Busted Open satellite radio show with Matt Hardy
Hosts: Dave LaGreca, Doug Mortman, and Reby Sky
Airs Mondays and Wednesdays on Sirius 125 and XM 241 from 2-4 ET
Visit Facebook.com/bustedopen for more information
Matt Hardy on being in TNA: "It’s been great. For me it’s really revitalized my love and passion of the business. I didn’t realize like the last six or eight months I was with WWE that actually that uncomfortable, miserable and unhappy I was going into work. That’s not a shot against WWE. I mean WWE is a phenomenal, great, company. They [WWE] did so many great things for me. They made me a star. I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now if it weren’t for them. I’m grateful to everyone there who’s you know done so many good things for me and allowed me to have the great living that I have. It just came to a point where there were several different circumstances that kind of came into play. It was just time for me to move on and do something different."
Matt Hardy on "Cold Blood" and his conditioning: "No this all mine [Creation of Cold Blood Character]. It’s very similar to the ‘Mattitude’ version, one thing that was all mine too. Both of those drew from real life. You know ‘Cold Blood’ actually comes from just my theories like…about a year and a half ago whenever I had my abdominal injuries I just remember getting into my surgery and the surgeon actually told me ‘Well I know you love wrestling and you’ve pretty much done it for your entire adult life, but you might not be able to wrestle after this.’ That was a pretty hard pill to swallow. I was going ‘Wow. I didn’t know it was this bad.’
Even after I had that surgery I found out I had intestinal issues where almost like you have a water hose and you can’t get water through the hose. I have two spots, almost three, two and half I guess in my intestines. I had to change my diet. I had to completely re-invent it actually steak is something I can’t eat at all. I never eat steak and I hate that because I eat steak all the time. Red meat is out. Between that and I felt like you know a lot of my fans that had always supported me, which were the hardcore fans, earn it fans. They definitely didn’t mind making fun of me because of injuries or because my pants looked different, which wasn’t terribly drastic. Which is funny because compared to a normal person it’s not really anything in the scheme of things.
Actually when I started with TNA I knew I would never have three or four months off again, so I tried to do all good to gain size and than I was just going to die down. I will continue to get in better shape because now I know what I can put into my body and what I can’t. That was kind of scary. That was a whole new thing in life to kind of figure out, so there’s like little things I can’t eat and some things I can, but between that and when Jeff showed up on that January 4 show, when they did the Monday impact you know I got a call from Johnny Ace.
"Matt. What’s going on?’ I don’t know Johnny. He said, ‘Is Jeff showing up there? How could you let him do this?’ I mean I’m not him like you know I kept getting phone calls saying ‘Is he there? What’s he doing?’ Ever since that day on Jeff didn’t have intentions of signing with TNA. You know I think Jeff was rubbed wrong by how they…you know they had Dr.Sampon [WWE] go out and mention his legal situation. I think from that point on he was rubbed the wrong way by WWE and he got an awesome deal to go there and he’s real happy to go there because the schedule is so much more laid back. Also the environment is laid back, but between Jeff going and just like you know I was working so much. I just couldn’t get time off. I couldn’t get my body right. I couldn’t get my mind right. I ended up just being unhappy.
"I needed a change and TNA became that change for me. That’s where ‘Cold Blooded’ came from because I’m always the guy you know like people always say ‘Do you see the glass half full or half empty?’ I always go ‘Well it’s half full.’ Actually I always say ‘It’s like two-thirds full.’ You know more than half-full because I’ve had a great life. I have nothing to complain about and I’m happy you know pretty much every day of my life.
"It’s one of those things like I drew from those bad experiences, from my last few months in WWE for how some of the hard-core fans treated me to how I felt was pretty unfair considering there were a lot of things out of my control like physical issues. Sacrifices I made like throwing myself off three-foot ladders, through tables, for twelve/thirteen years. You know that does make you ‘Cold Blooded’ to a degree, so that’s actually where all that’s drawn from. I wanted to build on it as time goes. The character is really in it’s beginning stages. It’s in 101 now. I have a lot of really cool ideas going forward."
Matt Hardy on John Cena’s promo on Raw in response to The Rock: "Umm I actually caught the highlights back on YouTube. Actually thought that’s something John’s needed for a while. He just kind of needed an edge because the ‘PG thing’ is one thing that I think TNA they have an advantage over WWE it’s like I don’t think they have to go crazy as far as bleeding or swearing or sex, violence, whatever. It’s nice they don’t have a super tight parameter to be in and all these boundaries.
"For the longest time John would come on and go ‘Yeah and all this PG and all this PG.’ It’s just like I think pushing your audience, like the 18-to-34 you’re looking for out the door, it’s like I don’t want to hear that and for John to have that little edge again. I think that was important. He needed that you know. They’re not in the grand scheme of things [WWE targeting an 18-to-34 audience], but when it comes down to advertising bucks and the demographics. That’s the demographics that make money. In the big scheme of things that’s what it’s all about."
Matt Hardy on his supposed heat backstage (for commenting on Twitter about being responsible for ratings boost in TNA): "God I love the internet. No I mean obviously sure it’s ‘tongue-in-cheek.’ Even I don’t have the popularity of Jeff, but still as I wrestle as a hill like when I go out it’s a baby faced reaction. I really have to work hard and bust it to get the crowd to turn against me, but that’s my whole goal.
"Even on Twitter I’ve played on those things, obviously I would never come out and say those things in a serious light. That’s just like saying if I cut a promo on TV obviously I’m going to say stuff that’s full of stuff that is trash you know. It’s the same thing on Twitter I incorporate things here, there or whatever. People that are intelligent much like yourself like you said it was ‘tongue-in-cheek,’ they know the difference. It’s supposed to be entertaining to a degree."
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
