Matt Hardy says it was all part of the plan.
In recent months, Hardy has been involved in an intricate storyline in which he has been forced to join The Firm, as the stable acquired both his contract and that of Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen). It's fair to say that Firm members Ethan Page and Stokely Hathaway mistreated Hardy and Private Party early on. Still, Hardy and Page eventually struck up what seemed like a remarkable friendship, especially after HOOK took Hathaway out with a decisive win on the March 22 episode of AEW Dynamite. However, on the April 5 episode, Hardy turned on Page when the latter challenged HOOK for the FTW Championship. Hardy hit Page with the title and directly cost him the bout.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the veteran shared his side of the story and reflected on the journey up to this point. He recalled how he knew he had to do something to get him and Private Party out of The Firm, and he realized that he could use Ethan Page's fandom against him. Hardy also highlighted the importance of removing Hathaway from the equation, as he knew that Stokely would never trust him.
“Let’s get it straight, he was never my best friend. So once I tried to save Private Party, and I ended up getting involved in their business, my ended up having my contract also under control by The Firm. They made my life living hell, and it wasn’t a huge deal to me because I was obviously gonna be defiant, I was going to fight him every step of the way. But then once he started taking advantage of my kids, of Private Party, of Zay and Quen, it was a whole different level. So then I took a step back and I figured I had to do something to find a way to get out of this. So I figured, he was enough of a Matt Hardy fan… a bit of a Matt Hardy mark, that I could fool him, that I could sway him into thinking we were best friends. I even got a bunch of those stupid shirts like he wears. I would wear them and we would dress similar. I had some from back in the Hardy Boyz days. Stokely, on the other hand, those were the two toughest points. Stokely, I knew I couldn’t ever win him over. So that’s why I came up with this whole plan with HOOK. He wanted to have me wrestle against HOOK. Okay, sure. Then I told Isiah, ‘Dude, I promise, I’ll get us out of this. I got a plan.’ It was the first time I was really nice to Ethan. He was like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘You dead-ass?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am dead-ass. I have a plan, my man,'" Hardy said.
Hardy then detailed how his decision to immediately tap out when HOOK put him in the Redrum was part of his plan, as he wanted to make sure that Hathaway had to face the FTW Champion in order to take him out. He noted that each step of the process pver the past several weeks has been leading to this outcome.
"Once I got [Stokely] out of the equation, I had Ethan wrapped around my finger. Not a big problem after that. As you can see, if you look back through the last few weeks in the chain of events, it really all makes sense in the big scheme of things," Hardy said.
Looking ahead, Hardy stated that he will reveal the special stipulations he put in Ethan’s contract on the April 12 episode of AEW Dynamite. He teased that they will enable him and Isiah Kassidy to get away from The Firm, and he expressed that he believes fans will have fun with what comes next.
Page will challenge HOOK in a rematch for the FTW Championship on the April 7 episode of AEW Rampage. Fightful will have live coverage of the show as it airs at 10 p.m. ET.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
