Matt Hardy Discusses His Favorite TLC Match, WWE’s Use Of Cinematic Matches During Pandemic Era

In a recent edition of The Chris Van Vliet Show, Matt Hardy discussed his pick for his favorite TLC Match, WWE’s use of cinematic matches, and much more. You can view his comments below.

On his favorite TLC Match of his career: “I would say mine is the one from WrestleMania 17, which was the TLC 2 I guess. That was my favorite I just feel like from a storytelling standpoint. Obviously, the first one was special – the one from WrestleMania 16 where we had the Triple Threat Ladder Match, which in a lot of ways is viewed as the blueprint and outline of the TLC matches. That was a really special scenario because all six of us young guys went out there and they were like ‘Don’t worry about time, just do whatever you need to do, we know you’ve got a lot of crazy stuff you’re gonna do, so don’t worry about time.’ And to think about that in this day and age that six young guys went out and they said like ‘Don’t worry about time’ on WrestleMania – that’s unprecedented, that’s unheard of. And then the first TLC match at Summerslam, I really enjoyed it. But I just feel like the storytelling and everything kind of came together and everyone was so perfect in their roles at the WrestleMania 17 TLC match. That was the best of the bunch.”

On WWE’s use of cinematic matches during the pandemic era: “I haven’t seen all their stuff, but I saw the Boneyard Match. I thought it was great. I thought it was done really well and I think that was one of the smartest usages of Taker they’ve had in a long, long time. And because Bray and I are buddies, I watched the Firefly Funhouse. I thought it was super interesting for me considering the way my mind thinks, I thought it was very cool. I can see where some diehard wrestling fans can also get lost in that as well. The bar fight my brother just did with Sheamus, I thought it was awesome. I thought it was done very, very well.

On how wrestling fans should view cinematic matches: “It’s one of those things where I think wrestling fans should be like also very appreciative that they are getting these matches like this because we are doing all this during a pandemic era in front of no fans. It’s very hard on us the performer to go out there and work in front of literally no crowd – just some of our peers out there cheering us on like we’re doing our first indie show in the armory in 1993. That’s what it feels like sometimes. I think if you’re a diehard wrestling Twitter fan and you’re over the top critical of like cinematic matches, I think it’s asking a little much, especially in the empty arena era of the pandemic. Because I feel like these are things where guys are trying to paint something different and give you something good in an era where it’s tough to do great or amazing stuff because there are no crowds involved.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The Chris Van Vliet Show with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.