AEW's Matt Hardy has opened up about being the recipient of one of Vince McMahon's infamous booking changes.
The WWE Chairman has certain ideals that he sticks to and one of those ideals involves how he looks at babyfaces. Matt Hardy was involved in numerous memorable matches during his time in McMahon's promotion, and he won many of them alongside his brother Jeff Hardy. However, in one of the instances they were booked to win, a last-minute change in plans meant the heels went over.
On the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star recalled how McMahon took a different direction because he didn't want the outcome to be too predictable:
“Well, that was supposed to be our big win and then he said, ‘well, it’s too predictable,'” Hardy said. “‘Everybody in that venue is going to know you’re going to win and they’re expecting you to win, so I don’t want to do that. Let’s do it the next show.'' (h/t: WrestlingInc)
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Hardy went on to explain how on occasion it's better for the heels to win in order to tell a better story:
''I think sometimes that’s a good thing, especially when you have babyfaces that are over and that been in this long rivalry, and the fans want to be rewarded with this proper payoff. (...) Vince is a big advocate of, ‘if you’re over as a babyface, there are times where you don’t need to win, it doesn’t make a difference.'' (h/t: WrestlingInc)
Matt Hardy spoke about how a long road to success aided AEW Champion Hangman Adam Page
Matt Hardy spoke at length about wrestling fans being impatient. He believes that sometimes a loss can be better from a storyline standpoint and used AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page to illustrate his point.
“Wrestling fans sometimes just become obsessed with wanting stuff so immediately as opposed to waiting,” Hardy said. “Sometimes it’s very frustrating because they claim to be the smartest fans. (...) in the big scheme of things, things are done for a purpose, (...) if you have a good booker. (...) it helped Adam have a competitive match with Matt Hardy, someone who’s known and established. (...) it doesn’t hurt him to get beat because he hasn’t been established at all anyways.”
AEW told a multi-year story with Hangman Page in his quest to win the world title. There were times when fans felt the ship had sailed, but as Matt Hardy pointed out, their patience eventually paid off.
What do you think about how heels and babyfaces are booked? Sound off below!