Matt Hardy believes Hulk Hogan taking control and rebranding TNA caused more damage to the promotion than Jeff Hardy’s infamous Victory Road 2011 incident.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt praised his brother for accepting responsibility for what happened during his shortened match against Sting.
“I think the best thing about Jeff is he’s just super-accountable about it. He’s just like, ‘Yeah, I fucked up, and this is why I fucked up.’ He learned a lot from it.
“He said, ‘I knew after that moment I would never take another pill again,’ and he has held true to his word on that.”
Matt called the incident inexcusable but rejected the idea that it placed TNA on the path toward its subsequent decline.
“I don’t think that moment put TNA on the wrong path as much as Hogan taking control, bringing in everybody else and totally rebranding TNA. That is what put TNA on the wrong path.
“This was a shitty incident, which was terrible. There are no excuses for any of that. It was a bad incident, but it wasn’t what hurt the company.”
According to Matt, Hogan’s leadership resulted in excessive spending and changed the identity that had made TNA an alternative to WWE.
“What hurt the company was Hogan taking control, all the excessive money he was spending and rebranding what TNA was at that time.
“The TNA faithful and the audience that was looking for that alternative, who thought they had found this alternative, were now going, ‘Oh, we’re getting WWE Lite.’ That was the biggest thing that turned people away from TNA at that time.”
Matt also criticized the number of veteran wrestlers brought into the company during the Hogan era.
“There were so many excessive talents there being paid probably big amounts of money who really weren’t contributing or making the product any better.
“They spent way too much money.”
The removal of TNA’s six-sided ring was another change Matt believes weakened the company’s identity.
“It was very much an establishing point of what made TNA an alternative. It looked different. It looked unlike WWE.
“TNA was never the same again after they decided to go head-to-head with WWE.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, with a h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.
