Matt Hardy Takes The Heat For Controversy Around AEW Tables Match

On the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW superstar talked about The Hardy Boyz table match against Butcher and Blade two weeks ago on Dynamite.

During the match, Matt Hardy hit a top rope leg drop on Butcher through a table in which the AEW announcers thought that meant he was eliminated from the match. As the match went on, the AEW commentators continued to try and piece together the rules of the match, making it very difficult to understand the exact way a team could win the match.

Several people were left confused by the ending of the match, including former WWE superstar Lance Storm.

Matt Hardy spoke about the controversy from the match and revealed that he had not relayed the rules of the match to the commentators before.

"The reason there was a controversy behind this tables match was mainly because of social media," Hardy said. "As I've said in the past, the best thing about social media is that it gives everybody a voice and the worst thing about social media is it gives everybody a voice. Sometimes there's just people that comment on things and make things overly difficult and I'll take responsibility for it even though technically, I don't think it's my fault, I'll take the heat.

"Apparently we had spoke to the person who was our producer and the person in the truck and they were down with the rules, which was basically to win a tag team tables match in AEW, much like the Royal Rumble in 2000 match, both members of a team have to be put through tables in an offensive manner by the members of the other team and that's how you win the match.

"Apparently we had given this to the powers at be but it didn't get transitioned over to the commentators and they weren't totally crystal clear on it. They were kind of making it up on the fly as it was going along, I wish I would've just went and talked to Tony Schiavone, JR and whoever else during the day of and cleared it up. So I'll take the heat for that, if you want to give someone the heat for it, you want to get mad at somebody, get mad at me, I like it.

"Everybody on the internet is mad at me anyways so it's all good. I enjoyed the tables match, I thought it was really good, really strong. Butcher and Blade I know were super nervous about this thing, as ironic as that may seem but it was great to have that match with them and I thought it was a great environment. There was so much carnage and destruction. I was so happy we got that and I felt like it was a very fitting revenge after both Butcher and Blade turned on me and they beat me up viciously when they kicked me out of my own group the HFO."

Continuing to talk about the match, Matt Hardy also reacted to feedback he received from several fans talking about the intense bumps they took during the match. The former WWE superstar said he will make sure his brother Jeff is safe and ensure he has longevity in his career.

"It's probably easier for myself and Jeff to take a couple big bumps through tables than to get out there and have a 20 minute match and take 25 or 30 bumps back to back, especially if they're big and intense bumps," Hardy said. "I would rather land flat on a table and go through it than actually land on a high angle bump on my neck or whatever.

"There's an image or belief that these table matches are much more destructive to your body but it's okay guys, I promise we'll be safe with every move we make and I will make sure as my brother's keeper that he is as safe as he can possibly be. Even though he is more of a stunt man than a wrestler, I'm going to do the best to ensure he has longevity in his career."

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.