TNA World Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy took to an episode of his “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including the decline of AEW and the importance of ticket sales.
Hardy said, “I think the biggest barometer is just, you know, ticket sales. They do have some shows when they go in bigger markets and they have a bigger show, and people have a lot of faith in them. But now they have decided to run smaller venues, which I think is a good move. It will actually make the product seem more energetic, more enthusiastic, and more lively. I think that the issue with AEW just to figure out — they have to look in the mirror, and they have to go,’What made us not as popular? Our popularity has lessened, why is that?’”
On the importance of ECW to the WWE Attitude Era:
“I thought ECW was such a unique thing. I feel like, without an ECW, I don’t know if you evolve into the Attitude Era as it currently was. ECW was heavily influential on that. So I have a lot of love, and I look back with a lot of nostalgia at a lot of the ECW stuff still now. And they were trendsetters, man. Paul Heyman, brilliant dude. And the way he can motivate a locker room to go out there and go nuts. And he was also a very forward-thinking promoter and booker, and he understood how to do stuff that would make people emotionally invested in the things.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
