Matt Hardy Felt Validated By Vince McMahon Decision

Matt Hardy worked in WWE under former CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon from 1998-2010 and then again from 2017 until the early part of 2020. Hardy found much success in WWE as he was part of the famous TLC Tag Title matches alongside his brother Jeff against The Dudleyz and Edge & Christian, he won the United States Championship, and the WWE Tag Team Championships on multiple occasions. Hardy recalled who it was that called him to inform him he would be winning the ECW Championship and revealed his favorite match from the run.

"It was from Vince," Hardy said while on "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy." "[Vince] said like, 'I'm taking you to this brand because I want to build a brand around you for a while.' You know probably tried to boost me up for a little bit but he was rewarding me and giving me a great opportunity as well ... Finlay, Miz, and Morrison, that was my favorite match during the whole run."

At Unforgiven 2008, Hardy defeated then-champion Mark Henry for the ECW Championship in a Championship Scramble match also involving Chavo Guerrero, Finlay, and The Miz. Hardy went on to hold the title for 127 days, successfully defending it four times before losing it to Jack Swagger on an episode of "ECW on Sci Fi" in January 2009.

Hardy further discussed what it meant to him to be the World Champion of a brand within WWE. "It was an honor," Hardy said. "Whenever you are chosen to be a champion of a brand, that's a, that's a great honor and you feel very validated and rewarded."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.