Matt Hardy Shoot Interview

There is no one in wrestling today with this story. A man, loved by fans, cheated on by his girlfriend with one of his best friends, and then fired by the company, only to be brought back shortly after in a flurry of controversy. Stories like this dont happen every day. Wrestlers like this dont happen everyday. However, before he came back to the WWE Matt Hardy took some time to sit down at the RF VIDEO studios to give what should be one of his final shoot interviews (this year). Finally, the last time to see Matt really shoot. Matt Hardy, the talk of the wrestling world for the past several months, sat down with RF VIDEO for a scorching hot four hour shoot interview that covered his entire career including the entire situation with Edge and Lita! From tales of the past: OMEGA, indys, RVD & Sabu, Scott Hall, doing jobs, Michael Hayes, and Gangrel, to tales of becoming a then-WWF superstar: Ladder matches, Edge & Christian, Dudleys, Bradshaw, Lita, the feud with Triple H & Stone Cold Steve Austin, InVasion, Version 1, and A-Train. The Sensei of Mattitude talked about the WCW InVasion and its destructive effects on so many of WWEs talent. Matt doesnt hold back when discussing Triple Hs influence on Raw while also giving his thoughts on the ECW One Night Stand PPV and his brother Jeff in TNA. For the last time, Matt Hardy shoots about the romantic triangle, straight out of the dirt sheets onto TV. Now hear Matt speak on this candidly to the shoot interview leaders, RFVIDEO. Below is the list of Questions that Matt was asked, and RF VIDEO brought up the following: The firing: Life after WWE, Johnny Ace, Jim Ross, Vince The business: Wrestlemania, dream matches, Hunter, steroids, writers, favorite and least favorite gusy to work with, ribs, road stories, the internet The future: Angelic Diablo, WWE, TNA, The Indys, working with Edge and Lita*?), fitting back into the locker-room, WWE-Cruiserweights, the wedding, regrets, reality show and more! Were you a fan growing up Who did you like watching Did you play any sports growing up When did you know you wanted to give it a shot Were you discouraged at all early on because of your size Favorite matches growing up When you were trained did you look at the big picture of some day going to the WWE or were you just getting trained for fun Do you think Italian Stallion was an old school con or he had your best intentions at heart What do you remember about your first matches At what point did your career start to take off Memories of Joey Matthews Thoughts on his current success Early memories of CW Anderson Thoughts/memories on Steve Corino Were there ever any plans for you and your brother to start in ECW or WCW How did you get your first gig doing jobs for WWE You have said in the past that Scott Hall took a liking to you guys, talk about that Did anyone in management ever give you a reason to think that you guys would eventually get signed Talk about the Manny Fernandez story you wrote about in your book How did you get into the Funkin Dojo Who else was in your Dojo class….talk about the other guys What is the biggest thing you got out of the dojo What do you remember about your first big win over Kaientai on Sunday Night Heat Memories of your match on the indys with RVD and Sabu Was there anyone that mentored you and Jeff early on At what point did you and Jeff ever say to each other, “We did it.” How did you guys wind up with Michael Hayes You tell some good Michael stories in your book, can you recount some. How did he take it when you guys said you didn’t want him to manage you anymore You and Jeff joined up Gangrel but he was dropped pretty quickly from you guys, what happened What was the turning point for you from squash wrestler to push What do you remember about your first matches with Christian and Edge There is an understanding that undercard guys dont show up main eventers, at what point did you four get the leeway to go all out and if you remember, who was it that gave you guys the go ahead Did you guys get any heat from veterans on top that didn’t wanna follow you four What made your matches so good Did you guys study Rock N Roll Express-Midnight Express matches How emotional was the standing ovation you guys received the night after the ladder match How supportive was the rest of the locker room during this time Is it true that you and your brother initiated by Bradshaw by ribbing Cyrus, Don Callis..putting toothpicks in his key holes on his rental car How did you mentally adjust at such a young age to becoming a true WWE superstar in that you go from a small town Carolinas boy to a celebrity Thoughts on your matches with the Dudleys Was there any kind of apprehension between the four of you at first since they came from ECW and were protective of their spot and you guys were just starting to get over? Were you or Jeff the captain of the team as far as calling the matches How did Lita wind up with you guys At what point did yours and Amy’s relationship turn romantic Was it uncomfortable kissing on camera Was it difficult to spend that much time with someone your dating How was Jeff affected by yours and Amy’s relationship When you guys moved past the Dudleys, and Christian and Edge did you feel any pressure as compared to earlier when you guys were just undercard guys with less pressure How did Vince change as you became more successful Did he change at all after he bought WCW and had no more competition Were you disappointed about the way the invasion angle was handled or wasn’t Thoughts on the New Age Outlaws Looking back, do you think any of the vets you worked with as you guys were coming up during this time period tried to get one over on you guys in any way knowing that you guys were young Any good road trip stories Do you think that WWE should have used Shane and Shannon as a team or even as 3 Count when they came over What happened to the angle where it looked like Jeff and Lita were fooling around Thoughts on Eddie Guerrero Thoughts on Chris Benoit How did you guys wind up in the storyline with Steve Austin and Triple H and Stephanie Thoughts on the program Why was the program abruptly dropped? Was it because of Triple H’s injury? In the book went into detail putting a match together with Steve Austin and Triple H, did you get any heat for that from the veterans Where do you think the WWE dropped the ball on tag teams How important are tag teams to the whole mix Thoughts on your match with Jeff at Vengeance 2001 You guys were off tv for awhile right after, why was that In 2002 your gimmick was you had a losing streak, who’s idea was that You and your brother were the first main eventers to put Brock Lesnar over, what do you think of the way he left without doing the same Were you ever a victim of politics Who’s idea was it to stick Shannon Moore with you Thoughts on matches with Rey Jr. How’d you come up with the Version 1 gimmick Now were you supposed to take out Rey Jr’s knee in 2002 and set up a program but it got changed to A Train at the last mn…were you angry about it and how did that go down Thoughts on matches with Kidman Thoughts on John Cena Do you think Cena and Batista can be successful You wrote about a styles clash with Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko in your book when they came over, can you expand on that Thoughts on your series with Zach Gowan, was he as cocky as some people say At what point did Jeff snap A lot of people say that Jeff is a ticking timebomb and has a problem with drugs, what are your thoughts on that In the book, he writes about how he happy he was and then several weeks after the book comes out he quits, do you think he was burnt out for awhile Did you help facilitate his deal with TNA How did life change for you when Amy broke her neck How supportive were you Who did you ride with then You meet lots of pretty girls on the road, was it hard to stay faithful without her When you were drafted to Raw, were you told that you would be pushed more, etc Were you excited or disappointed about the switch Compare the writers on both shows Thoughts on Brian Gerwitz and Dave Lagana Thoughts on Goldberg Were you disappointed you got squashed by him Did it hurt you as a serious wrestler in the fans eyes when you were constantly squashed by big guys like Goldberg and Lesnar Were you and Amy for or against the storyline where you guys split on Raw and Christian had the hots for her Amy tells a story in her book that when the WCW people finally started you guys were out one night at a club and Stacy was being overly flirtatious with you, do you think so and was she a jealous girl Thoughts on Chris Jericho Do you think Triple H holds guys back on Raw Thoughts on Randy Orton How did Lita wind up back with you, who’s idea was that Thoughts on your series with Kane Do you think it helped redeem you as compared to earlier when we talked about getting squashed by the bigger guys What did you think of the whole baby angle When did you hurt yourself Did you put off surgery at all How bad was ur knee when you wrestled Kane at Summerslam How supportive was Amy when you had the surgery At what point did you start to suspect something was wrong with your relationship Take us through how you found out about the affair to the point you took her pictures down off of your website Some skeptics speculate that this is all an elaborate work because during this time brand new pictures appeared on the web of the two of you together, can you explain that Before you found about all of this you were supposed to start back, what was your gimmick or storyline going to be Is the Angelic Diablo tape what you sent to Triple H before this all happened as far as a new direction for your character Did you slash Edge’s tires Are you disappointed that none of your friends clued you in on the affair What made you decide to go public on the Internet Do you think the power of the internet is something the WWE could better utilize During this time your close friend Shannon Moore had a bad car accident, how hard was this time for you. Did Jeff ever get involved and call Amy or Adam Did you ever think of sleeping with Adam’s wife as retribution Dave Meltzer reported a few weeks ago that Edge told fans at a convention that you and he talk all of the time, is that true What did you think of the reaction Amy got in Madison Square Garden Did you find out about the storyline with Edge, Lita, and Kane by watching it on tv or did you have a heads up Did you talk to either of them before of right after Do you think your bad relationship with John Laurenitus had a lot to do with your release Did you talk to Vince before or after you were released about how this would affect your career, same with Jim Ross Do you think you would have been fired if Jim Ross was head of Talent Relations Are you scared about life outside of the WWE How is your brother doing What is this new reality show you have been filming Thoughts on Paul Heyman’s promo at One Night Stand Thoughts on the JBL-Meanie incident at ONS Are you surprised Meanie got a job out of it Good road stories from your time in WWE Good rib stories Fav matches in the WWE Fav guys to work with and why Least fav guys to work with and why What did you think of Paul when he came over and started working in the WWE, you say something in the book about not buying his pep talk Fear Factor experience Talk about the:Angelic Diablo character Did you ever get to work with HBK Have you done anything productive or interesting your free time Would you like to run something like Omega again Thoughts on the fans and the support Have you said anything you regretted Do you feel pressured to do steroids Any regrets Does it bother you when you see less talented guys being pushed at a time when your unemployed What is your future Do you think TNA has a future How has Hunter changed since the first time you wrestled him 10 years ago What has life been like on the indys You talked in your book about having a falling out with Joey Abs, what happened When the ECW and WCW guys came over to the WWE, were they singled out What is it like to wrestle on a Wrestlemania Is there anyone you are looking forward to wrestling Are you afraid of getting hurt on the indys and ruining any chances for a WWE return Would you ever go back Could you work with Adam and Amy Do you think it would hard to fit back into the locker room after some of the things you said Anyone you have never wrestled that you would like If you could make a tape of only 2 hrs of your matches to be put into a vault, which would they be. Do you think the WWE has dropped the ball on cruiserweights What did you think of when they played your Titan Tron video during the wedding Do you think Adam genuinely has remorse or doesn’t care Do you think Amy genuinely has remorse or doesn’t care. Have you watched a lot of tapes since you have been home and if so, what Do you like newer stuff or older stuff Does it scare you or excite you to be a free agent Have you talked with anyone in WWE management since your release Are you afraid that you would screw up a bigger money deal with WWE if you go to TNA