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Matt Hardy is one of the most creative individuals in the wrestling business. He is known for the unique characters he has introduced to the fans over the years, and one of his most iconic personas was his Broken Matt Hardy character. In a recent interview, Hardy revealed why he dropped the character a few months after his AEW but.
Broken Matt made his presence felt in the wrestling business during his run with IMPACT Wrestling in 2016. The character has also made appearances on WWE and ROH programming. It was also Matt Hardy's persona when he arrived in AEW
Though he had enjoyed a lot of success with the character in the past, Matt Hardy revealed in an interview with Asbury Park Press that he felt compelled to move on due to the lack of live fans.
"Broken Matt Hardy is a very audience-friendly character. t needs a crowd, it needs an audience, and it just was not in the cards to be Broken Matt Hardy because his debut was in the first-ever empty arena era, pandemic-era show, the first empty arena show that AEW had. Broken Matt Hardy is very theatrical, and it doesn’t translate as well to the current AEW audience that sits at home and watches because I’ve realized that this is a much younger audience. It’s a much more sports-centric-type audience."
Matt Hardy currently portrays the Big Money Matt character, and he is set to face "Hangman" Adam Page at AEW Revolution. In the interview, he also explained why this persona is the right fit for him at this point in time.
Matt Hardy credits Tony Khan for allowing him to change characters
For AEW fans, Matt Hardy's transition from Broken Matt to Big Money Matt was quite unexpected. He went defeating Sammy Guevara in "The Elite Deletion" match to managing Private Party in the span of a few weeks.
It's rare to see wrestlers substantially change their gimmicks so suddenly, and Hardy credited Tony Khan for giving him the freedom to explore different characters in AEW.
"I tip my hat to Tony Khan. He allowed me to try kind of switching characters and see how people reacted to it. And I think being Big Money Matt and being a heel, considering how I’m an older guy here and it’s such a younger demo(graphic), I think that’s the way for me to go. So I’m very happy with the groove that I’m currently in."
What do you think of the Big Money Matt character, compared to Broken Matt Hardy? Sound off in the comments below.
