Matt Hardy joined Joe Murray and James Stewart to talk about The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy Podcast coming to Kowloon, AEW Blood and Guts coming to Boston, his creative process with stories, the Firm Deletion Story and how he wants to finish his wrestling career.

Get your tickets for The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy live podcast at Kowloon at MattHardyLive.com or call 781-233-0077.

Joe Murray: All right. Back here in 1985, the Sports Hub on Joe Murray. And I’m joined by James Stewart of Stick to Wrestling the podcast, because we have a very special guest today.

James Stewart: We have a wonderful and delightful guest today.

Joe Murray: On the Volkswagen Dealers expert hotline is pro wrestling legend Matt Hardy. You see him on All Elite Wrestling, which will be coming to Boston. But also, he’ll be doing his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast live from the world famous Kowloon in Saugus on Tuesday night, July 18th. The show starts at 8 p.m., but there are VIP tickets available now. But joining us here on 98.5, the Sports Hub, which is now the Hardy compound, is Matt Hardy. Matt, thanks for joining us here in Boston. How are you?

Matt Hardy: I am doing great. And thank both of you so much for that very warm and wonderful introduction. And that was amazing. And I am super excited to come back to Boston. Not only am I going to be there and there’s going to be Blood and Guts the night before on Wednesday night, but we are also doing our first ever live podcast, the first ever live Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast from Kowloon, one of the greatest restaurants in all of space and time.

Joe Murray: Absolutely. So. So Matt, I think you’re going to be pretty good at this thing. You have a lot of opinions that people seem to, I guess, have a problem with, which really you’re just answering questions, you know, whether it’s about blood or it’s about toxic people or whatever. I think you’re going to be good at this. But, you know, I just want to ask you right off the bat, you know, people are just asking you questions about wrestling in general. You’ve been around this thing for a long time. You’ve been in different promotions. You’ve worked on so many different circuits. But what is it about your opinion that you think everyone has a big problem with these days?

•  

  Matt Hardy: I am one of those people who believe if you have a certain stance or a certain perspective or a certain opinion, I think you should stand by it. I mean, I’ve been about pro wrestling 31 years now and I am very open to new things. I am open to the new younger kids. Is wrestling changes as it evolves. But also I have these core fundamental values and I’m always going to stick to them. And if there is something that I speak about that I truly believe in, through and through, I’m going to stand up for myself and my stand, my ground.

   

  Joe Murray: And just just when it comes to the extreme life of Matt Hardy, I’ve been to a ton of these shows here at Kowloon. You don’t have to spoil anything here with a little spoiler alert, but you’re planning on potentially having some guests and maybe sharing some stories people haven’t heard before. Is that correct?

   

  Matt Hardy: Yeah. We are going to have some special guest. I mean, right now I think we’re going to have some of my already party members stop by. I think Isaiah Cassidy is going to be there. I think Daniel Garcia, one of the young up and comers. But we’re also going to break down and kind of go into a little bit of this Firm storyline that we did starting last September, myself and Ethan Page. We entered into a very intense rivalry and there was a point where he had taken advantage of private party and I tried to help him out and then he took advantage of me and got me in there. Then I befriended him falsely, but then I befriended him and I got out of the deal and now he actually works for me. And now he’s going to turn over a new leaf. And he’s actually being a good person, a good human being, which I like a lot. But I think we’re going to delve into that story in depth there. And it’s going to be extremely interesting because you’re going to hear from all the parties involved and you’ll hear a lot of the behind the scenes stuff, which sometimes is more interesting than in front of the camera.

• James Stewart: So one of my favorite things about listening to the Extreme of Life of Matt Hardy with you and Jon Alba is that you’re willing to dive deeper into different subject matters, doing deep dives into your relationship with the Firm Deletion match, talking with Adam Cole, with mental health, with your relationship with your father. A recent episode with Adam Cole, you talked about how Adam Cole learned from you not only in the ring but outside of the ring interacting with fans. So if you grab a VIP ticket for Kowloon, you can get in early and you’re not going to have a three second meet, greet, take a photo with Matt Hardy. You’re actually going to have a conversation with Matt Hardy. You’re actually going to have an experience with Matt Hardy. And that’s one of the great things that I think that you have done from the outside looking in and listening is you become a mentor to a lot of these wrestlers. And what does that mean for you at this point in your career? To be a mentor and to be a guiding light for you right now?

   

  Matt Hardy: I mean, I treasure that title, a mentor, and especially guys when they are so grateful and appreciative for it. And of me mentoring them and helping them meet, giving back. Because when I first came up during the nineties, you know, and it was, it was kind of the wild, wild West days, a lot of the a lot of the top guys were the main acts. They were like, share their secrets. You know, they were to make sure they could maintain their spot as long as they could and nobody had the information underneath them to rise to their level or bypass them. On the other hand, I am here to share all my secrets because I care more about the greater good. I care about pro-wrestling in general, and I want all the talents with AEW to excel and be as great of the performers that can possibly be. So for me to give back to private parties or pages or whoever it may be that I work with Butcher Blade, there’s several groups. And for those guys to be so appreciative of it, that’s what’s important to me because I feel like I am gifted and blessed with so much in this industry. It is my job to give back and make sure that the next generation continues to keep this business strong.

   

  James Stewart: I’m always fascinated with the creative process of wrestling, sports, entertainment. So when you’re thinking about who you want to work with and in this particular case, the Firm deletion match happens, which was outstanding, what is generally your process like when you’re coming up with who you might want to work with? Some of your ideas, some of your stories? What’s your creative process like?

   

  Matt Hardy: Well, I want to say this. My my creative process is to try and always put a new spin on things and somehow make it original. I mean, it’s wrestling, and I feel like most things in pro wrestling have been done dozens of times, But I always feel like there’s a way you can put a little bit of a spin on it, which which may makes it feel original to the viewer. And there’s also going to be new viewers that haven’t seen old content or old stories or old angles in the past. So with the farm deletion, this whole this whole thing worked out, it was very ironic because my brother and I, we were most likely going to be the 83 world tag team champions and we got have some stuff there for the summer. Once, once that didn’t happen and Jeff had his entertainment, which he’s doing great now and I’m so proud of them. I ended up I was offered the page and I was totally accepting of it. And I’m so glad I did because I’m so glad I got to do it. Page is an amazing performer. He’s an amazing human being. And we really kind of laid the blueprint for, you know, this has been going on since September. Now we’re not nine, ten months deep. It’s crazy, you know, And we kind of laid the blueprint where we wanted to go right from the jump and like, you know, the October-November period. So this has been like the longest consistent story on a W program. And that’s what’s important. We keep the continuity. Telling a good story and having all the characters involved give reasons to evoke emotions from the fans and also make them want to follow their journey to get to that destination.

• Joe Murray: All right. We’re talking with pro wrestling legend Matt Hardy here on 98.5 in Boston. He’s doing his live podcast at Kowloon on Tuesday, which we’ll get to in a minute here. But, Matt, I wanted to ask you just AEW, all you hear about is the pillars, right? The young pillars. And here you are tagging with Jeff Jarrett of all people, but which I love, right? Your incorporate even stings about you name it. Everyone, the greats are involved with the new talent that’s coming along now. But is there someone that you think should be a pillar that maybe isn’t getting the notoriety or fallen into that category? Or is there anyone in particular that you love in the sport right now who you think should be a part of that pillar conversation?

   

  Matt Hardy: I mean, there’s a lot of guys that are great. The first person that pops in my mind, which I think he’s going to be a huge star going forward, and he’s also from your neck of the woods. There is Daniel Garcia. I think he’s phenomenal. I think he’s going to do great things. I think private party is going to do great things, especially Mark MacLean is on the the healing path right now. He’ll be back sooner than later. But I am so proud of Isaiah Cassidy. He’s grown so much during the time we’ve been together. He almost like soaks up information and intelligence like a sponge and he has learned so much and he’s really got it down. They’ve always had the moves, they’ve always been super athletic and can do all these incredible spots and whatnot. But he is really like soaked up and really mastered the art of being a character. Now that he does, it’s crazy. He’s like a legitimate single star now because people love that so much.

   

  James Stewart: You mentioned kind of in passing that you and Jeff were on your path to becoming AEW tag team champions. Is that still a goal and going forward, what do you have as far as goals for your podcast and either the rest of your AEW run or the rest of your career?

   

  Matt Hardy: Yeah. The definite goal, the number one priority on myself and Jeff’s list is to win the World Cup. But as we procure the world tag team titles and that will just help cement our legacy as being one of the greatest tag teams to.

   

  James Stewart: Maybe have another expedition of goals.

   

  Matt Hardy: I would love to have another expedition of gold, you know. There’s a lot of companies that we could reach out to here. There’s New Japan Pro wrestling that way. There’s Ring of Honor. So, yeah, I could see another expedition of gold in the future. That would be very exciting. But one of the things I do love about pro-wrestling in general at this stage of my career that I’m in. I love the fact that I can still be maintained and keep my status and do positive things. But I can also give my rub off to younger talent and help them excel and grow as well.

• Joe Murray: All right, Matt, we’ll sell some tickets in a minute here. But I wanted to ask you this. I you know, I just Googled Matt Hardy today and boom, there’s so many things that you have said on some sort of podcast or somewhere. So I have a follow up to some of these things that I saw. But we all hear about retirement matches. You’re still going strong. I know you’re looking ahead down the line, but what would be the perfect Matt Hardy retirement match? India, have somebody in mind you’d love to have that with.

   

  Matt Hardy: You know, my favorite answer when it comes to this question, people say, like, if you were going to have one last match, what would it be? And what would be the most appropriate And the most appropriate answer I can give you is Edge and Christian, because these two guys, the Hardys, Edge and Christian, we made one another. We had that series, the Terry Invitational Tournament, which culminated in the tag team Ladder match at No Mercy in 1999. And that really put us on the map. And, you know, who knows, depth could possibly be possible. Christian obviously has a W who knows what future is. But one last match, you know, these guys have wrestled each other for three decades. It has a hard edge. And Christian, that would be my ultimate final match.

   

  Joe Murray: And do you have a favorite memory of wrestling in Boston or just Massachusetts, New England in general?

   

  Matt Hardy: One of my favorite moments of wrestling in Boston was the Royal Rumble in 2003, which I had just started getting really hot as Matt Hardy Ferguson won the since attitude and I had the longest run in that battle Royal and that is one of my favorite royal Rumble memories for sure, as I was kind of like I was one of the cornerstones of that whole Royal Rumble match. That’s probably my favorite Boston Regional. So I’m a big fan of the tables match there myself and you have got to have Butcher Blade. It was in Boston just a little while back to just the show that we can still go out break those tables like crazy to.

   

  James Stewart: I was there. You were a nice enough to give me a high five sit in front row, Matt. So I appreciate that.

   

  Matt Hardy: It makes my day any time I see you at the arena.

   

  James Stewart: Thank you, Matt. I appreciate that. Wednesday, July 19th in Boston is Blood and Guts. Tickets are available at TD Garden, AEWtix.com or Ticketmaster.com. The night before. What you want to do is you want to go to MattHardyLive.com or call between 12 and 8pm EST, 781-233-0077 to go see the live version of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy. VIP tickets are $100. You can get in at 6:00pm, get in, have a conversation, have an experience with Matt Hardy, sit down, enjoy the great Kowloon food. And then the live show is going to begin about 8:00 or so, depending on how chatty you are with the fans. Matt But my last question is what’s your favorite dish at Kowloon?

   

  Matt Hardy: My favorite dish includes the Mongolian beef, also the sushi. I’m a big, big fan of.

   

  Joe Murray: Ooh, they got the big sushi bar there, but we got to put asses in seats. Matt That’s what it’s all about. We got the extreme life of Matt Hardy Tuesday night, July 18th. The show starts at eight, but the meet and greet, you’re going to be meeting people, taking photos, autographs. Is that correct?

   

  Matt Hardy: Yes. If you purchase a VIP ticket, which is 100 bucks, not only does that allow you to come in for the podcast, but you get priority seating wherever you want to sit. You get to sit up front, you get to choose the best seat in the house, and then I’m going to be doing a meet and greet where if you come in, you’re guaranteed an autograph with me. And I’ll tell you this right now, whenever I do comic cons right now, my agent, whenever I sign an action figure, it’s a $20 because that item ends up being very, very valuable once it’s sold, especially like the new a broken massager in this case figure that I have. So $400, I’ll sign your action, figure off to a picture with you, and you get to hear the podcast. Plus you’ll get to meet some other eight superstars who are going to be out there that night, too. So it’s a hell of a deal. And you come in early and like James said earlier, whenever I come through, we’re going to have Tom. We’re not going to rush this thing. I have 2 hours. You know, there’s probably going to be within 200 people in the in the building is what I’m guessing. I want to take my time and have a little conversation with everyone else and just talk shop, because I really love being able to meet people that are legitimate fans of myself and my wrestling career and my podcast and actually get to know them and have a great conversation. That’s that’s the kind of person I am and that’s the kind of experience I just want to get back to my supporters.

   

  Joe Murray: Well, the Boston crowd certainly loves you, man. And we can’t wait to. I will be there. James and I will be there. We can’t wait to be deleted when we walk in. But, Matt, appreciate your time today, man. And again, Kowloon Tuesday night, great shows. I’ve been to all these podcasts. Mats is going to be exceptional as well and he’ll have guests, you name it, meet and greet. Matt appreciate the time here on 95, the Sports Hub in Boston, and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday night in action at AEW.

   

  Matt Hardy: Yes, sir. And I appreciate the time with you. And I promise you this, regardless of how long that line is at the meet and greet, I promise I will meet, greet and delete every single one of them until that one line is finished.

   

  Joe Murray: Thank you. Matt Hardy joining us here.

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