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I've been a Matt Hardy fan for over two decades now and have even interacted with him in a previous WWE teleconference. But it was a very special experience for me personally, to meet one of the greatest minds in the history of sports entertainment.
Matt Hardy wasn't in character and answered each of the questions I asked him like the Matt Hardy of yore would. Therefore, this interview is actually a lot more informative than it would have otherwise been. Special thanks to WWE India and the kind folks at Sony Entertainment Television for this amazing opportunity.
You have teased retirement recently. Is that something that's on the horizon for you, maybe?
Hardy: No, it's not. I took time off to heal some nagging injuries and I'll be back sooner rather than later. So, I've been doing this twenty-six years. I was just a little beat up. I was given a little time off. From when I've been back, for over a year and half, I was full time. I did everything.
Jeff was off with the surgery, so just had a little bit of time off. I think Bray needed a little time off. He'd had a car accident. So, I think it was just a little bit of time off for everyone. So, I think you'll see an evolution of Bray Wyatt and an evolution of Matt Hardy.
How did those backstage in WWE react to the Woken Universe?
Hardy: They were big fans, once it all started. Because it was something very different. Nothing had been done on that level. Jericho was the one who facilitated all of that. He had a link to watch the Final Deletion before it came out. They were in Japan actually. The whole WWE locker room watched it.
Upon coming back and finally getting to the point where I could finally become 'Woken' Matt Hardy, The Ultimate Deletion, considering I got to do that in the main event slot on RAW was such an honour. Because it wasn't Vince's creation or WWE's creation, it's hard for them to fully get behind something like that.
I got to create it. It kind of went through their filters, but we still got to do it. And it was on RAW and in the main event spot, so it was very special. What an achievement and goal it was to do that.
And then the House Hardy special. We got Jeremy Borash and James Long, two of the forefathers of the production of the Woken Universe.
So, to be able to do the House Hardy special was amazing. And we kind of got to do that ourselves. So, it was so much fun and so great and we're looking forward to doing more of that, going forward.
Did you check out what The Wyatt Family and The New Day had done, in the Wyatt Compound?
Hardy: I did see it. I was somewhere, I was working and I was able to watch it on TV. Jeff and I actually watched it.
What did you think of it?
Hardy: Well, I think the issue with some of that and the House of Horrors match too, and I've had these conversations obviously because myself and Bray Wyatt became great friends while we were teaming, but I feel like wrestling fans understand wrestling is entertainment.
And I feel like when you present something that's so broad and so imaginative, like The Final Deletion or the House of Horrors, I feel like you can't take yourself too seriously. And I felt like both of these were too serious, almost as a horror production. While ours was like we were winking at the audience.
We're having fun here and this is entertaining, but you're in on it. And that was my goal with the entirety of the Woken Universe. On my way to India, I watched Deadpool 2. And Deadpool is very reminiscent of what I was trying to do with the Broken Universe. Even Preacher has a lot of the same humour. It's this fantastical world but there are a lot of inside jokes making fun of it.
That was kind of the whole point and that was my goal with all that.
What was your reaction to the match between Brother Nero and Randy Orton with the whole ear twisting thing? Did you watch it?
Hardy: I did. I felt like the whole deal where Randy was doing the whole thing with his ear, I felt like it was one of the most legitimate TV moments there's been in a while where you really feel for the guy. It was a real simple and not a complicated thing, but I felt like it was really well done.
Be sure to catch Matt Hardy and other WWE superstars only on SONY TEN 1 and SONY TEN 1 HD, every single week.
