Matt Hardy calls The Bar the original Blackpool Combat Club.
WWE held the Great Balls of Fire event in 2017, and among other matches, The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) defended the Raw Tag Team Championship in a 30-Man Iron Man Match against The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy). The Bar ultimately emerged victorious in a hard-fought match.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the veteran looked back on facing The Bar, and he was asked to share his thoughts on the pairing of Cesaro and Sheamus. He called them the original Blackpool Combat Club, as they were physical competitors who would beat people up.
"They were the original Blackpool Combat Club because they’d go in there and beat the shit out of everybody. It was one of those, you knew if you were working with those guys, you were in for a very physical night. That’s the first thing. Guys like that, I love working TV with. Live events, not as much. I’m more of an entertainer at this stage. I like someone who’s big on entertaining the crowd as opposed to having to physically put your body through a ringer. Sometimes, once you get 30 years deep. You want to kind of chill a little bit on those shoes and just entertain people as opposed to beating each other up. But they were both extremely talented, both very physical competitors, and both kickass wrestlers, fighters," Hardy said.
Hardy was also asked to describe why he thought the duo complemented each other so well. Hardy explained that they were both physical wrestlers, and they want to make their wrestling look as real as possible. He noted that, with these similarities, the two stars complemented each other, and they found a great bond.
“They’re both European [laughs]. No, I mean, they’re both very physical guys. I feel like they both have very high work ethics, they both really bust their ass, and I think they like making their wrestling look as realistic as possible. So they’re both into that, and they’re both very physical, more than anything else, and I think they found a great bond in that. They really complemented one another," he said.
Cesaro left WWE in 2022. He then signed with AEW and under his real name, Claudio Castagnoli, he debuted at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. He was introduced as the newest member of Blackpool Combat Club, which already included Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, and Wheeler Yuta. The faction is built on the values of violence and physical competition in the ring, so Claudio fit right in. He has been featured in AEW and ROH, and he is currently the reigning ROH World Champion.
On the same podcast, Hardy shared his thoughts on Roman Reigns getting pinned at WWE Money in the Bank. Click here to see what he had to say.
Catch up on our coverage of the July 7 episode of AEW Rampage here.
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