Tony Khan No Fan Of Ex-AEW Star’s Popular Gimmick
A former AEW star has claimed that despite having a very popular gimmick with wrestling fans, Tony Khan didn’t like it and forced a change of direction.
Wrestling fans were introduced to Broken Matt Hardy all the way back in 2016 during the star’s time in TNA when he was feuding with his brother Jeff. The over-the-top character soon caught fire and the Broken Universe was the talk of the wrestling world.
When the Hardys returned to WWE in 2017, their presence was greeted by chants of “Delete” and it wasn’t long until ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy was let loose in that company.
When Matt Hardy debuted in AEW in March 2020 it was as his Broken character and he immediately entered what turned out to be an ill-fated feud with Sammy Guevara. However, as that came to an end, his Broken persona was phased out in favour of another of Hardy’s previous gimmicks – Big Money Matt.
Tony Khan Not A Fan Of Broken Matt Hardy
Speaking on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt Hardy explained why the change was made in AEW and admitted that Broken Matt Hardy wasn’t to the taste of Tony Khan:
‘Broken’ Matt Hardy wasn’t Tony Khan’s cup of tea anyway as it was. I think ‘Big Money Matt,’ a guy who’s out there bragging about his wealth and status and how much money he’s made in this industry, whatever because if you notice immediately after we do The Elite Deletion, you see me doing promos on TV kind of boasting about how I destroyed Sammy and it was the best thing on the pay-per-view. The wheels were already in motion to do ‘Big Money’ Matt.
Both Matt and Jeff Hardy left AEW in 2024 when their contracts with the company ended and they have since returned to action in TNA.