Matt Hardy weighed in on WWE revisiting the Bloodline storyline so soon after its original run, sharing his thoughts on when it’s too early to recycle a story on the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.
Responding to a fan frustrated that WWE is running similar Bloodline beats not long after the last iteration, Hardy said he understood the gripe and laid out his rule of thumb.
“If you run something hard for two or three years, you’ve got to wait a while before you can recycle that,” he said. “Whenever you do recycle something, it has to have a new spin on it, has to have characters that feel different. It has to seem fresh, it has to have a new coat of paint on it.”
The original Bloodline saga ran for roughly four years before being rebooted about a year and a half later. Hardy felt that turnaround was quick.
“It’s very soon,” he said. “If they’re turning this into a continuation of the story, it has to look different. It has to come at you from a different perspective.”
Hardy stressed that simply repeating the same beats will not work. “It can’t be retread. You can’t have something for four years and take a little time off, then retread it again,” he said. “It has to come at you from a different angle, from a different perspective, and there has to be different motivation for all involved.”
Hardy noted that the same principle of reinvention applies to his own work, pointing to the fresh coat of paint he and Jeff are planning for the Hardys after Slammiversary.
