Matt Hardy Explains Why Broken Matt Hardy Didn’t Work In AEW

In an interview with EssentiallySports, AEW star Matt Hardy was asked why his character, Broken Matt Hardy, didn't catch on in AEW. Hardy entered the promotion under the Broken Matt Hardy gimmick at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he believes the lack of fans made it hard for the gimmick to work. With fans now back, Hardy does think it's possible the character could eventually return to AEW TV.

"The Broken Matt Hardy character is a very fan driven character," Hardy said. "It was just very hard for it to work as it should have without fans in the venue. Obviously the whole world was in the midst of this pandemic, so we just changed courses and I went to a more reality based character in Big Money Matt. We took a step back from Broken Matt, and who knows? Maybe now that fans are back, you'll see Broken Matt again down the road."

With Jeff Hardy recently being released from WWE and being teased by the Young Bucks for AEW, Hardy was asked about a potential Broken Matt/Brother Nero pairing. He confirmed that he would love to see it happen.

"It would be fun," Hardy said. "Broken Matt and Brother Nero are a tag team made in heaven."

A near 30 year veteran in wrestling, Hardy was asked what was responsible for his and his brother's longevity in wrestling. There are several factors, but ultimately Matt Hardy concluded one factor was most responsible.

"Luck. I draw it up to luck," Hardy said. "I guess both my brother and I, we've been very resilient I feel like. So many people that were vets at the time, when we first started wrestling and the style we wrestled with, which is almost the modern day style today. Especially doing all the ladder matches, table matches and TLC matches, so many people thought 'you're not going to be able to walk by the time you're 40', because we did so much more than they did back in the day. It was also kind of the ushering in the new style of pro wrestling in many ways. So I think it was just taking care of ourselves and also luck. It's one of those things where we've both been very lucky. And just trying to be smart with our decision making on when to take a calculated risk and when not to."

During his year and a half run in AEW, Hardy has yet to capture a title. When asked if he would like to be a champion, Hardy confirmed he would but that he doesn't see it as necessary to win a World Title at this stage of his career.

"I would love to win a championship in AEW sooner than later, for sure," Hardy said. "As far as being the World Champion or being what the company is built around, at this stage of the game, I don't know if that's necessarily the best fit. If there was a story and things fit into the story and it made sense, then yeah, maybe so. But I don't think it's a necessity.

"And really, Matt Hardy is Matt Hardy, and people know who I am. I'm like known around the globe for my history. So I don't necessarily need a title to make me more popular or over or whatever may be. But if the right story fit where it was time for me to win the title in whatever vain, then I could see that happening. But as far as being the champion, needing to be the champion, I don't need to be. There's a lot of young guys that would be much better served in that position."

You can watch the full interview below.