Matt Hardy appeared tonight on Between the Ropes. Among the topics covered:
— Matt discussed his release. He said that Johnny Ace called him and told him he was released but gave him no explanation aside from the typical “we have nothing for you and will be looking at new guys,” although he knew exactly why he’d been cut.
— He talked about the fan reaction during Lita’s segment at MSG Monday, thanking the fans for all the support.
— He said that, since his release, he’s had to triple the bandwidth at his site sue to all the hits, and they still can’t keep up.
— He said that he’d filmed some vignettes for his return. These were filmed by Matt, along with help from Jeff and Amy (Lita). He would have come back as a vigilante, Punisher-style character, driven over the edge by losing everything to Kane and sticking up for the little guy. His tagline would have been, “The Scar Is a Symbol”, referencing the scar on his knee.
— He said that Edge had been one of his best friends, and that when Edge was out with his neck injury, he was one of only four or five guys who kept in contact with him.
— He said that Edge is the superstar who dumped a bloody mary on Amy Weber, as cited by Amy in this interview.
— He talked about coming over to RAW, and how his first night there Lita caught heat backstage for screwing up some lines during their promo. She smarted off to those who were criticizing her, one of who was Vince. The backlash she caught bounced back on him, and he was immediately depushed.
— He said nothing is going on between him and Lisa Copeland, Edge’s wife, and dodged questions about who’s hotter, Lisa or Amy.
— He said that his 90 days expires July 10, and he’s already been getting calls from TNA, ROH, and Japan. He would love to go to TNA, but isn’t really interested in reforming The Hardy Boyz, as he wants to focus on his singles career, although he admitted a limited Hardy Boyz run would be a huge draw.
— He said he felt it was hypocritical of Vince to give one of the other wrestlers, who was married and cheating on his wife with one of the Divas, a free pass, but to cut him when he was the aggrieved party.
— He said that he never planned to publically comment on the Edge/Lita situation, but it hit the Net and a lot of false things were floating around, so he spoke up to set the record straight. He admits that he “may not have handled it in the best way,” but neither did WWE by releasing him.
— He claims he would have been able to co-exist with Lita and Edge if he came back to Raw. He still socializes with Lita casually, but with regards to Edge, he would simply ignore him and go about his business.
— He credits Paul Heyman with helping push the Matt Hardy V.1 character, and that it got over with some catch phrases and hand signals despite some in creative not believing it would. He also said that there were some things that he would have done differently with his character, such as turning babyface but keeping the same wise-ass/cocky attitude after he lost the CW Title to Rey. He enjoyed being on Smackdown, and thought that, when this incident occurred, he would be sent back to Smackdown, not cut.
— He said if Vince called him tomorrow and asked him to come back, he would probably say yes, and that overall his seven+ years there were positive adn Vince did a lot for him. He is just unhappy about how it all ended.
To hear Matt’s interview in its entirety, head over to BetweenTheRopes.com.
