Matt Hardy Says Hulk Hogan Taking Control Hurt TNA More Than Victory Road 2011

On the latest episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, the TNA star pushed back on the idea that the Victory Road 2011 incident derailed TNA, arguing the real damage came from the Hulk Hogan era and its spending. Victory Road 2011 saw Matt’s brother Jeff show up visibly intoxicated and in no condition to perform for his World Title match against Sting. Sting came out, visibly clearly angry, and beat Jeff in 88 seconds before walking out of the ring to the back. You can check out his comments below:

On Hogan Taking Control:

“I don’t think that moment put TNA on the wrong path as much as Hogan taking control and bringing in everybody else, and totally rebranding. That is what put TNA on the wrong path. This was a bad incident, no excuses for any of that. But it wasn’t what hurt the company. What hurt the company was Hogan taking control, all of the excessive money he was spending — he was spending money like he was Tony Khan — and rebranding what TNA was at that time. The TNA faithful, the audience that was looking for that alternative, that thought they had found this alternative, now they’re going, ‘Oh, we’re getting WWE-lite. That was the biggest thing that turned people away from TNA at that time.”

On the Problems:

“They had that clip where the crowd was chanting, because the six-sided ring was very much an establishing point of what made TNA an alternative. I’ll never forget, even during that time when Hogan was there, the Nasty Boys are coming in, and here’s Bubba. So many excessive talents were there being paid probably big amounts of money that really weren’t contributing or making the product any better. They spent way too much money.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.