Matt Hardy – ‘You Can Feel That Swerve Strickland Is Moving Up The Ladder Quickly’

Speaking on a recent edition of his “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, Matt Hardy discussed his thoughts on AEW Full Gear 2023 including the Texas Death Match between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On what he liked the most about the show: “Top to bottom, I thought it was a great event. I thought everyone busted their ass. There was a lot of variety on the show, which I am a big fan of. To me, there’s a lot of matches that I absolutely loved, that I thought kicked ass. So many people busted their asses and worked so hard on the show. But to me, the match that really stood out and really had me on the edge of my seat, had me involved in it, was the Swerve and Hangman match. I thought it was amazing. I know it was a polarizing match to some people. Some people didn’t dig it, but I love how they’ve escalated their rivalry, their feud, and they took it to another level. They did some stuff that is very memorable, that you will not be forgetting any time soon. I was down with it.”

On the spot where Page drank Strickland’s blood: “Yeah, I was doing that back in 2016, before it was cool, I guess, or before it was not cool. It was a really intriguing spot. If those two guys were cool with it, then I’m cool with it. It was wild. I do get it, why some people…it is too much probably for some people that watch wrestling. It’s not for everyone. But there are people that are going to watch this, that are going to see this clip, or read the TMZ article about Swerve and Hangman, and Hangman spitting blood, and it’s going to intrigue them. They’re gonna seek out AEW and check this out, or they’re gonna learn about AEW. In that capacity, even though it was polarizing, it was something that is good to get eyeballs on the product and get people talking about the product.”

On the win elevating Strickland: “He absolutely does. The fact that you’re talking about how it was grotesque or whatever, they did some stuff that was really violent, I think if you swap out some of those spots that people didn’t like necessarily, I think you still put in other less violent spots, and it would have still been an amazing match, just because of the story they told. There’s a true hatred between these two. Swerve invaded Hangman’s house, which is something we haven’t happen in forever, and it was very personal, it felt very personal. It felt very real. You could taste the hatred between these two men. Their story, I dug. I didn’t mind the excessive violence. Once again, it was on pay-per-view. It’s not like something we’re doing on TV. This was literally on pay-per-view, so you had to seek out and buy this separately to make sure to see it. I thought it was really appropriate of the story and the rivalry they have right now, as being the ultimate enemies.”

On Strickland getting closer to becoming a main eventer: “It does. You can feel that he is moving up the ladder quickly. I’m a big fan of Swerve, a big advocate of Swerve. I dig his stuff. Him and Hangman, their chemistry is off the charts. Now he’s got two victories over former a world champion in Hangman Adam Page, which is a big deal, and it also gives Hangman an issue to come back, like he has to get that win, he has to get avenged, he has to finally beat Swerve. So that’s a story in itself right there.”

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