AEW's utilization of it's talent is often a point many criticize them on. As a former AEW star himself, Matt Hardy formed many relationships with younger wrestlers, and during his "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" podcast, he noted a few stars he believes the promotion has never used correctly.
"Everyone knows I'm very, very invested in Private Party, and I think that whenever they won the titles, the genuine crowd reaction should've been a strong statement," he explained, noting that the audience was authentic in their response to the tag team finally overcoming the odds. Hardy also questioned the champions losing to the Hurt Syndicate, and expressed that he hopes they end up having a strong title defense against the faction to regain momentum.
"It's really easy to make people lose faith in them quickly if you don't instill faith," he added. "They're still there's not a lot of wiggle room in, like, not trying to make them look like strong champions." Hardy then noted that fans are now beginning to lose confidence in Private Party, and that AEW should've built around them to make them strong again. "I feel like that is one of the issues with AEW."
With the rumors of Malakai Black potentially being on his way out of AEW, Hardy was also asked what he thinks of the former AEW World Trios Champion, especially with the amount of fan support he has online. "I mean, extremely talented individual. Very unique. He is a niche performer which really stands out. And I mean, yeah, that would not shock me at all, that would not surprise me at all," he said. Hardy also added that he thinks that the House of Black as a whole has had a strange relationship with AEW, but noted that he thinks that was largely due to Malakai.
Earlier in the podcast, Hardy noted how the same thing happened with Wardlow and how AEW "dropped the ball" with the former TNT Champion. However, the veteran thinks that Wardlow might do better in another promotion. "I would like to see Wardlow land in a promotion and I would like to see them push the s**t out of him," he declared. "He has all the making of a big star, just someone needs to, like, elevate him and put him in a position to succeed."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
