Our Exclusive Sit Down Interview Before TNA’s Historic AMC Debut
As TNA Wrestling prepares for its groundbreaking Thursday Night Impact premiere on AMC TV this January 15th and the Genesis PPV on January 17th at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, wrestling legends Matt and Jeff Hardy open up about their return to prime time television, their legacy, and what makes TNA special.
1. TNA on AMC TV Congratulations! What does this mean to you, and what is the energy in the TNA locker room?
Matt Hardy: This is monumental. AMC is on every basic cable package; it’s in every hotel this is a game changer for us! There’s going to be so many more eyeballs on our product. This is going to be a big deal I am very confident that this will be TNA’s biggest year ever.
The energy backstage? Electric. You can feel it. Everyone knows this is a landmark opportunity for the company.
Jeff Hardy: like Matt said, It’s a huge game changing event for the company. I was with TNA back in the day when they had the weekly pay per view before they got the SpikeTV deal.
It is super cool for me to be here in 2026. It’s exciting to be a part of this, we kind of paved the way to get back to this. The possibilities are endless.
TBN: Just to piggyback off of that I remember my friends and I would hand out at my house and watch the .99 cent TNA PPV and we marked out when you debuted as AJ Styles mystery opponent for that TNA Wednesday’s night PPV.
That can’t be Jeff? Oh crap that is Jeff!
2. Do you prefer the six-sided hexagon ring or the four-sided ring?
Jeff Hardy: [laughs] Ah, I prefer the four-sided ring. The six-sided ring was cool and futuristic looking no question but it’s more geared for the MMA style type of fighting. Back in the day it was iconic. It was different. When people think of TNA, they think of that six-sided ring.
3. What made returning to TNA special for you guys at this stage in your careers?
Matt Hardy: I think TNA is the perfect place for us. Because we’re both creative guys, we like to change, we like to evolve, in TNA you’re given that creative liberty to do your own thing.
So, we’re really excited about that. Like you said earlier there are people calling us the #goats for a while now, at least when it comes to the tag team stuff especially this year.
We retired The Dudley’s, won the NXT tag team titles, won WWE titles in the 90’s, 00’s, and 10’s and now the 20’s we have had an amazing run, it’s been great.
I think there is something we can lean into where we have become a little full of ourselves being the greatest of all time and I think there’s some fun content that can be done with that.
Jeff Hardy: One of my goals for this year, back in the day I think it was six years in a row I had a new theme every year at Bound For Glory that’s how opened minded TNA was for letting me do that.
This year I would love to do a remix or a updated version of Modest my original TNA theme song for when I have a single match I can rock that instead of the Hardy Boyz tune.
4. How does TNA today compare to when you were first there?
Matt Hardy: I would just say you know there was versions of TNA whenever I came back and teamed with Jeff and we had a great series of matches with the Dudley Boys/Team 3D and The Wolves we had several matches back to back and I said ok I think it’s time to evolve a little bit and we were becoming a little stale with the OG Hardy Boyz stuff.
Then I ended up doing the “Big Money” Matt then which became “Broken” Matt and the “Brother” Nero thing. It’s crazy how at that time the whole broken universe concept and all the insanity that we were doing was kind of keeping TNA afloat because that were hemorrhaging money at that time then they ended up being bought by Anthem, the current company that owns them now.
That was very much a down period but now that we have came back this great resurgence is happening and we are very proud of what’s happening and being part of it as well.
We are climbing to heights we have never been before. It’s super exciting, we have been here during the down times and now we’re here doing the thriving times.
Jeff Hardy: I didn’t know TNA was still even in business. I came up from working out one morning and my wife asked me, “Did you know Matt was going to TNA?” I said no, I had no idea then I was watched the footage I was like “Oh my god”this is cool!!
I shot Matt a text saying congratulations, then I asked him “How did it feel out there??” Matt answered, it felt good out there.
The biggest difference for me from then to now, we feel with this AMC deal we are super close to being that number #2 wrestling promotion in the world.
5. What do you think sets TNA apart from other wrestling companies?
Jeff Hardy: It feels a little abstract to me like compared to other places a little gritty, a little raw. Tons of Creative freedom.
Matt Hardy: I think TNA is really unique in the way that it is a company that started very originally like you said with the six-sided ring. They had their own identity but what’s going to set TNA apart starting this year is just the way we find our own niche.
With AMC you know they are great with storytelling, it’s very cinematic, the vignettes, the ways the characters are being presented, the way you see these pretapes are more cinematic, they have a little Breaking Bad or The Walking Dead to them.
If we can tell really unique stories, build compelling characters, and on top of that have great work in the ring action the sky’s the limit for us.
6. How has your bond as brothers helped you survive the ups and downs of wrestling?
Matt Hardy: The brother aspect is great! Someone I know, someone I trust. I’ve known him since his first moments on earth.
We’ve been through hell and back together injuries, personal demons, career setbacks. But we always had each other’s backs, this is our dream.
We have been in this business for 34 years and it is still fun. We come to work every single day and it still doesn’t feel like a job.
Jeff Hardy: Matt would hold me as a newborn baby. He is my anchor, even when I’ve been the most chaotic. [laughs]
We push each other, we check each other, and we celebrate each other’s victories. Wrestling took us both to dark places at times, but knowing we had each other backs made all the difference.
7. This question is just for Jeff where do you find inspiration for your unique wrestling style and look?
Jeff Hardy: It kind of comes naturally man. I consider myself, man I’m a human form but I’m like an art form as well overall. When you think of the original music and the face paint and then who I am out there in the ring it’s like very abstract in itself.
I always just felt authentic and done my best to be authentic I’ve never wanted to be just another wrestler. I wanted to be an experience.
One thing about our debut on AMC I got a killer attempt at a new face paint that I’m going to be doing from a very popular show that WWE might have kind of done a little version of it recently.
I’m going to break out a brand new face paint that I’m super excited to rock out on AMC for the first time.
8. Matt, how did your creative ideas evolve into some of the most memorable characters?
Matt Hardy: You know I kind of got the inspiration for the “Broken” Matt Hardy character, first my wife and I for some reason started watching True Blood where it featured vampires down in Louisiana.
I found the vampire concept so cool how these beings are immortals and you see them in different time periods and their clothes are different considering what time period it is and I thought man it would be cool if I could do an immortal character obviously were not immortal I know we age or whatever but what if I be aware of where my soul has been I said I can track that and seem to like a vampire.
I also pulled things from the show Dexter and some stuff from the show True Detective.
There’s a lot of great content on TV where I would just see something and say I can apply that to a character in wrestling to some capacity and that’s where I get some of my ideas from.
9. If you weren’t wrestlers what do you think you’d be doing?
Jeff Hardy: I think I would own my own landscaping company. [laughs]
TBN: Seriously, why landscaping Jeff?
Jeff Hardy: I always enjoyed landscaping. It’s what I did before we made it in pro wrestling. It was my first job man.
I am in tune with Mother Nature and Father Sky and I have always loved plant life, planting trees, taking care of trees, grass, bushes and all that stuff.
Plus, I am very authentic and creative when it comes to stuff like that too. My house is very different compared to any persons yard believe me.
TBN: So, Jeff did you do the landscaping for the Hardy Compound stuff on TV?
Jeff Hardy: Yes, I did a lot of the weed eating art designs that was a big part of the Broken/Hardy compound stuff.
Matt Hardy: I think I’d be an engineer. I have my associate degree, and I was going to school to be an engineer, and I dropped out to follow this crazy pro wrestling dream and it half a** worked out. [laughs]
10. You’ve wrestled across many eras—how has the wrestling industry changed the most since you started?
Matt Hardy: I think what has changed the most is just the culture within the wrestling industry, which is a good thing.
When we first came in, they would rib you, they would make sure you earned your spot and sometimes it was pretty brutal.
The a not everyone knows how to tell a story that makes people care about that match. The best performers balance both.
Jeff Hardy: I think Myspace was the first kind of thing, then there was Facebook, then Twitter/ X came out, then Instagram.
Matt and Shane Helms were on it, they knew exactly what was going on. I did not know what was going on and I am still trying to figure some stuff out lol. Social media changed everything.
When we started, you built mystique by being unreachable.
Now, everyone has access to wrestlers 24/7. That’s good and bad. It creates connection, but it also takes away some of the magic.
11. What advice would you give to young wrestlers trying to stand out today?
Matt Hardy: I think authenticity is very important, you need to come off real and authentic. I think everyone should try to find what makes you different and amplify it.
Try to do something different, try to be original, try something that hasn’t been done before. Be creative.
Jeff Hardy: One of my go to’s is always shine when you sell.
Always take advantage of making other people look good and exaggerate reality to the best of your abilities.
12. What match in your careers best defines The Hardy Boyz legacy?
Matt Hardy: I would say the first tag team ladder match that put the Hardy Boyz on the map.
The No Mercy match 1999 versus Edge and Christian in Cleveland, Ohio. That is the moment when we became superstars.
That’s when people really bought into us. Everything changed for us after that match.
TBN: Jeff, would you agree with Matt on that?
Jeff Hardy: Yes, for sure! The first ever tag team ladder match. That match skyrocketed us to a new level.
We would like to thank Matt and Jeff again on taking some time out to talk TNA with us here at TrueBlueNation Media. We will be at the Thursday Night Impact and at the Genesis PPV.
DON’T MISS: Thursday Night Impact premieres on AMC TV – Thursday, January 15th and the Genesis PPV – Saturday, January 17th at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas
TNA is on AMC. Wrestling will never be the same.
Leave a comment