Former WWE Tag Team Champion blasts 'glorified backyarder' Matt Hardy for not visiting a hospitalized star
Former WWE star Paul London recently spoke to Nick Hausman for Inside The Ropes and spared no punches when it came to putting Matt Hardy on blast.
London's gripes with the current AEW star stem from their time shared in WWE. At Armageddon 2006, Paul London and Brian Kendrick, the reigning Tag Team Champions at the time, defended their titles in a four-way ladder match against MNM (Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury), The Hardy Brothers (Matt and Jeff), and the team of William Regal and Dave Taylor (previously known as The Blue Bloods).
This match is, unfortunately, mostly remembered for the horrific "seesaw spot," which saw Joey Mercury suffer a broken nose and broken orbital bone after Jeff Hardy jumped onto one end of a ladder causing the other end to smash into the MNM member's face.
According to London, the spot was not only unnecessary for the match but also performed without the rest of the field being in the loop:
“We had no idea that Matt — that spot was being put together. That was something they went and put together on their own.” [H/T: Inside The Ropes]
Remember how mental the 4-way tag team ladder match was at Armageddon 2006? https://t.co/tFVzv88RZ1
Also, London takes issue with the fact that Matt Hardy never went to visit Mercury while he has in hospital after the stunt:
“So, yeah, nonsense, nonsense. And mind you, one of those nonsensical backyarders was the only one — probably the one who came up with the f*cking thing was the only one who didn’t go visit Joey in the hospital afterwards. We all went to see him afterwards. I don’t even care for the guy. But as a fellow coworker, guy in the match, yeah, I’m gonna go check on this dude, because he might lose his eye. I don’t know what the extent of this injury is like, we’re gonna go check on him."
Former WWE star Paul London calls The Hardys 'glorified backyarders'
It's no secret that Matt and Jeff Hardy rose through the ranks of the wrestling business after starting off in their own backyard promotion. Paul London believes that the brothers carried this mentality into their WWE Armageddon 2006 match.
During the same Inside The Ropes interview, London also mocked Team Extreme by giving his interpretation of the brothers' thought process around the seesaw spot:
“‘So let’s get our backyard sh*t in because we’re glorified backyarders. So let’s do what we do. We’re in Virginia. We’re in the backyard of North Carolina. Let’s do what we do. This is what we do.'”
Brian Kendrick and Paul London one of the best tag teams ! 🥲❤ https://t.co/jN2yEUOQff
Joey Mercury has since recovered from his injuries and continued to wrestle further until transitioning into a backstage role for WWE and, more recently, Ring of Honor.