Matt Hardy Says Wrestling Tribalism Is At An All-Time High

On the latest episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, the TNA star talked about wrestling tribalism. The topic is a popular one in wrestling, with talent like MJF decrying the concept as “silly.” Hardy noted the current temperature is high and that social media echo chambers are the primary engine driving fans to extreme and irrational positions about WWE, AEW, and the wrestling media figures who cover both. You can check out some highlights below:

On Tribalism:

“I think it is very high, yeah. I don’t think this is like a normal, a normal societal, tribalistic thing. You know what I mean? I don’t think this is like normal for pro wrestling. I do think it’s high, and I think — I said this before, in a Matt Fact, right? About how I think social media may become an overall net negative. Just, people get so caught up in these echo chambers of their own stuff. And then they buy into it, and they believe it, and just — but there was that, were you following the news about the case today in LA? Where Meta and YouTube, they said that they were liable for damages because of social media?

“Social media has taken on this insane life of its own, And in pro wrestling it has done that as well. And like, the people who live and die, that ‘WWE is the devil, it’s terrible,’ or that ‘AEW is gonna be out of business, and they suck, and they’re the worst.’ It’s just they hear this from other people that agree with it, and then they just build up each other’s confidence, and they continue to go at it, and then these forces battle.”

On It Reflecting on Today’s World:

“In a lot of ways, that’s what’s happening in society in America too. Just to keep people at each other’s throats, and it’s a problem for a lot of things. This conflict of opinion, it’s just like — what happened to civility? What happened when someone just can throw out an opinion? Go, ‘Well, I don’t agree with that. My opinion is this, but okay. You’re entitled to your opinion.’ It’s not that now. It’s like, ‘I’m going to expose that fraud, Tony Khan and Sean Ross Sapp and Dave Meltzer. And then yeah!’”

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.