Matt Hardy Gets Candid About Married Life, Brother Jeff’s Alcohol Addiction & Future Plans

Matt Hardy has been enjoying one of his favorite career runs with brother Jeff Hardy in TNA Wrestling. The revolutionary tag team exploded on the scene in WWE and took the world by storm with their exciting high-flying style. Over the years, whether as singles stars or together, they managed to maintain a strong connection with the fans.

That’s evident when the TNA World Tag Team Champions enter any arena. The veterans are set to defend the gold against The Rascalz (Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz) at the Genesis Pay-Per-View. Since the Hardys returned to TNA, they’ve helped the company draw big crowds in venues across the country. 

It’s an exciting time for the promotion, which officially announced a multi-year partnership with WWE that will see increased crossovers with NXT. TNA will have its first live episode of Impact in eight years on January 23. Here Hardy opens up about why this time has been especially meaningful and what’s to come, plus brother Jeff’s personal struggles, and more.

What was your reaction to this partnership announcement between WWE and TNA?

Matt Hardy: What great news that is. What a positive thing for the industry. It didn’t surprise me too much, but I‘m very happy they worked out an agreement. They’ve been on very friendly terms. I know that. I know there was talk of some things going down coming up at Genesis and following TVs. The fact they’ve put pen to paper and making a real partnership is great. I think it’s great for the industry. You have younger talent from NXT, when they come over to TNA, a promotion that has been been around for two decades and put them on the show, they seem like a bigger star. In NXT, when you put a Joe Hendry on WWE programming and give him a great opportunity, he seems like a bigger star. I think it’s a win-win for both promotions. 

What went into you and Jeff deciding to extend your stay in TNA last year into this year? 

It all started with a call from Tommy Dreamer just a couple of days before the Rebellion show where I jumped in the ring and left Moose laying. We were working on a handshake deal. My original plan was to work through June 15 building to a world title match with Moose. If nothing worked out beyond that, I’ll have a great match with him. It turned out Jeff’s contract at AEW expired the night before Against All Odds where I wrestled Moose. He has been watching and he heard from me how great it was and the great the locker room is. Jeff said, “I think I’ll do it.” It was literally a day of the event with what Jeff happened.

Then Jeff and I segue into a program with The System’s Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers. We were still working on a handshake deal for a while. We weren’t sure what we were going to do. AEW, I talked to Tony Khan three different times before I went to TNA. I knew the door was open to do something with AEW. I knew the door was open to do something with WWE. Jeff and I have enjoyed our time in TNA. The way they were utilizing felt really good. They were putting us in a position to succeed, which is something we haven’t had in a while. Jeff and I said, “If you want to do another deal, we’d be up to doing it.” Then in November, we worked on a year-long deal from December to December. 

Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy/TNA Wrestling/Basil Mahmud

How nice is it for you to see how happy Jeff has been? What changes have you noticed in regards to the work he has done on himself? 

He has been totally focused on just himself and being a good husband and good father. I think that is probably what haunts him the most more than anything professionally or wrestling. I felt like he thought his drinking and alcoholism became an issue. He was being a bad husband. He was being a bad father. I know he takes pride on those things and works hard every day. He stayed away after an incident for seven or eight months doing regular stuff. He spent so much time working on himself and really committed himself to the whole deal. If you look back through Jeff Hardy’s life, he has had periods where he has overcome something and be good for a while before falling and then overcomes it. Alcohol was just something he could not kick. He tried. He did good at WWE for a while, but it’s something he never really dedicated to.

This time he was so committed. He thinks differently, in a more optimistic way. I think he has some sort of faith that has helped push him through. It’s so great to interact with him now. He is so healthy and clear, out of the fog. He said, “If I had my mind like this and if I had this mindset as far as being clean and having my act together, how good could I have been in my 20s, 30s.” He raises such an interesting point. Jeff is such a special performer and has a special connection to people. People just relate to Jeff. He is such a relatable individual. People connect with him on a different level than few people. The fact he is very dedicated to working on his diet. Me and him are very into the ice bath, the cold plunge. We do that every morning like two psychos. I feel it has all kept him healthier and the shape we’re in right now. I think that has proven with our longevity. 

TNA Wrestling/Basil Mahmud

TNA is having its first live Impact in eight years. What do you think this will mean for them having this setting on their weekly show again? 

There has just been a lot of buzz around TNA for the last six months. I would love to say, “Six months has been as long as the Hardys has been there” First and foremost I think you have to look at Joe Hendry. Joe Hendry has really gone viral and been a great representative with the company. He rocks TNA mech and is really proud of TNA and appreciative of the opportunities he has been given. I think he is a big part of it. I think Nic Nemeth coming in and having a great run as the World Champion. I think that is a big positive and how big that has been for TNA. I think the WWE NXT relationship has been hugely beneficial. All that combing with us having a good run as the OG Hardys.

The thing is we’ve been selling out almost every event we’ve been doing. I’m looking forward to Thursday and that live Impact. It doesn’t feel too stressful just because I’ve done live television so much over 27 years on TV. I think for the newer wrestlers it’s very exciting. There are some newer wrestlers who have probably never been on live TV. They’ve been maybe on pay-per-views, but to do live TV with commercial breaks is different. You have to make your time. I’m sure they’re nervous. I’m sure the company is preparing these people. They’ve been very big at these last TV tapings about hitting your times. Everyone is pumped. I think it’s the right time to do it because TNA has a lot of momentum right now. It wouldn’t surprise me if we some NXT representation on that live show as well. 

Tessa Blanchard is back in TNA. This was seen as a controversial decision. Do you have any advice for her as she tries to reacclimate into the locker room? 

One thing I can say is I wasn’t there when the Tessa Blanchard drama went down. I know when she returned, I know there were some people saying, “I can’t believe she was back.” I said, “You should probably talk to her or listen to her at least.” She was willing to talk to anyone and hear any grievances. I know the stuff with the girls she was going to be working with. I know that was being worked out. I just think we live in a society where some people forget people are going to make mistakes. If myself or my brother hadn’t been given second chances or multiple chances, we wouldn’t be here right now.

We have to be willing to give someone another chance, especially if they work hard and work on themselves and earn it and trying to legitimately be a better person. I think forgiveness is something we still need to honor, especially if someone is legitimately working hard to get that. I feel that what Tessa has been going through. It’s going to be interesting to see how impactful her coming back to TNA into the women’s division truly is. 

Coming off the recent announcement, any tag teams you want to face from NXT? 

We’ll definitely be scoping everyone. Fraxiom had a great run and held it down as a consistently great tag team in NXT when they held the titles. There are always tag teams circulating through WWE that was someone we haven’t worked together before. 

What do you hope to see from TNA as they take these next big steps in their rebuilding process? 

I think being on a bigger platform for their television could help. Media rights is where the big money comes in today. That is the first thing I would like to see from TNA for sure because I think they’ve had a great program for the last while. I think since TNA went from Impact Wrestling, it has been a solid show. I know the last six and seven months I’ve been there, it has been great TV. I think they’ve made the most of everything they’ve had. In some ways, it’s like ECW back in the day with Paul Heyman. He used whoever he could use. Then guys would get picked up and go to WWE and WCW for more money. It could be the case with TNA now where they may go to WWE or AEW for more money. But TNA will then take someone new and elevate them and plug them into that spot to move forward. TNA has done a good job doing that. So, if we can get on a bigger platform and more eyeballs on the product. That would be a gamechanger for TNA. 

 

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You have four kids and married and juggling your wrestling career. Here at 50, where do you see for your career? 

I’m very much a day-by-day guy. I don’t overwhelm myself. I think I stress out my wife by how I don’t stress. Life’s too short. A lot of times you stress over things you have no control over, you’re mentally and emotionally draining yourself. I try to stay on top of things day-by-day. I want to be wrestling in the ring for as long as my body allows me to perform on a somewhat high level. When I can’t do that, I’ll step behind the scenes and be happy to be behind the scenes. It depends. My boys are all about wrestling. They want to do it. I look forward to them being the Hardy Boys second gen. I’ll just be the wheelman driving them town-to-town and be in the corner. It’s fun that my kids can see me and comprehend what I’m doing now.

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People recognize my kids. My wife has a very successful TikTok. We get recognized as a family all the time. It’s wild. I do enjoy that. Pro wrestling is my passion and something I grew up loving. Jeff and I wanted to be the tag team champions one time. If we did that, we’d could call it a career. We did that and done it many times over. We want to cement our legacies as one of the greatest tag teams to ever do it in these next few years. We want to show it’s not the Hardys were great. It’s the Hardys are great. 

Your family does scream reality show. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet. 

We have stuff in the talks. There has bene a couple people we’re talking to. A House Hardy reality show is something in the works. 

TNA Impact, Thursdays, 8/7c, AXS TV

TNA Genesis, January 19, 8/7c, Triller TV and Pay-Per-View 

Listen to new episodes of “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast with Matt Hardy and Jon Alba on Fridays.