Matt Hardy Thinks This AEW Duo Can Propel Tag Team Wrestling To Greatness Again
Matt Hardy isn't done with his career, or tag team wrestling, by a long-shot, as he and his brother Jeff Hardy now find themselves back in the confines of TNA, dipping in and out of the Broken Universe once more. With both approaching 50, however, Hardy knows that they're closer to the end than the beginning, and soon the Hardys will have to leave tag team wrestling to the next generation.
Appearing on "Busted Open Radio" last week, Hardy and former rival Bully Ray discussed the current state of tag team wrestling, and who Hardy saw as the team that could lead tag team wrestling to greatness again. Hardy's answer was none other than a rival team of the Hardys, and one of the biggest tag teams still going today.
"I'm probably biased and partial, but I am a big fan of the Bucks," Hardy said. "I do love that they actually turned heel. I love what they were doing with the Elite. I would've liked to have seen them run rampant a little more in their heel gig, [instead of] being pulled back and having Tony and having a management that was the babyface side of management, come out against them already. I would've liked to push the heel thing a little further. I still feel like AEW needs to do more heat involved stuff and more story stuff to continue to grow their audience, but that's me. That's my opinion. But as far as tag teams right now, probably the Bucks."
Hardy Believes Incident With CM Punk Has Affeced The Young Bucks' Popularity
While the Bucks are getting plenty of heat as heels now, the duo of Matthew and Nicholas Jackson remains polarizing outside of their personas, a subject Bully and Hardy dived into as well. Hardy believes the disdain the Bucks have faced over the past few years has heightened thanks to the infamous backstage incident following AEW All Out 2022.
"I just think a lot of it results from the whole CM Punk scenario, when that thing happened," Hardy said. "Obviously, when CM Punk did the thing at the scrum and then they confronted him and there was the fight...obviously...Punk's an amazing talent. Punk does amazing work. The stuff he's doing in WWE is great now. And I think Punk is an incredible pro wrestler and entertainer. And he has a large, huge, dedicated, cult-like fanbase. And a lot of those people were ready to dig their claws into Matt and Nick and say The Young Bucks...[there was] a conspiracy theory that they were trying to sabotage Punk or AEW or whatever it might be. And I think a lot of it comes from that."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription