Tony Khan’s surprising opinion about Matt Hardy’s “Broken” gimmick may show just how disconnected the AEW boss is from what really draws fans.
Matt Hardy is a sure-fire future WWE Hall-of-Famer. As one half of the legendary Hardy Boyz tag team, he and his brother Jeff revolutionized tag wrestling and the ladder match. However, when the duo split it took the elder brother quite some time to find a new approach that resonated the same way with wrestling fans.
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That eventually came in 2016 when he created his eccentric and bizarre alter ego “Broken” Matt Hardy. The odd gimmick became massively popular during his run in TNA Wrestling. And it was the impetus for the trend of cinema matches back then. It helped raise he and his brother’s profiles so much that it led to their return to WWE.
After his third stint in WWE came to a close a couple of years ago, he took his talents to AEW. It seemed like a matter of time before he would revive the popular character for the benefit of Tony Khan’s company. However, despite a long history of loving obscure gimmicks, the co-founder of AEW actually wasn’t a fan of the character.
Matt Hardy says Tony Khan surprisingly disliked “Broken” Matt gimmick
“‘Broken’ Matt Hardy wasn’t Tony Khan’s cup of tea anyway as it was,” Hardy revealed during a new video on his YouTube channel [h/t Wrestling Inc.]. “I think ‘Big Money Matt,’ a guy who’s out there bragging about his wealth and status and how much money he’s made in this industry, whatever, because if you notice immediately after we do The Elite Deletion, you see me doing promos on TV kind of boasting about how I destroyed Sammy and it was the best thing on the pay-per-view.
“The wheels were already in motion to do ‘Big Money’ Matt.”
Considering the type of fringe characters Khan has had on AEW television, as well as some of the wild and violent moments he has allowed, it is surprising that the “Broken” character didn’t make sense to him. Either from a creative or business standpoint.
It may just be another good example that the AEW boss is disconnected from what a broader audience wants and just sticks to what he likes to see. And that has not been good for company ticket sales and TV ratings over the last two years.
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