TNA World Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy recently covered several topics during an episode of his podcast, “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.”
One of the main points he discussed was the company’s new multi-year media rights agreement with the AMC Network.
Hardy said, “The most exciting thing about it is that [AMC} is on almost all basic cable. So I mean, it’s going to be so much more accessible for people to see. You know, AXS TV, it is what it is. But like, it wasn’t on very many packages. I mean, it was in X amount of homes, but there were a lot of people that just couldn’t get it. Or there were a lot of people that weren’t going to pay the extra money on DirecTV to get it, you know. They weren’t going to have everything. So it’s a game changer in the way there’s going to be the people like, ‘Oh s**t. Well, there’s wrestling? It’s on AMC. I can f**king watch that because I get AMC. Because there’s not a lot of people that got that AXS TV in comparison to this.”
On the possibility of doing crossover with the media rights deal:
“I also think there is a possibility to do crossovers with this. I think with AMC, they can be very interesting. Which I also think can make TNA stand out and have its own unique spin on pro wrestling. Which is something I’m very much looking forward to seeing, how they work hand in hand. It should be a mutual admiration society whenever we’re kind of deciding how we’re going to ultimately structure and forge TNA going forward.”
On how he believes the Hardys played a significant role in the company securing a deal with AMC:
“Once again, and not trying to be egotistical. Not trying to sell myself here. But yes, I do think it was a big deal. I mean, we are people who get recognized in the streets every single day. Like, there are people that aren’t even die-hard wrestling fans who know who we are and recognize this and take pictures with us. It’s f**king wild. We’re very blessed. We’re very grateful for it, and that is not lost upon us. And yes, there are a lot of people who know who we are. We have been through generations now. So yes, I do think it was an important part. I think the whole package was important. I think having guys like Mike Santana, even as the champion. I think a guy like Moose, who was a homegrown TNA star. I think Leon Slater. I think all these guys. I think there were a bunch of talent that was very attractive. But we are truly a legacy act that people know who we are. And we’re still performing on a half-assed decent high level.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
