Matt Hardy left the WWE in 2020 after he reached his contract expiry date, it wasn’t because Vince McMahon and Triple H didn’t want him to stay. It was simply not what the tag team legend envisioned for the end of his storied career.
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Even after wrestling for the AEW for two years, Hardy remained uncertain about his in-ring career. He knew McMahon felt differently and eventually, this led to McMahon turning on him during a TV show. On the latest episode of “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy”, he talked about how he felt at the time. He thinks that McMahon saw him more as a producer than a wrestler and that’s why he was being taken out of the spotlight. Hardy knows the role is something he could potentially consider in the future, but wasn’t ready to accept it just then because he didn’t think it would have any effect on his in-ring career
“I just told him, ‘I know how you see me,’” Hardy said, recalling his conversation with McMahon about leaving WWE. “You’re trying to move me to a producer role, and I’m not ready to do that quite yet. I’m ready to still finish up in the ring, I know I have a few more years left and I’m going to go until it’s time for me to step out. That’s what I want to do, that’s my passion, that’s what I love, and also it’s where I can make the most money, and at the end of the day, pro wrestling is a business and it is all about going where you can make the most money.”
“He absolutely respected that and he said ‘Well, thank you for being honest,’ because so many people just bullsh*t him all the time … They knew where I was going to end up.”
Triple H, who was then the executive producer of NXT, made one last-ditch effort to get Hardy to stay by pitching him a role as leader of an NXT faction.
“He called me afterwards, he tried to work deals with me doing stuff in NXT,” Hardy said. “It’s so funny because this shows how much Vince wanted me as a producer. [Triple H] said ,‘Well, we can pay you x amount of money if you do this NXT thing … I’ll put you with a group of guys so you don’t have to do all the work, being an older guy, you’re like the leader of the group. And then you can also still go to TVs, “Raw” and “SmackDown” … and start being a coach, because that’s really what Vince wants to see you as, is a producer.’”
Hardy rejected The Game and Broke Universe for the second time, but even if he did the offer came too late, because the character was created in 2016 and Hardy was already with Impact Wrestling.
“My contract had already expired at this point,” Hardy said. “I had already talked to the Bucks and Tony Khan and the powers-that-be at AEW, and I’d already made a handshake deal to go there. It was a good deal, and I thought that was my best route going forward, so I just once again respectfully declined and said, ‘Thank you very much. I want you to know I appreciate you reaching out to me like this and I’ll never forget it.’ I always remember when people are good to me and I always hold that dear in my heart, and I always remember that I owe them.”
