Matt Hardy recently opened up about a frustrating backstage incident during his time in AEW, where he believes CM Punk may have played a role in canceling a planned television appearance at the last minute. The situation, which Hardy described as “unprofessional,” took place during a set of AEW Dynamite and Collision tapings in Canada.
Speaking on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy revealed that Tony Khan had specifically asked him to stay an extra night to appear in Ethan Page’s corner for a match against MJF on AEW Collision. However, just hours later, plans were abruptly changed.
“I talk with Tony, and Tony’s like, ‘Yes, I want you tomorrow, be out in the corner with Ethan. I definitely want you there,’” Hardy explained. “After I changed my flight and made arrangements, I got a call from the travel department. They say, ‘Just heard that you’re not needed for tomorrow’s event.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean I’m not needed? I just talked to Tony three hours ago, and he said I’m in and he was excited.’”
Hardy said he suspects that CM Punk, who had considerable creative input over Collision at the time, may have had him pulled.
“I don’t have this on authority, so I don’t know… but someone stopped that from happening. I couldn’t imagine it’s someone besides Punk, because Punk was going to be there. That was his show, right?”
The sudden change not only led to confusion but also resulted in logistical headaches for Hardy, who didn’t return home until 3 AM the following morning.
“That f—ing… that bothered me,” he admitted. “There were times in the AEW relationship where Punk was in Tony’s ear and did whatever he wanted to do. That ended up kind of being problematic.”
While Hardy expressed frustration at Punk’s possible involvement, he ultimately placed the responsibility on Tony Khan for the mismanagement, stating, “Tony is the boss.”
Matt Hardy is now active in TNA Wrestling, where he and his brother Jeff Hardy are the TNA World Tag Team Champions. They are scheduled to defend their titles against Mike Santana and Ortiz at Slammiversary.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more on Matt Hardy, AEW, and the latest news heading into Slammiversary.
