Matt Hardy’s WWE contract expired earlier this year, and the veteran star refused to sign a new deal, making a switch to All Elite Wrestling. Hardy returned to WWE in 2017 along with his brother Jeff in spectacular fashion at WrestleMania, but the rest of his run was quite underwhelming.
With Hardy being at the twilight of his career, WWE wanted to transition him into a producer role backstage, given his expertise and eye for creative storylines.
However, Hardy refused to give up on his in-ring career, and instead headed to Jacksonville to join his former friends from the independent scene.
Hardy spoke to Chris Van Vliet and revealed how Vince McMahon was set on making him a producer and helping out the new talents in the company.
“Vince and WWE, they already had it in their mind. In Vince’s mind, he was ready to move me on from being a talent into working backstage. Being a producer, helping give back and teach other guys behind the scenes. And I’m very happy to do that but a little later on. These last few years that I have to do this physically, I want to do it to the highest level that I can.”
WWE has moved several former talents to backstage producer roles in the recent past, with stars like Jason Jordan, Tyson Kidd, Kurt Angle, etc., being some of the examples.
Hardy is currently helping out AEW as an in-ring talent by putting over new stars like Sammy Guevara and Private Party while experimenting with his gimmick on several occasions.
Hardy has mentioned that he would like to return to WWE in the future, and WWE will be more than happy to pick his brain to improve their storytelling.
