On this week’s “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, Matt talked about addiction and mental health, including the recent issues with his brother Jeff Hardy.
Matt also talked about the ladder match he and Jeff were supposed to have this past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite:
“I was backstage and watched the show. It was an amazing crowd in St. Louis. I’m not gonna lie. I was very envious and disappointed that I wasn’t out in front of that St. Louis crowd participating in this ladder match because I love ladder matches as it is. Obviously, originally, I was going to be in the match with my brother. I would love to have been out there. I was very proud of the work that The Young Bucks and Jurassic Express did in that match.”
Matt thanked the fans for their support for him and Jeff:
“I love you guys. I have received so many fantastic texts and just different social media messages from so many different people. There’s been so much love and support aimed towards me and my role in this whole scenario. People have been very sympathetic and very apologetic and have shown so much wonderful love and support towards me, and I am very grateful for that.”
Matt said he is going to try to help Jeff as much as he can:
“This whole week, and this whole discussion about my brother, is much, much bigger than pro wrestling. I mean, this is a point where, you know, all I’m concerned about is Jeff’s health and his well being, and I just want him in a good, safe place. That’s all I’m concerned about and whatever it is going to take for him to get there is what I want for him. I was very saddened, and the actual word that I said was very disheartening, about the events that happened, but I support my brother 100%, and I’m gonna pull for him, and I’m gonna give him as much support as I can to help him be as healthy and as well as he can possibly be.”
On why he believes Jeff ended up having issues:
“I feel like some of Jeff’s issues probably come from our mother dying when he was so, so young. That was always an issue that he carried with him deeply. I know 100%, the biggest thing that drives me to stay healthy and not have an addiction issue at all, because I’m sure I have an addictive personality, but the thing that keeps me running and stronger than anything else is my family, my children, specifically. I mean, my wife as well. She would whip my ass as everyone knows. Any kind of chemical addiction that I might have, or would have, all that has been traded in for the addiction of my children. That is a real thing that I love. I think about them growing up and I want to cry. There’s a finite amount of time that I’m going to be able to spend with them so I try to maximize and I want to optimize each and every moment I have with them.”
“My job is to raise these young human beings, three boys and a girl, and shape them and forge them into good productive people that are going to contribute to society. They’re gonna make the world a better place. I mean, I know that’s what my mom wanted for myself and my brother and we were on the right path for the first quarter century of our life for sure.”
“Once we got into wrestling back in the day, there were times where stuff was kind of thrown on us and we were still really good. We were resilient about things as far as being out of control until we split. That was the first time there were ever really any chemical dependency issues. That’s when Jeff was away from me. He was on the RAW show and he was traveling with two guys who were pretty well known for using recreational drugs at that time. That is when Jeff first got bad and he ended up being released in 2003.”
Matt talking about today’s wrestling locker room:
“I’m very proud that the culture has changed so drastically over the last 25 years. If you were having mental health issues, if there’s something that is messing with you in some sort of stress, or anxiety, or panic attack you’re having, I almost feel like back in the wild, wild west days, they would just have looked at you as weak, as opposed to actually comprehending and having sympathy with you and understanding it’s a legitimate issue that people legitimately have. Now with AEW, it is just such a forward thinking company as it is in general anyway. So those things are definitely addressed. They’re looked for. If you need help, or if you need to speak with someone, if you need any mental health issue addressed, they have people there to talk to and it’s something that is on the radar, which is great. Then once again, the younger kids, the culture of pills, drugs, and booze just is nowhere near where it was before. I’m not gonna say it’s non-existent, because it’ll probably never be non-existent. But in AEW, the young kids that are there, it just doesn’t even exist to them. That’s not even cool to them and that’s a really refreshing thing to see out of the change of culture.”
Matt said he will be at Triplemania on June 18th:
“I’ll be going to Triplemania in Tijuana for AAA. I’m pretty excited about that. We’re gonna have a mystery partner. We’ll probably announce the mystery partner in all reality, but I’ll be teaming with someone else. Once again, as I said, this is pro wrestling. Jeff right now is focused on life which is much bigger than pro wrestling. So I will be there. I will be honoring my meet and greet session and I’m going to do everything in my ability to make everyone as happy as possible and give them the best fan experience that they can possibly have. I’m very excited about wrestling on Triplemania. It’s something I’ve never done before. So it’s kind of groundbreaking for me, which I think is pretty cool.”
On his plans going forward with AEW:
“I look at it as a challenge as an artist. There’s really no timetable on what’s happening. I very much look forward to it. I had a great conversation with Tony Khan today. I talked with him a little bit, so we’ll see. We’ve got a few weeks to work on stuff so I’m just excited for it. I look at it as a challenge as opposed to looking at everything as a setback which, obviously, it’s very disappointing and heartbreaking that I’m not going to be teaming with my brother. You want to have this last great run or whatever, but I’m going to make the most out of whatever opportunity I’m given, and I will be positive and optimistic as always.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
