Former WWE star Matt Hardy spoke with Wrestling Inc.com to discuss if he would ever return to WWE, working with boxer Evander Holyfield while in WWE and more. Here are the highlights.
On if he would ever return to WWE:
“I’ll be honest, when I left I was mad, angry, bitter. I’m sure I pissed people off. I talk to a lot of people there now and I have a good relationship with those people. It’s real easy to be in the WWE and let your passion, or your pain, or the schedule put you in a bad place. Guys like Alberto El Patron and CM Punk were so frustrated, they just wanted out of there by the end. There were so many guys. Even though that happens, it’s almost a natural occurrence in some ways. People always ask if Jeff and I will go back, or go into the Hall of Fame, and I don’t know man. One thing I try to live by is to not have an end game. Just kind of live for the moment. Anything I do in wrestling now is extra credit. I live day to day. Where I end up, I don’t know. Right now I’m happy in TNA, happy with the schedule, happy with my place, and I want to become TNA Champion. The wrestling business and young wrestlers need TNA to get exposure. We do great business internationally, and now we just need to do that domestically. I wave the TNA flag proudly.”
On working with Evander Holyfield:
“It was amazing. What a shock when they brought him in. It was also intimidating. I’d talked with Evander Holyfield, and everything was cool and ready to go. Evander’s manager was his wife, and apparently, JBL had said something backhanded about Evander being there, and Holyfield heard it because the locker room was wired into one of the earlier shows. He heard it and got upset. I went back to speak to him and he was mad. People were like, ‘what are you going to do? Evander Holyfield’s mad at you, he’s not going to want to do any business.’ I remember we went out and fought, and everyone was happy with it, and Vince told JBL ‘You have to be careful about what you say, because we almost lost Evander Holyfield,’ and JBL said to him ‘Hell, we almost lost Matt!’ One of the greatest boxers of all-time, and he’s legitimately mad. If he wants to beat me up there’s nothing I can do. It was intimidating, but it was an honor to be in the ring with him.”
