AEW star rejected a team-up angle with The Fiend and former WWE Champion, says he was "mentally checked out"
Matt Hardy recently revealed that he was pitched a collaboration with Bray Wyatt's Fiend character by WWE ahead of him signing with AEW.
During his time with WWE, Matt worked with Bray as both an adversary and an ally, defeating the Eater of Worlds in the Ultimate Deletion cinematic match. They also teamed up as the Deleters of Worlds to win the RAW Tag Team Titles.
It has now been revealed by Hardy that WWE also wanted to include Jeff in the team. During the latest episode of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, he revealed that the pitch included the return of the 'Willow' character for The Charismatic Enigma.
The angle was said to be an attempt to get the former ECW Champion to re-sign with the company.
"There was a pitch to get me to try to re-sign my contract... They set a big match with Bray [Wyatt] at WrestleMania and they said, 'What if we did something now where Bray is doing something as the Fiend and people are trying to stop him and then all of a sudden there's an appearance of a very hardcore Matt Hardy or Jeff Hardy? But then we see on the talk show where Bray is and he's talking to all the kids and then you see Broken Matt, and Willow the Wisp shows up," Hardy said. [1:44:05 - 1:45:05]
The older Hardy brother did, however, concede that the plan didn't go ahead through his own decision, as he was "mentally checked out" and had an inkling the angle would be in the short-term.
"Which sounded very cool and awesome but I also knew at that time that would probably last six or seven weeks and then it would be done so I was already mentally checked out." [1:45:06 - 1:45:13]
Check out the full podcast below:
Matt Hardy joined AEW shortly after his WWE departure
Hardy left WWE at the beginning of 2020 when his contract expired, whereas his brother Jeff remained until 2021. Matt returned to his 'broken' character as he emerged on AEW Dynamite, coming to the aid of The Elite in their feud against The Inner Circle.
2 DAYS. #AEWDON
First EVAH Stadium Stampede
The #ELITE vs The #InnerCircle
It will be EPIC. https://t.co/NzpWFi2oeW
He was also part of the Andrade Hardy Family Office alongside former WWE Superstar Andrade El Idolo in AEW. They later went on to feud against each other as the AHFO betrayed Matt.
Hardy has been recently joined by his brother Jeff in AEW as they go into a feud against The Young Bucks. It also remains to be seen whether The Hardys will challenge for the tag team titles any time soon.
If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to Sportskeeda and credit the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast.