TNA World Tag Team Champion and pro wrestling legend Matt Hardy recently discussed various topics on an episode of his podcast, “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.” One of the key points he addressed was the absence of The Hardys from the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 list.
Matt Hardy said, “I say it makes it a very unserious list. Especially on top of the fact that the contributions Jeff and I have offered to TNA. I mean, credit to TNA, they put us in a great position to succeed. They’ve let us be us. If you go out and you let Matt and Jeff Hardy be who they are, let them do their deal. People look at us as a legacy act, and we are still both physically talented enough to compete on a somewhat high level. We can go out there and we can rock and roll, man. And we can make money, we can sell tickets. We obviously can bring in income. We’re a very important and integral part of TNA, and a huge reason. I feel like when Jeff showed up and they knew they were not just getting Matt Hardy or Broken Matt, they knew they were getting The Hardys? I feel like that is when the tide turned, that’s when everything changed in TNA last year, because that happened at Against All Odds.
He continued, “It’s just — we’ve been on a roll. We’ve had some great matches. I mean, you look at the match we had at Bound for Glory, that Full Metal Mayhem Reimagined. You look at the match that we had at Slammiversary where we hit that ladder match as well, where we used the cable. I mean, there’s been so many things we’ve done that have been innovative and different. And we’ve been wrestling against great competition, top contenders. We’ve been defending champions the whole while. So yeah, it’s very odd, and especially just on top of all of that, just who we are. And the fact that we have built such a brand and such a name as Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy and as the Hardys. The fact that we have been working on a full time schedule, plus trying to contribute to indies and whatnot. Just the fact that We aren’t on that list, is an absolute injustice.”
On his thoughts about The Hardys being left off the list:
“It blows my mind that somehow we were omitted from this list. It does not make sense, especially after the incredible year we’ve had.”
On where he believes they should rank on the list:
“Fair, honest assessment? Somewhere around 100. Maybe in the 80s to 100. Especially because in theory, it’s based on like, single competitors. And we’re not single competitors, we’re a tag team, but we’re still kicking ass pretty strong.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
