After making his AEW debut in March of 2020, Matt Hardy found himself aligned with The Elite in their feud with the Inner Circle, and he soon became embroiled in a singles feud with Inner Circle member Sammy Guevara.
Hopes for the feud were high, but the two men were plagued by mishaps throughout their time working together. On an August episode of Dynamite, Guevara interrupted one of Hardy’s promos, leading to the two brawling. Disaster struck, however, when Guevara threw a chair at Hardy’s head as he was lying on a table, causing Hardy to bleed profusely.
When Matt Hardy tried to settle the score in a tables match later that month, Guevara accidentally busted his own head open when it was cut on a table.
However, the worst twist of fate came at AEW All Out in September, Matt Hardy put his career on the line in a last man standing match. During the bout, both men found themselves brawling on top of a scissor lift, and Hardy was meant to take a hellacious bump through a table. However, he missed the table and landed on the floor below, knocking him out cold. AEW was heavily criticized for not stopping the match despite the stipulation that Hardy would need to leave AEW if he lost the bout.
In the end, Hardy was declared the victor when Guevara failed to answer a ten count after taking another bump from immense height. Hardy has said in the past that he was the one who decided to take the crazy bump, and he’s taken responsibility for things being out of place on the ground below.
“Sh*t Happens” – Matt Hardy On His Feud With Sammy Guevara
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt opened up about the feud, first noting that the incident where Sammy Guevara threw a chair on Dynamite was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and that any heat was resolved between the two men backstage.
“I mean, we did a lot of really good stuff in that program, it was almost, you know, cursed was a word. A lot of people say snake bitten, and it’s just the thing he did with the chair, he just quickly overreacted when he threw it at me. And, you know, we went to the back, and we squashed it. And it was one of those things that added a lot of momentum to our deal.”
Continuing, Hardy recalled the AEW All Out match, saying that accidents happen in wrestling and he’s grateful that he wasn’t injured worse than he was.
“And then just, you know, the deal, whenever we raised that forklift a little too high, and I didn’t get those tables moved back. And then I hit my head on the concrete and I got knocked out. I mean, it sucked. And it was rough.
“But it’s just, it’s also wrestling, like, sh*t happens, you know. So it’s just like, it’s not like it was some terrible tragedy that we like, made this terrible miscalculation about you know. There was some stuff that we could have done a little bit better. But I mean, sometimes that happens in wrestling. I mean, one thing about it, what we do isn’t normal human beings, slamming their, their vessels, their human bodies on wood and steel is not normal in the first place.
“So, there are things that are going to happen, and especially when you’re in a match like that, and you’re trying to take some chances to do stuff that is really spectacular and entertain the people, you know, it’s possible something can happen, and unfortunately, for me and us, you know, it went awry.
“You know, on that occasion, so it sucked, but just very happy I went and they made me stay in the hospital overnight because I’d already taken three tests they made me take a fourth and you know, there was nothing nothing wrong with me, no bleeding, no swelling, everything was absolutely normal, 100% And I took a few weeks off, you know, which just was the right thing to do and, and then came back and and was was good from everything, you know. So fortunately, I wasn’t hurt worse than I was.”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.