Matt Hardy discusses the main event of AEW Full Gear 2023.
On November 18th, AEW presented their Full Gear pay-per-view. During Zero Hour, MJF would defend the Ring Of Honor World Tag Team Championships alongside Samoa Joe against The Gunns successfully. However, after the match, The Gunns would unleash an assault on MJF with steel chairs that resulted in MJF being driven out of the arena in an ambulance.
Throughout the show, it was believed MJF would not be able to defend his AEW World Title in the main event against Jay White. Initially, Adam Cole looked to step in for the match, despite still being in a boot and on crutches. However, Max would return to the arena as introductions were being made and would compete in the matchup.
While speaking on the latest episode of The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, Matt discussed the match and the backlash towards it, noting that it was like pro wrestling storytelling 101.
“I know there’s a lot of mixed reaction to the MJF/Jay White match, but I didn’t mind it from a storytelling perspective. Max did it big as far as being injured and having a match earlier, having his knee taken out…at the end of the day, it was like pro wrestling 101 storytelling. I know there were a lot of people who were upset that Jay lost that match, that it was gonna hurt him, but I think at the end of the day, he main-evented the pay-per-view. There were a lot of crazy circumstances that led to MJF ultimately winning. It doesn’t bother me, just for the record. It doesn’t bother me. I feel like when Jay White came out and wrestled on Dynamite, it didn’t affect him at all."
While co-host Jon Alba noted that the storytelling was over the top and questioned the logic behind Adam Cole wrestling, Matt admitted that part was "a little over the top".
“I do agree with the Adam Cole thing. That was a little over the top, as far as the angle was that he was gonna accept the match, and considering the parameters that AEW has kind of set up for clearing competitors and whatnot, what was a little much. I’m not gonna disagree with you on that. Max then coming back, that didn’t bother me so much. The Adam Cole stuff was a little much." he said
When Alba noted that the angle was peak Vince McMahon, Hardy simply said, “I’m okay with some of peak Vince stuff. Not okay with everything [laughs]. I’m the guy who did Broken Matt Hardy."
After a thirty minute bout for the AEW World Title, Max was able to capture the victory over White with the help of the Dynamite Diamond Ring.
On the November 22nd edition of AEW Dynamite, Jay kicked off his AEW Continental Classic campaign by defeating RUSH. You can check out White's post match comments here.
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