Former WWE star reacts to Matt Hardy criticizing AEW after leaving the company (Exclusive)
Former WWE star EC3 has reacted to Matt Hardy's recent comments about AEW. The Broken One left the Jacksonville-based promotion a couple of months ago.
AEW is well-known for often getting five stars for its matches from Dave Meltzer. Former star Matt Hardy recently spoke about the issue and claimed that the company should focus on creating some great storylines instead of just doing five-star matches. Hardy recently left All Elite Wrestling to return to TNA.
Speaking on Sportskeeda's "The Wrestling Outlaws" podcast with Dr. Chris Featherstone, EC3 shared what it takes to have a five-star match in professional wrestling.
"A five-star match is not a hard thing to do if you can create the characters people want to see and tell a great story. But great characters with compelling stories equals five-star wrestling if we had to give it a star rating which we don't. But, we can say that was a moment that meant something that we'll remember. So, whether as a talent or as a fan, I know Matt's into that, I could see a lot of people forgoing that for the actual in-ring aspect but I think it's very hard to have a five-star match with a crowd that is indifferent to what you're doing sort of excited to see movement." [2:17-3:10]
Matt Hardy recently aired frustration on his booking in AEW
Matt Hardy was a part of AEW from 2020 to 2024. The veteran was later joined by his brother Jeff Hardy in 2022 and the brothers were reportedly set to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships. However, Jeff Hardy's personal issues stopped their momentum and The Hardys never picked up again after that.
Speaking on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, the former WWE star reflected on Tony Khan's booking of him and his brother. Matt acknowledged Jeff's mistakes that cost them their push in the Jacksonville-based promotion.
“I feel like one of the issues in AEW — and I said this before on Busted Open earlier today. Like, when we first came in and first getting used we were in a good spot, it was very cool what we were doing. I liked what Tony [Khan] was doing with us, and we were on the path to win the titles. And then Jeff got in trouble; Jeff messed up. And that was all on Jeff, that was not on Tony, that was not on AEW, that was on Jeff. And it just is what it is."
The Hardys are now a part of TNA, however, the two men are reportedly working without contracts. It will be interesting to see if the duo returns for one final run in WWE.
If you use the quote from H1, Please give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and backlink the YouTube video.