types of cinematic matches could return or if AEW could host shows at the Compound.
"I am definitely confident that there will be more cinematic deletions in AEW," said Hardy. "As far as having a whole AEW show there, I don't know if that will happen. It could be a one-off later down the road. I think in this period of the pandemic and empty arenas, I think they're gonna stick in Jacksonville. Hopefully the world gets better and slowly we can start welcoming some fans back? When fans come back in the arena, it's gonna be so much fun and such a great product."
Hardy joined AEW just a couple of months into its TV deal with TNT and he talked about what fans can expect out of the promotion.
"I'm very excited to be part of All Elite Wrestling and it's gonna be a great, great time. I can't even imagine what it's gonna be like in other cities with excited, emotional fans. I take a lot of pride in being in AEW right now because I feel like we're building a great place for future wrestlers and entertainers to come to and perform and make a living. I take a lot of pride that I was able to get into AEW early and I hope I can make an impact and really build this into something very special," said Hardy.
Matt Hardy can be seen every Wednesday night, 8/7c, as part of AEW Dynamite on TNT. Hardy's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.