Matt Hardy Explains Why WWE NXT Tag Team Title Reign Was Brief
Matt Hardy has opened up about why the Hardy Boyz had such a short reign as the WWE NXT Tag Team Champions.
The WWE NXT-TNA Showdown episode of NXT on October 7th featured a big match that saw the Hardy Boyz duo of Matt & Jeff Hardy defending the TNA Tag Team Titles against the NXT Tag Team Champions, Darkstate.
That match at Showdown was “Winners Take All,” and it ended with the Hardys becoming NXT Tag Team Champions for the first time in their illustrious careers.
At the WWE NXT Halloween Havoc PLE, The Hardys defended the NXT Tag Team Titles against Darkstate’s Dion Lennox and Osiris Gimmick in a rematch.
Unfortunately for the Hardys, they lost the match in part because Jeff tried a Swanton Bomb off a ladder, but it didn’t connect, and Jeff took a painful bump through a table. Darkstate gave Jeff a Doomsday Device clothesline through a table to win the match.
The title loss at Halloween Havoc meant that the Hardy Boyz only held the NXT Tag Team Titles for 18 days, which means it was a very short title reign.
While some Hardy Boyz fans may be upset that Matt & Jeff’s title reign was so brief, Matt Hardy wasn’t too broken up about it on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast.
“It happens, man, that’s one thing I can say in WWE, there’s never been a very, very long, Hardy voice tag team title run, because we don’t need the titles. We go out there doing our stuff. We’re a legacy act. People are going to be behind us. They support us.
We’re in a certain category where not a lot of wrestlers get to when so said, done, like, evergreen over. So that’s very cool. So the titles aren’t us having the titles for a year, isn’t really going to change how much we’re getting over. They can help some other team out a little more.”
Meanwhile, in TNA, Matt Hardy believes it’s beneficial for the brothers to be the Tag Team Champions.
“But I think a TNA, if you look at us holding the TNA World Tag Team Titles, then people said, Oh my god, I love TNA, because the Hardys are their champions right now. And these guys, they’re the goats. They’re the greatest tag team of all time. They’re the champs. So it’s more beneficial with TNA.”
Matt Hardy Believes The Hardy Boyz NXT Tag Team Title Win Was Strategically Timed
Since The Hardy Boyz title win at NXT Showdown was before TNA Bound for Glory, that meant their match against The Dudleys was for the TNA & NXT Tag Team Titles. Matt Hardy went on to state it was the right time for WWE to put the NXT titles on the Hardy brothers.
“I think the whole motivation that there were thoughts when we came around that first time about possibly winning the NXT titles, and it didn’t happen. But I feel like they thought this was the best time to do it, because if we became NXT Tag Team Champions right before going to Bound for Glory, it would also build interest and intrigue for that show as well.
And I think they were trying to help out TNA and Bound for Glory, as far as drawing a big house, and we had a huge, massive walk-up that night. So I think it did help.”
While further making that point, Matt pointed to SummerSlam when the Hardys and Dudleys appeared on camera.
“I mean, you look like at SummerSlam when myself and Jeff in the Dudleys, we’re sitting ringside. I mean, you had Michael Cole at SummerSlam and say, at TNA is Bound for Glory, it’s going to be the Hardys versus the Dudleys. I mean, that was huge. That was huge for TNA man.”
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