On his podcast “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” Matt Hardy welcomed Ethan Page as a guest. Matt addressed fan complaints about Tony Khan’s booking:
“It’s a really intriguing concept that so many fans that consider themselves die hard fans, and this is no disrespect to them, but they are so caught up and captivated by the inner workings of the business and why things are happening. They feel like they can book better than the booker who actually runs the show. It’s so crazy now. Wrestling fans feel so entitled, especially the more die-hard, smart fans that are online. They feel entitled like, ‘No, my opinion counts. You’re wrong and I’m right.’ That’s very strange, but it is what it is. That’s the world we live in today so we just have to learn how to deal with it, but at the end of the day, Tony Khan is the guy flipping the bills. He makes the decisions. He’s paying everybody, so it’s his decision to make. If he makes it, I support him 100%.”
Ethan Page added, “Also, I’m going to bury myself real quick to kind of help with this argument. I have been on AEW television steady, I would say regularly, for about two years straight. I still get people tweeting at me, ‘Who?’ So I don’t care how many vignettes you do of this guy (Vikingo) before he has this match, there’s still going to be people who are like, ‘Who the F is this? Why is he on the show? They just want to be those people who make those comments.”
Ethan Page talking about the crowd response Matt Hardy receives:
“There is a difference between most of our roster walking out the curtain and Matt Hardy walking out the curtain. There is just an impact that guys of that generation had on the general public and wrestling fans in general. We just don’t have that level of impact right now, and that’s not knocking anyone that’s in wrestling right now. I think there’s lots of very talented people. It was just a different time and I feel, because I get to be out there with Matt, the difference. It’s like a different crowd shows up when Matt Hardy comes out. There’s the same people sitting in those seats, but the noise they make is way different. You can literally feel them get excited and not be able to control themselves because of the effect Matt had on them so many years ago and it’s lasted the test of time. I was one of those people. I just ended up in the wrestling business. If I didn’t, I would be one of those people in the stands making lots of noise too. I’m just a part of that generation that was affected for life. It’s ultimately changed my goals in wrestling. Obviously, I want to win championships and I want to leave a lasting impression, but I want to affect the fans so much that I have a long enough career because I’ve left such an impact. That is why this man is completely different than anybody else going today. He just has that lasting impression.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
