Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Mike Johnson: Do you think they, meaning WWE, ever really got the Broken Matt character? Obviously there were some changes in the presentation, but I felt like the most that they ever really fully formed, full conceptualization of what Broken Matt was, was the Halloween special that you did with Jeremy Borash, Jeff Hardy, Hurricane, Papa Shango, etc. with all the Broken Universe characters. Do you ever think they got the character or do you think it was the albatross was, well it was created outside of their system so they're not going to push what they didn't create?
Matt Hardy: No, I don't think they got the character all the way. I think the creative guys do. People say, "Oh, creative should have done better," but at the end of the day, it's not up to them. I mean, you say it all the time Mike. I mean, Vince is like the one. I mean, if he wants something done, it's happening. If he doesn't want something done, it isn't happening. The Halloween special, I and JB and Dan Pucciarello from WWE Network did that all together. So literally I had creative control in that. And those specials….what was sad in many ways, in January ,I just got the word from them that they greenlit two more House Hardy specials because the first one did very well.
Mike Johnson: It took them that long to green light it? Wow. That’s over a year.
Matt Hardy: I tried to get that forever. I mean that was one of the things I really want to do is do the special. I said, "I can write these things and we can have that done and we can knock it out." And it did really well on the Network.
Mike Johnson: At the end of the first one there was the whole, the cliffhanger with Hurricane being kidnapped. And I'm like, "Oh, here comes the Christmas special." I was like every two months it'll be like the Broken Matt Arbor Day special. There'll be a reason for a special.
Matt Hardy: That was the original plan.
Mike Johnson: And then when it just dropped off, I was like, "Oh, I guess that's that. It's just another one of those things that just disappear." The fact that they were willing to green light it so close to you leaving is amazing. That's the typical, “this company's so big, one hand doesn't know what the other's doing” story.
Matt Hardy: Yeah, well and too, I think there was just so much concern whenever I had left TV, whenever Bray and I had wrapped up [our storyline] and we were going to be off for a couple of months, they've been pitching to do specials, House Hardy, House Hardy, House Hardy. But then they said they couldn't ever get a clear cut answer from Vince, or they couldn't get a meeting with Vince. And then like they're saying, "Well if you come back as a different character then it's going to be our ass and we don't want to do that." So that's why that never came to be. I was just like, I went in to [Vince McMahon] and he was okay with it, but then they can never get confirmation on their own. It is such a big company, so many moving parts and nobody wants to infuriate Vince.
Mike Johnson: I often try to say like, it's like a battleship. If you have to turn it like a huge battleship around, it's not going to be done in 10 seconds. It takes time to turn it around. It's not like the little tugboat or a rowboat where you just turn around.
Interview continues on Page 3!
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
