Matt Hardy Claims The Elite Did Nothing Wrong, That They Were The Victims
Matt Hardy has given his opinion on the AEW All Out backstage fight by stating that he felt like The Elite were the victims in an unfortunate situation.
The much-talked-about AEW All Out backstage fight occurred on September 4th after the pay-per-view took place in Chicago. Following CM Punk’s angry comments at a post-show press conference where he ripped on Colt Cabana, “Hangman” Adam Page and AEW’s Executive Vice Presidents among other things, Punk was confronted in the locker room by The Elite – Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson).
From there, Punk got into a fight against The Young Bucks and Omega while Punk’s friend and former AEW Producer Ace Steel apparently bit Omega while throwing a chair at Nick Jackson’s face leading to a black eye. Everybody involved in the fight was suspended while Steel was fired, Punk is likely never coming back to AEW and The Elite trio were suspended until recently being shown in videos on AEW television.
Recent reports have also noted that The Elite trio have been backstage at AEW shows, so their return to television is imminent as they likely try to win back the Trios Tag Team Titles from the current champions, Death Triangle.
While speaking on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, the former WWE Tag Team Champion showed his support towards The Elite.
“It’s going to be very interesting to see The Elite back, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. I’m very happy they are back. I will say this right here and right now, those guys didn’t do anything wrong in this situation. If anything, they were the victims. I’m telling you that from a first person perspective. I was there, I witnessed it all. I love all three of those guys. I’ve known Matt and Nick forever. I’ve just gotten to know Kenny while working with AEW. I’m very happy they are returning to TV and they are back in the mix. They deserve to be in the mix.”
After people misconstrued his comments by saying “I was there” which was a reference to Matt working for AEW, but not specifically the All Out fight itself, Matt clarified what he meant on Twitter.
My comments from this week’s @matthardypod have been misconstrued. I WAS NOT at All Out 2022. I DID NOT say I witnessed the events at All Out. I witnessed the entire process in real time over the months & stand by my comment that the Elite were not in the wrong.
— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) November 4, 2022
Hardy went on to talk about how The Elite trio were the heart and soul of AEW, so it’s good to see them back after nearly months away.
“When I saw them yesterday, I said, ‘It’s so good to see you guys. You guys are the heart and soul of AEW.’ The Elite, in many ways, are the identity of AEW. Without those guys, you don’t have AEW as it is right now. Things are very different. Tony Khan may have started wrestling in some capacity, but All Elite Wrestling, those guys are the identity of AEW. It’s very important to have them back.”
The next AEW pay-per-view is called Full Gear in two weeks time on November 19th and it’s possible that The Elite could be in action at that show.