Chris Van Vliet welcomed Matt Hardy as his guest on the latest “INSIGHT” podcast/YouTube show. Matt’s AEW deal is up but there have been talks ongoing for a new deal. He discussed this and more during his interview with Van Vliet. Scroll down to watch the entire interview.
Matt Hardy on trying to get down to 200 pounds:
“I’ve been working on myself. I’m at 204 which is the lowest I’ve been and that was down from 222 or 223. 200 is the goal. You know, just being older, it’s like being big and being bulky isn’t going to change. I’m Matt Hardy. I am who I am. I mean, I’ve been doing this for 34 years, just the more athletic and the more nimble and agile I am, the better. So that’s just kind of what I’m shooting for.”
On how long he feels he can continue to wrestle:
“I think a couple more (years), just depending on how my body feels. The way I said my body felt over the winter break and it was so good. I was feeling so good and so healthy. When Sting had an injury and he wasn’t there, they ended up doing Jeff vs. Darby and Jeff had some singles matches for a few weeks. During that time, I was ready. That’s when I started dieting and I was trimming down. I was ready to get in the ring and started to rock and roll, whatever, and it’s just I’ve had time off, but just the way my body felt so good during that time, that makes me feel like I can go for a little bit longer. I would love to do another two years, especially if I’m capable because I feel like I don’t have to do the things the young guys do as long as I can go out there and be competitive and do my stuff, do the greatest hits of Matt Hardy, and sell for these people or take their stuff and then we’re good.”
His thoughts on his AEW contract coming to an end:
“What’s important to me, I think more than anything else right now, is just the legacy of Jeff and I. We do get mentioned in the conversation of the greatest tag team ever. We want to help younger teams, we want to build teams, but also you have to be put into a position to succeed where you do seem relevant, where you do seem like you’re at the top of your game. You can’t just go out there and get beat every single week. So it’s very important to me that we’re utilized in the right way so that when we do have a program with someone and we build to a big match and when it is, then it means something because if you just get beat without reason, it doesn’t really mean anything.”
On what he needs to add to his legacy:
“I think a legacy could be completed, like a good run as Tag Team Champions somewhere else where we have good quality matches, especially working with guys that we are smartly booked against. Jeff right now is in one of the best stages of his life that he’s ever been in throughout the entirety of his wrestling career. He’s just got everything together in his personal life, which is really good and he’s also a maniac now that he’s in this position. He gets up every morning at 5 am and he does cardio for an hour. This is kind of what he does and that’s his drill, but he’s also taking really good care of himself and he’s got it together. So I think between him and I kind of going through this midlife transformation and trying to be in the best shape that we can possibly be, I do think there’s legs in us being successful as a tag team, wherever it may be.”
On what his original plan was when he debuted in AEW:
“The original plan was that we were still going to do a double reveal. It was going to be in Rochester, New York, Brodie Lee’s hometown. We were both going to reveal on that day, so that didn’t necessarily change, but it was going to be a deal where I joined the Elite and I was their fifth man because Nick Jackson was out, and I was going to be in that first Blood and Guts with him, which ended up getting postponed.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQenuAWCZ
