Current AEW star Matt Hardy has explained why he “dreaded” stepping in the ring with Chris Benoit on live events when they were both part of WWE.
Chris Benoit is obviously a controversial figure given his actions at the end of his life. Back in WWE, Benoit shared a ring with Matt Hardy on 40 occasions with most of those meetings happening in tag team matches.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt Hardy reflected on his dealings with Chris Benoit and says while he loved facing him on TV, he didn’t enjoy facing the former World Heavyweight Champion on live events:
“I’ll tell you what, Chris Benoit, you know, obviously everyone hates how everything ended with him, understandably and correctly so. But I was going to say, whenever I wrestled him, I loved wrestling him on TV because I knew I would be ready for it, and I would go because I was prepared for TV, and I always knew it was going to be a phenomenal match.”
“But whenever we were on a house show, especially when I was run down and beat up, I was like, ‘F*ck!’ I always dreaded wrestling Benoit because I knew you couldn’t slow down.”
Matt Hardy also recently gave his thoughts on Triple H taking over in WWE and why his presence might lead to some AEW stars going to WWE.