On the latest “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, Matt talked about the AEW debut of Mercedes Mone and the official AEW full-time debut of Kazuchika Okada.
Matt Hardy on Mercedes Mone in AEW:
“Mercedes is going to be bringing a lot of star power. I mean, she was a big star on WWE TV which is a big deal. WWE TV is the most powerful professional wrestling television there’s ever been in history. So if you’ve been a big star on WWE TV, that gives you lots of equity. Her coming to AEW is different from like a Will Ospreay or an Okada, someone that’s more of an international name people that follow international wrestling, people that are more die-hard pro wrestling fans overall, they love and they adore these people. Sasha, Mercedes, she is someone that the casual fans know a lot more. When I say casual fans, it’s just people that don’t always watch wrestling. It’s people that watch wrestling as they’re passing on TV. ‘Oh, here’s some wrestling. Oh, what is the girl’s name? This girl’s name is Mercedes Mone. This is Sasha Banks.’ They’re going to know her and I think those casual eyeballs are very important to get on your product and she’s going to assist in getting those casual eyeballs and more general wrestling fans to watch your programming.”
On what makes Mercedes Mone a star:
“She’s got a very unique attitude. She’s got a very unique demeanor. I think Mercedes is extremely confident. I think she is good and she knows she’s good. She’s very unique in the way she does things in the ring. She just has this presence and this aura about her that when you see her, you believe in her. She’s someone who connects with fans, both female and male fans. She actually connects with him. She has that ‘It Factor’ that it takes to be successful pro wrestling.”
On Okada being aligned with The Young Bucks in AEW:
“I’m intrigued, and it’s a good intrigue. I don’t know Okada a lot. The few times I’ve met him, I’ve liked him a lot. He seems very nice. The Bucks speak very highly of him. He’s a big star. There’s no doubt about that. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He’s an extremely talented individual. I’m very excited to see his impact on AEW, especially as the AEW audience and people outside of the International wrestling bubble really get to get to learn who Okada is and really get to see how talented he is and get to see him in action and learn what he’s about and what makes him tick. I think that’s going to be very beneficial. I think pairing him with The Bucks is a good deal. It’s something where everybody feels comfortable. It’ll make him feel comfortable. They should gel well because they’ve been friends for many, many years. It’s going to be an intriguing thing. I’m looking forward to watching it and following it.”
Matt Hardy’s podcast drops every Friday at ExtremeHardy.com. If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit ExtremeHardy.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
