Matt Hardy on His Relationship With Steve Austin, Austin Telling Him He Loved the Broken Universe

– On the latest edition of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt Hardy spoke about his relationship with WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Austin contacting him about the Broken Universe. Below are some highlights (via WrestlingInc.com):

Hardy on Austin’s in-ring return at WrestleMania 38: “I mean, I loved it, I was so happy Steve got that moment. Steve was always great to me and my brother, but he was always really cool with me, we had a great relationship. I was so happy to see that moment, he looked great, he looked like a million bucks. And I am so glad he got to have a match in 2022, and it was constructed in the right way where he looked great in it. I had texted him later that night and had got to talk to him later on. I was so happy for him, and no one more deserving, in my opinion, than Stone Cold Steve Austin.”

Hardy on Stone Cold telling him he liked the gimmick: “I still kind of did the character. But I feel like they just promoted us more as The Hardys, as opposed to Broken Matt and Brother Nero. But the thing that I was going to say, shortly after I had gotten that letter. And I want to say it was out on the internet. A little bit before that match, I got a call from Stone Cold. He said, ‘hey, what’s going on, man? What’s going on with this deal with the gimmick, are you thinking about taking that to Vince? I love that sh*t, man. It’s f***ing different, and crazy, it’s over like hell.’ He was just so cool about sh*t, the way he was talking.”

“He said, ‘that’s badass, man. What’s the deal now, you guys are out in Ring Of Honor? Are you thinking about taking it back to Vince?’ I said, ‘well, we’ve kind of talked about it, man. We will see. It’s not really his cup of tea I don’t think, how extreme we were able to go with it in TNA.’ He said, ‘hell, man, that’s so great, you guys reinvented yourself and it got over, I love that sh*t, I love out-of-the-box thinking.’ And that was the hugest compliment, so great, and so cool. That’s been Steve the whole while, he’s always been so cool.”

On the first advice Steve Austin gave him: “One of the first things he told me from a serious aspect. I remember when I would make comebacks. I would come in and I would punch, punch, punch, punch, and if guys were bumping and feeding. He was like, ‘man, just think about this. Maybe come in and just clothesline them, and take their head off. To me, it looks a lot more vicious and like, legitimate. And the more legitimate you look, the better it is for you.’ And that’s a piece of advice that I always held dear, and I always followed as well. Like, if I am ever doing something and guys are bumping multiple times in the comeback, I will give a stiff-ass clothesline where I take their head off, as opposed to a punch. It always looks better too, and that came from Stone Cold. That’s one of the first pieces of advice he gave me back when Jeff and I were still wearing tights.”