Matt Hardy does not accept that TNA misled anybody over the Nic Nemeth and Jeff Hardy world title match, which is a different position to the one the champion himself has taken.
TNA advertised the match ahead of its July 30 taping at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia and even publicly invited LeBron James to attend as the official title holder. The bout took place that night in front of the live crowd but did not air on the live episode. It is scheduled for the August 13 show.
Nemeth addressed the complaints on social media and took the blame.
“The wording was confusing on the adverts, for a large part of the audience. We knew the schedule for weeks and as champ, I take responsibility for not conveying this clearer.”
Hardy, who works behind the scenes at TNA as well as on screen, went the other way on his podcast.
“We have to advertise big matches to sell tickets because we had a lack of ticket sales when we weren’t advertising these big matches that were going to be happening there.”
He said the company had been asked to do exactly this.
“People had asked us for months before this. They said, if you’re in an arena and you’re having a big match there that I want to see, please advertise it so we know it’s on. Don’t wait to the week before it happens because I want to get my tickets. And they did that. They announced a bunch of big matches that were going to be happening, and they went specifically out of their way to put live if it was going to be on the live show.”
“They even put together packages of all the matches that were going to be on the live show. The Knockouts TV title tournament was happening. The Hardys have an in-ring promo. And the main event is going to be Jason Hotch versus Mustafa Ali for the title. They went into detail about all of that.”
He was blunt about the reaction.
“Especially the people online that were upset about it. It’s just like, come on, man. Don’t you understand how this works now? Especially if you’re an online person, not a casual person.”
“Those ads were advertised for the people in the Philadelphia area. That’s who we’re selling tickets for. That match happened on that night as advertised, exactly how it was. It was never said, there was never a time where they said it would be on the live broadcast. I mean, reading comprehension is important too.”
“They did not falsely advertise it for the live show ever.”
When it was put to him that the real problem was fans seeing a big match advertised and assuming, Hardy gave ground.
“That is fair. That isn’t wrong. That is fair. But it’s just one of those things. They, several times over, just like on the website, there was a video on social media. It was out there about what all was specifically going to be on the live broadcast. And I think people just saw that match and they’re like, oh my God, this is such a big match. And they just get so excited.”
He also suggested a fix.
“I feel like they need to have something like on the live TV show. This is what’s going to be on. So maybe just really make it stand out in your face and do it repetitive over and over.”
“It is what it is. It’s just the nature of the beast.”
Hardy recorded the episode before the July 30 show aired. The main event he refers to ended with Jason Hotch beating Mustafa Ali for the TNA International Championship, the first major singles title of Hotch’s career.
