Matt Hardy says he and Jeff Hardy were very close to working regularly for ECW in the late 1990s, before WWE stepped in with contracts.
Hardy discussed it on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, in an episode that looked back on WWE’s In Your House: Badd Blood from October 1997. At the time, the brothers were working WWE shows as enhancement talent, paid by the night.
“We were getting very frustrated. We’re like, well, they say they like us, they want to do something. Like, we need to make money. Like, we got to do something. And you know, we were very close, because we were talking with Sandman, and we talked to several people from ECW. We were very, very close… working for ECW on a regular basis, you know, at that time. But then WWE offered that deal, and you know, that was ultimately where we wanted to go anyway, more than anywhere else.”
Hardy credited a segment with Kane, who debuted at Badd Blood, as the turning point. It aired on Raw the next night, October 6, 1997, in Kansas City. He said the brothers were told on the day that they would be sent out as if for a match, only for Kane to attack them.
“Here comes Kane out, and you guys need to be kind of froze, like, oh my God, I guess we gotta attack him, you know. And then boom, chokeslam, bing bing, and out of the ring, and throws me out and throws Jeff on top of me… They said, like, this is a big deal because this is a live show, and if you guys make this guy look good right from the jump, this is going to be very beneficial for you guys, because you know, we see a lot of potential in you guys.”
He said Jim Ross pulled them aside afterward.
“I’ll never forget, after we did the segment and we came back through, they grabbed us, JR mainly. I remember he said, ‘Look, if you guys end up deciding to do something else, like if they, you know, talk to you, WCW or, you know, ECW, whatever else, just let us know. Contact us first, because we’re interested in doing something with you, and we’re gonna start working on that.'”
Hardy said the offer came a few months later, at TV tapings in Richmond, Virginia, around the end of February or start of March.
“I remember when Bruce Prichard said, ‘Yeah, we want to talk to you guys.’ And then I remember our whole group… they said, ‘Oh no, no, sorry, we want to talk to Matt and Jeff. Can you guys come with us?’ And they went up in the bleachers and sat down and talked about what they want to do, and they handed us a contract right there.”
The Hardys signed with WWE in 1998. Hardy said that as enhancement talent, they started at $150 a night and had to pay a $100 booking fee out of that to Gary Sabaugh, the Italian Stallion, who booked them on WWE shows.
The Hardys wrestle at TNA Bound For Glory on Sunday in Tampa.
