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Vince McMahon is known to be a whimsical person, and sometimes he acts toughest on superstars that he really sees potential in. One such performer is former WWE Champion Bray Wyatt. As per Matt Hardy, McMahon "laid into" Wyatt after they returned backstage following their tag team match.
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt were paired together as The Deleters of Worlds, and the duo won the RAW Tag Team Championship once. However, their run did not live up to the fans' expectations. Even Vince McMahon thought the two could have achieved more.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star recalled McMahon "reeming" into Bray Wyatt for the latter's performance in a tag team match.
'''Bray, why didn't you do that spider walk. What's wrong with you. You're not in shape, can you not do it anymore?' He really laid into him and then he said, 'you're not even playing the gimmick'. It was just like reeming Windham out.," said Hardy. (1:33:45-1:34:25)
Why was Vince McMahon extra tough on Bray Wyatt?
Hardy mentioned that he always felt Wyatt and McMahon had a father-son relationship. Bray captured multiple world championships during his time with the promotion. While McMahon praised the former Universal Champion whenever he was proud, he also criticized him harshly if he wasn't impressed:
“Windham [Bray Wyatt] has always had a very strange relationship with Vince McMahon, very strange, like, I almost felt like Vince looked at him like a son in some ways. When he would do things that he liked, he would love him and he would really give him everything that he could possibly give him," Hardy continued.
The WWE veteran said that McMahon scolded Wyatt because McMahon knew that he would likely stay in WWE, whereas Hardy would probably leave the promotion. He opined that since Wyatt had always been in the company's system until he was released in 2021, McMahon treated him differently compared to superstars from other places.
Wyatt was a homegrown star, so the chairman might have felt a stronger connection to him than Hardy, who spent several years away from the company. Now, Hardy and Wyatt are both former WWE stars, and the latter's future in wrestling is unclear.
