Matt Hardy looks back on AEW All Out 2020.
At AEW All Out 2020, Matt Hardy faced Sammy Guevara in a Broken Rules match. The match was stopped when Guevara speared Hardy off a scissor lift, and Hardy hit his head on a concrete floor. Hardy showed signs of a concussion, but the match was ultimately restarted, and they cut to the finish, where Hardy sent Guevara crashing through the stage.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt Hardy recalled getting knocked out during the match when he and Guevara overshot on the spear.
“There’s two reasons, and once again, this one isn’t on Sammy, it’s not his fault. At one point, we had wanted the tables to be moved out a little further. We should have took that upon ourselves and did it because we kind of had a point where we knew we wanted to raise this lift to, and I still did, I raised it to the point that we thought, but we hadn’t moved the tables out to make sure we were going to be able to hit the tables okay. They were still a little too tight, so I could have either made it a little shorter, I don’t know if I realized that. I think in my mind I assumed the tables had been moved, and like, ‘Oh my god, okay, we’ll be fine,’ as we’re going up. But we get up there, and we end up overshooting it. Obviously my head hits the concrete, knocked out cold. I remember coming back to, whenever I did come back to, it was just like, I was mad at myself because I felt like I was drunk because I couldn’t control my legs, I couldn’t stand up, I couldn’t do this. It’s funny because I still wasn’t aware of why I was feeling like I was. I was just literally on autopilot," Hardy said.
After noting that this was the only time he had actually gotten knocked out in a match, he was asked to recall how long he was out. Hardy noted that he came to fairly quickly, but he was not sure.
“I don’t know. I think I came to pretty quickly because the doctor started talking to me, and I started counting. I remember I counted to ten as we were sitting there, or five, whatever it may have been. I don’t know. I’d have to go back and almost watch it to accurately tell you that," Hardy said.
Co-host Jon Alba then asked about Hardy continuing the match, as he wondered whether Hardy was saying that he could keep going. Hardy admitted that he did not recall exactly what he said, but he probably stated that he could keep going. He noted that he was on autopilot, and while wrestlers are tough, sometimes they need people to stop them. He also said that AEW was in a weird position due to the stipulation, as Hardy would have had to leave AEW if he lost.
“As you can imagine, I don’t exactly remember what I did say, but I would guess I said I’m okay, I can go. Once again, that’s autopilot. Also, a trait of most pro wrestlers, whether it is a good one or a bad one, sometimes it’s a poor one, is just that they’re usually tough motherfuckers, right, and you’re out there, and if you feel like you can stand, then you can go. But there’s times where you are not aware, you are not cognizant of what is going on, and you need someone to pull the plug for you. One of the things that was tricky about this, I think Tony Khan found himself in a weird position because we put the stipulation on it, if I lost the match, that I had to leave. So that was definitely a hesitation on their end. As they say, we were in the proverbial pickle," Hardy said.
Alba said that they could have written reasons to get out of the stipulation, and Hardy agreed. He then recalled calling his wife after the match. Hardy went on to say that, in hindsight, the match should have been stopped, but it wound up being a learning experience.
“You are absolutely correct, and looking back in hindsight, after I watched this back, obviously my wife was furious. As soon as I could get back and call her, I did, just to talk to her, and upon watching it back, yes, it should have been stopped, and we could have figured out something to do, whatever it is. But at the end of the day, it ends up being a learning experience for AEW," Hardy said.
Alba then asked who made the call to let him continue the match. Hardy stated that, at the end of the day, it had to be Tony Khan's call, but he was working with the doctor.
“I think at the end of the day, it has to be Tony. I think Tony has to also clear it too. But the doctor, they’re working in concert together, I would guess, as they’re speaking back and forth," Hardy said.
Hardy and Alba continued to discuss the match, as Matt detailed finishing the match and changing the finish. Alba brought up how concerning it was to see Hardy climb a tall structure while he was clearly hurt. He asked whether there was any expectation that AEW would get heat for the situation, and Hardy reiterated that it was a learning experience.
“I think once again, this kind of set the bar on where things were. The fact that the match continued, the fact that I climbed later became such a big no-no going forward. So the only thing I can take from it as a positive is that I didn’t get seriously injured in what I did. Never good being concussed, but at least it forced them to make sure they enforced their protocol about stopping a match from this point on. It is what it is. They were a young company in their infancy, and they were kind of put in a situation they’ve never been put in before, and it didn’t work out a best case scenario. Just looming back in hindsight, if you’re gonna try to look at anything positive about it, it was a learning experience, and we just can’t let that happen again," Hardy said.
Hardy then explained that he told Guevara that it was not his fault. He summarized the incident by saying that they were on live television, and the match went awry. He went on to say that he was glad that he had not gotten hurt like that before, given the dangerous things he had done. Likewise, he said he was glad that his injury was not more serious.
“All I can really say at the end of it is that I’m glad I’ve never gotten hurt like that or knocked out on a live TV show. I’ve done so many dozens, probably a hundred things that could be considered extremely dangerous, which it could have happened from, or some sort of serious injury, so I’m just lucky it wasn’t anything that was serious and long-lasting. It sucks. Just happy I was able to get through it, and I was happy that AEW could learn from it, [that] we have to take the health of these people very serious. It wasn’t Sammy’s fault. It wasn’t necessarily Tony or the doc’s fault because they were in a predicament, too. Bad circumstances. It was just one of those things, there was a lot of bad luck that surrounded it," Hardy said.
Hardy previously discussed the incident at AEW All Out 2020 and said that it shook his confidence as a wrestler. Check out his comments here.
Hardy will be in action at TNA Emergence on August 30th. Fightful will have coverage of the show as it airs.
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