Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) and Jeff Hardy (@jeffhardybrand) are professional wrestlers currently signed to TNA. They sit down with Chris Van Vliet in Albuquerque, NM to discuss their legendary careers as individuals and as a tag team, retiring Team 3D at Bound For Glory and if they have thought about winding down their own careers, their most extreme moments, Jeff being attacked with a screwdriver by Randy Orton, Matt suplexing Ric Flair off a ladder, their epic WrestleMania 33 return, crazy Swanton Bombs, Leon Slater’s Swanton 450 and more!
What a testament to where you guys are at in your career.
Matt: “I gotta tell you, Chris. So Jeff’s had this neck issue, and we had our big pay-per-view match at Genesis against The Righteous. I tried to do the majority of the match, I was in there, I was taking the heat and the bigger bumps, we’re trying to protect him as much as possible. The meet and greet was massive at the end of that. We signed for like five and a half hours, we got back to the hotel, slept 90 minutes, two hours at the most, and got in the plane, flew back home. I remember getting out, and I was like, Oh my God. I felt like I was crippled at the end, it’s wild. These meet and greets are great, but sometimes they are tough, especially if we don’t have the ample time to sleep afterwards.”
Jeff, how’s your neck doing?
Jeff: “It’s better. This past Monday and Tuesday, it felt really good. Then we flew out here, and I fell asleep a little funky on the plane. I remember jerking my head up one time, and it hurt. So it was hurting a little more than it did Monday and Tuesday. But overall, man, it’s feeling good. It’s definitely better. So this has been a little over three months now. I’ve been dealing with two bulging discs on the left side of my neck, and this happened when we dropped the titles at the NXT Halloween Havoc show. It was one of those things, you couldn’t even tell, it looked completely fine. I landed flat, but I was on the big guy’s shoulders. The one guy jumped off the ladder, clotheslined me off. The idea was for me to go through the table, but I kind of overshot the table, and he just broke the table, and my head just hit the mat, and it was a little whiplash like that. It felt terrible. I mean, it definitely felt like a concussion, and I was close to being knocked out, but that’s when it happened. Two bulging discs on the left side of my neck, but I’m feeling much better.“
So on a scale like one to 10, how much pain do you think you’re in right now?
Jeff: “Right now, I would say maybe a five. It’s not bad at all.”
Matt: “But his 5 is massively different from a normal person’s five. We’ve also just been very cognizant of, you know, it’s been protect Jeff at all costs. So done what we’ve had to do to try and work smart and not make things worse in this issue. So far so good.”
The Swanton is always going to be your finisher, and that’s such a high-risk move:
Jeff: “Yeah, and back to AMC. This is such a big deal for TNA, but we did a commercial where we had to go through a table, and Matt was gonna do something.”
Matt: “I don’t know if you saw that. We were the first people that found out that it was 100% definitely AMC [as TNA’s new home]. We had to go do the shoot with the AMC people, and it was the closer of the commercials. I did a leg drop through a table, and he did a swanton, and it was his first time doing anything since he knew he had this neck issue.”
Jeff: “The whole building up to that [I was going] I don’t know if I should, this might be one of those times I just say, I got to stand my ground and say, I can’t do that. My necks hurt, I can’t do that. But I knew it was something big. I didn’t know it was AMC, so I said it’s kind of like riding a bike. I’ve done it so many times, I can do it, and I think I’ll be all right. So, I mean, it hurt a little bit doing it, but man, a few days later, when we found out officially it was AMC, I was like, that was totally worth it. But that was a scary morning for me, not knowing and I hadn’t had my MRI done yet. I think the week after we filmed that was when I got the MRI, and that’s when I found out it was two bulging discs. I got the call and they said, Oh, here we are. You got two bulging discs, and the options are to speak to [a doctor], or a pain management plan. I was like, Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ll just deal with the medical team at TNA, and maybe they can help guide me through the healing process. Luckily, I’m feeling much better. But that was scary. On that phone, I was going, oh my god, this might be the end of my career, the beginning of the end, because I haven’t been hurt in four or five years, I’ve been super good since I’ve been doing the ice baths. It’s the first major injury I’ve had since doing cold plunges. I remember telling the DarkState guys after that match, oh, it ain’t nothing a little cold water won’t fix. I got home the next day and I got in the cold water, and when I got out, it’s like it made it worse. It’s like it hurt more. I did it on the second day, and I was going, Oh, my God, maybe I don’t need to do the cold water. So my mind was just freaking myself out. So I laid off the ice baths for a while, and it seemed to feel better, but, yeah, now I think I’m back to the points where I can rebuild. I’ve kind of rebuilt my armor, and now that I’m healed enough to get back in the cold water and to hopefully avoid injury from here on out.”
Jeff, when you talk about thinking like this might have been the end with this injury, how much do you guys think about the end of your career?
Jeff: “I try not to think about it, especially with seeing the Cena retirement tour, naturally, because we’re the same age. He’s a little older than me, but I’m 48 and I’m like, oh man. AJ, same age, he’s talking about maybe retiring soon. I mean, I think about it, but the way my career has went over the years, the ups and the downs, I just hope I can do it for as long as I can. I think that’s the way I’m going to do it, because after this neck injury, I feel like my performances are naturally going to get 1,000% better, because I’m so excited about this whole AMC deal and being in TNA and continuing to evolve. But yeah, I try not to let the thought of the end enter my consciousness.”
Matt: “Wrestling Twitter has been trying to retire us for years now, and they still do. They’re trying to book our retirement matches nonstop. But we feel good. As long as we feel good, we’re gonna keep going.”
On potential AMC cinematic matches:
Jeff: “I can’t help but think about the first cinematic match that’s going to be on AMC. I think it’s going to be a very, very powerful thing, man. I’m not a big show guy, but like shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, to know those shows were on this in this place. Oh my god. I think anything’s possible when it comes to a cinematic match on AMC.”
Matt: “We told AMC we’re ready to this first cinematic match. We only have two requests in our first cinematic match, whatever it is, we need two cameos in there. We need, Gus Fring. We need Rick Grimes, you know, make it happen. AMC, make it happen. We want zombies roaming through the woods in the Hardy compound. That can probably actually happen.”
Is ultimately the dream to retire as the Hardys?
Matt: “I think so. I just feel like as we’re a little older, it’s nice when we kind of get to share the workload, as opposed to doing a singles run. [But] who knows? I mean, with TNA, maybe if that’s something they need. And it’s funny, you were talking about the whole AMC deal earlier, like we both take a lot of pride in that, because we were a major factor in this AMC deal happening. We’re both so proud of TNA for getting to this point and being on this major platform and we really want to lead it into the future. I want TNA to be a place that is a stable wrestling company where people can come and make a living and it is in the conversation with all the other top companies.”
Jeff, does it hurt more to land a Swanton or when the guy rolls out of the way?
Jeff: “It’s a good question. Yeah, definitely, when the guy rolls away overall. But if it’s a big guy, like Big Show, for example, I’ve done one to him before, and it’s like broke my back, I’m arched over him, I was just laying there on top, I got knocked out as well. But it’s almost bend your back to where it actually hurts pretty bad. But, yeah, depending on the size of your opponent, but I would say overall, missing in them is the worst.”
Matt: “Yeah, that Big Show is a massive piece of meat.”
Jeff, what is the craziest move that Matt has ever done?
Jeff: “Craziest move that Matt’s ever done? I would have to say it’s got to be a leg drop off the top of the cage.”
Matt, what’s the craziest spot that Jeff’s ever done?
Matt: “I still think it’s that Swanton that he did in the impact zone, because it is so crazy. Was that the first Bound for Glory? He did a Swanton, it wasn’t just off the stage, it was to Abyss. He went up on whatever the structure was behind that and jumped over the stage. I mean, he just had so many hurdles it felt like he had to get over. And if he missed, it would have murdered him if he had been off in any capacity, and he pulled it off to perfection. It was wild. He calls it the sketchiest Swanton he’s ever done, and it really was. It’s still crazy. Jesus Christ, I mean, you make one little mistake on that, like you’re done.”
It’s crazy looking at the highlights and somehow realizing you guys can still walk.
Matt: “Especially like after that leg drop, I never walked the same. Well, also if 51-year-old me could go back and talk to 23-year-old me when we’re just starting, I would say, like, first and foremost, I know you guys think it’s cool, because you guys do that leg drop splash. We did that every single night, and our schedule in the beginning was 10 days on, 4 days off. It’s a bunch of house shows. We would do that every night, whether we’re winning or losing. And just like the wear and tear from doing that leg drop, especially when it was the real hard rings. Before they made the ring bumping rings in WWE, it’s when they were built for the big guys, for 360-pound guys that were Earthquake and Typhoon and Hogan and guys that didn’t do a lot, so we’re doing that leg drop splash every single night. I’d just say get a more simple finish, you know, figure out something that isn’t so hard on your body and use the leg drop when it counts on a big show, whatever else, that’s the first thing I would do. But I have so much scar tissue in my lower back and pelvis and hips and whatnot. That was the time, whenever I did that one off the cage, I gotta change this to I’ll do an elbow to the back of the head from the second rope. I smartened up.”
There is so much history with you guys and Team 3D. What a special moment to be in there with the Dudleys for their final match. Were all of you guys crying in there?
Matt: “It was definitely emotional. So I’ll tell you this, I’ll be fully transparent. D-Von, we just wanted to get him through this last match, we knew he was retiring, this was it. We want him to go out on this great match with career rivals. We had no idea they were going to both take their boots off, and we definitely didn’t know they were going to give them to us. Jeff had just asked at the end, ‘Hey, is that a thing?’ I said it wasn’t, but I think it is now. He said what we’re going to do at the end to show you the respect and say you guys have won this battle. Whoever wins this is the greatest of all time. We have something we’re going to do, but we don’t want to tell you, is that fine? I said, that’s great. Let’s just do in the ring. Let’s get a very authentic, genuine reaction, and that’s what that was. More than anything, we just wanted D-Von to be okay in that match. We tried to protect him as much as we could. He’d had some serious health issues over the years, and we were going to bust our ass to work as hard as we could, because those guys haven’t been working a lot. Bully has been working here and there, doing some stuff. But we wanted to bust our ass and we really wanted to tap into the emotion behind the match. What was great, even in the beginning, we had to start the match so the crowd would stop chanting. So the crowd was so involved in it, and they were so emotionally invested, and that’s what made it feel so special.”
Both of you had your very first official match in WWE May 23 1994. Jeff, you were 16 years old, and your first match was against Razor Ramon.
Jeff: “It was terrifying, man. One guy didn’t want to take his finish. Keith Davis. I was Keith Davis that evening. I became Keith Davis after Keith Davis didn’t want to take the razor’s edge.”
And that was your first match at that point?
Jeff: “Ever. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Matt: “Also, he had to lie about his age, because I said, my brother’s 16. Can he go there? Someone said, your brother? Yeah, it’s fine. Just have your dad write a note and say it’s okay.”
How much did the screwdriver in your ear with Randy Orton hurt?
Jeff: “It hurt a little bit. That’s my hell in a cell moment. For years after seeing Mick Foley and Undertaker, naturally, I was like, Man, I want to do something like that. When he went off that first time through the table, I totally get why he does stuff like that. But then the chokeslam, when that gave way and he hit that, and that was back in that when that ring was super hard. Actually being in a Hell in a Cell with Randy, and it was the first one time it had been painted red, and it was awkward and strange, but just seeing how big that structure is, and even the splash I missed when I was hanging, it’s just such a massive structure. So thank God for that screwdriver and Randy and the twist that he did, because I consider that my hell in the cell moment that it’s kind of hard to forget.”
How’d you come up with that?
Jeff: “It was somebody else’s idea with the screwdriver. He [Orton] had used his fingers and pulled me around by it, and I think a chain or a rope. But somebody mentioned that screwdriver. It might have been Michael Hayes or somebody else. But anyway, it was somebody’s idea that was out there with us talking about the match, but twisting it like that, and just watching the way it looks, how it was turning purple, it was gruesome.”
Matt: “That’s the essence of pro wrestling. Those moments that are memorable like that, pro wrestling has gone down such a path now where people are like oh, my god, I gotta get all these spots in, let’s put together a lot of choreographed combos that we’re gonna do, whatever. But those moments are what people remember.”
That spot at WrestleMania 22 with Ric Flair. When you suplex him off the ladder is wild. They’re reiterating he’s 57, so he specifically asked you to do that spot?
Matt: “Yeah, so they needed a spot. They wanted a spot where Ric was going to say he was hurt and be carried out of the match and he was going to come back in the end, and he said, ‘I have an idea. Matt, I trust you. I know you’re one of the creators of this ladder match. Will you suplex me off?’ He said, ‘I’ll be honest. You’re the only person I trust doing this match.’ And he also told Edge that whenever they had the match, he said, You’re the only person I trust to have this match with, because I know you and The Hardys created this ladder match nonsense. And I said, Sure, that’s cool. I remember we talked about the spot, and we had a rung Ric was gonna be on, then I was gonna suplex him off. I remember we’d got to that rung as we were fighting, and I said, ‘All right, you ready?’ He said, ‘No, higher, higher, higher.’ I was like, Okay, we went up one more, and he took that bump like a champ and got him over. He was safe and sound. And he said it was great. He said it was an easy bump. He would always do that. He would do the deal where he would flip over the corner, run to the other side, coming off. He said, If I can do that every night, it shouldn’t be that bad off the ladder. Afterwards, he said, it was easy. Thank you. He said, Yeah, it was good. Thank you. He said, ‘You took care of me, made sure I got over. I didn’t land on my head, and that’s all I wanted. Thank you. You’re the only person in this match I trust to do it with.'”
What are The Hardys grateful for?
Matt: “My health, my family, and the fact I have a brother that is so amazing.”
Jeff: “My health, my family and pro wrestling.”
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