Matt Hardy Weighs In On TNA vs. NXT Showdown, Praises Shawn Michaels’ NXT Work

On the latest episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, the TNA star talked about TNA vs. NXT Showdown, where he and Jeff will challenge for the NXT Tag Team Championships. You can check out some highlights below:

On the NXT vs. WWE war: “Well, obviously there’s been a partnership between TNA and NXT. And things have got a lot more competitive, obviously, as the weeks have gone on. And then there’s been that theory out there that TNA is NXT and WWE’s puppet. And the more that grew, and the more they made it sound like, TNA is ‘less than,’ I think the guys kind of started to raise up a little bit. They started to rise up.

“And the next thing you know, they all pop up in NXT. There’s a big ass fisticuff, everybody’s fighting. And they’re not going to take it anymore. I’m one of the guys that said, ‘Hey man, you guys — especially people in the Florida area — you should go down there. You should let them know. You should voice your opinion.’ So now we are — we’re on the brink of war, and the war happens this coming week.”

On his conversations with Shawn Michaels and Michaels’ role in running NXT: “I’m a huge advocate of Shawn and NXT. I remember there was a point where he just said when he was done wrestling back in the day, ‘I’ll just be out of here, whatever else. I don’t want to do all this other stuff.’ Like you know, Hunter wanted him [to] kind of be a coach and be a boss or whatever else, ‘But I really don’t.’

“But I think his kids grew up, and once his kids were grown, he’s like, ‘I’m just kind of bored, I miss wrestling.’ He ended up going out to Orlando and running NXT. But it is just such a labor of love for him, like you can just see the twinkle in his eye when his guys go out. And he’s worked hard with them, and his eyes are twinkling, and his heart is lit up whenever they go out there and succeed. And it works. So it’s a special magic where you see a guy who loves wrestling so much like HBK, and he’s still able to give back and help through another vessel.”

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