Vince McMahon allegedly thought "it didn't hurt" a top tag team to lose frequently in WWE
AEW star Matt Hardy believes Vince McMahon never saw tag team wrestling as a main event draw in WWE.
While WWE has been home to some of the greatest tag teams in the history of pro wrestling, the division has often suffered uneven booking that sometimes hurt the credibility of its teams.
Matt and his brother Jeff (The Hardy Boyz) experienced this firsthand during their run as a tag team in 2000. The duo, despite being one of the most popular teams in WWE, were frequently on the losing end of matches.
On a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt spoke about his former boss' mindset, revealing that Vince McMahon saw tag teams as "disposable". The AEW star also stressed that The Hardy Boyz's booking during their initial run was uneven despite them making a lot of money via merchandise:
"I just really think Vince [McMahon] never saw Tag Teams like a main event draw," said Matt. "He just thinks tag teams are disposable. He knew we were killing it with the merch and the royalties we were making were out of this world. But I still think he kind of felt like we were all Teflon and it didn't hurt us to get beat. I feel like to maintain credibility, you do need to pick up wins, especially in key situations. But just tag team wrestling has never been Vince's thing." (45:27)
Matt Hardy believes that Vince McMahon is always looking for the next singles star
Despite being known as one half of The Hardy Boyz, Matt Hardy has dedicated years of his career to singles competition. Years before he rocked the wrestling world with his "Broken Matt" character, he won the ECW and Hardcore Championships and engaged in feuds with Edge and his own brother Jeff.
Speaking on Vince McMahon's mindset in regards to the tag team and singles divisions, Matt Hardy implied that the WWE Chairman is more focused on singles stars who can headline premium shows:
"Vince is always looking for the next single star that's going to be a breakout star and become the world champion. Someone he can build a company around. A Undertaker or a Triple H, or a Rock, or a Stone Cold Steve Austin or a Roman Reigns. That is what Vince covets," said Matt. (46:04)
Nice pic of #VinceMcmahon and The #Undertaker at last week's #WWE "Hall of Fame" ceremony. https://t.co/djNYdZXEzV
Despite their exhilirating run as a team in the Attitude Era, The Hardy Boyz were split up in 2002. While Matt Hardy went on to wrestle the likes of The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio, his success as a singles competitor was limited, whereas his brother Jeff would eventually become a multi-time world champion.
The duo are currently signed to All Elite Wrestling where they compete as a tag team in what could be their last run together.
If you use any quotes from the article, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast with H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for transcription.