Matt Hardy Believes ROH Will Be A Developmental Brand For AEW
Of all the major news in pro wrestling coming out of the month of March, Tony Khan buying Ring of Honor has to be considered one of the biggest stories.
During the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star spoke about the significance of Tony Khan purchasing the rights to ROH's library and intellectual property. Having wrestled several matches in Ring of Honor, Hardy revealed the first thing Khan said to him once he found out the news, and why he believes AEW will use the brand as a developmental show.
"Almost nothing shocks me in this day and age, but it was pretty epic that Tony Khan bought this," Hardy said. "The first thing that he said was, 'I got all your footage from ROH!' Total Tony Khan mind. But it's cool and once again, it will ensure that the Ring of Honor footage, which they did a lot of trailblazing stuff themselves, it's going to stay alive and be circulated, and live on forever.
"I would almost guess Ring of Honor will be like a developmental for AEW, and I feel like ROH will be our NXT in their old system. I think they'll have guys that can go over there exclusively and pull guys up, and also just have the two brands like that. If you do it the right way, you can have someone on one brand for a long time, then once their programs are played out, you can switch them to the other brand. It helps keep acts fresh."
Also on the show, Matt Hardy spoke about the debut of his brother Jeff Hardy on AEW Dynamite this week, who helped Matt fend off Andrade El Idolo, Private Party, and the other members of Matt's former stable, the AHFO. Matt stated that Jeff coming to AEW is great because it will give them an opportunity to cement their legacy as the greatest tag team in all of time and space. Matt said he and his brother have their sights set on the only major title they've never held: the AEW World Tag Team Championship.
Setting the stage for his final run in wrestling with his brother in AEW, Matt Hardy spoke about what he'd like to do after he decides to hang it up. The 47-year-old spoke about coaching talent and why he'd love to use that as a way to still be involved in the wrestling business.
"Definitely, I think I'm going to do that in the future without a doubt," Hardy said. "That way I can still be involved and it feels like you still have an active part in pro wrestling even if you physically can't wrestle that much anymore."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.