Matt Hardy Recalls Ric Flair Trusting Only Him With Ladder Spot

AEW star Matt Hardy joined The Drive with Josh Graham to promote AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. A native of Cameron, North Carolina, Matt Hardy has many fond memories of the shows at the Greensboro Coliseum, watching Ric Flair. He talked about them, as well as the opportunities he got to work with Ric Flair later in his career.

"A lot of my earlier memories were Ric Flair in the Greensboro Coliseum doing his thing as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion," Hardy said. "Obviously I was a huge fan of Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen growing up in North Carolina. It was hard not to be. So it was great to actually know him and get to work matches with him and become friends with him. Actually when we did our Money in the Bank ladder match together, Ric pulled me aside and said 'look, I want to take a big bump off this ladder. You're the only person I trust to give me a suplex off the top. I know you've got experience (in these matches), and you're good.' That was like the ultimate compliment, coming from someone who I grew up watching as a childhood hero. Lot's of love for Ric Flair. Those are my fondest memories from the Greensboro Coliseum growing up."

One of Matt Hardy's most memorable runs in his near 30 year career was when he was Matt Hardy, Version 1 on Smackdown in 2002 and 2003. Hardy talked about the gimmick, mainly focusing on the creation of Matt Facts, which were displayed during his entrance.

"We had the idea of doing the overlay for the entrance of Matt Hardy, Version 1," Hardy said. "Once I was doing a computer, online, cyberworld type deal, I wanted to relate to that. We talked about doing a computer like screen, which was an old Windows Media Player is what that screen was based on. And they put that little spot down there, and I want to say it was a Kevin Dunn idea. I'll probably give him credit for it as I think it was his. He said 'what if we put up a little Matt Fact? A fact about you during this thing.' I said 'yeah, we can call it a Matt Fact.'

"They ended up doing of those per entrance, and it's crazy how remembered those things are. It was so different, it was so unique and so catchy. And I submitted three or four every time I was going to wrestle, and they would select two of them. So there were a ton of Matt Facts that I had created that never got utilized. I'll share one with you right now that's a little more current, that it one that would definitely be going on if I was walking out to a Matt Hardy Version 1 entrance right now. 'Matt absolutely adores spicy mayo.'"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Drive with Josh Graham and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription