wrestling / News

Reby Hardy Recalls Her First Impressions Of TNA, Hardy Boys’ WWE Return in 2018

December 23, 2022 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Reby Hardy Rebecca Hardy Reby Sky, AEW Image Credit: Impact Wrestling

Reby Hardy recently looked back at her wrestling career including her time in TNA, as well as some of Matt Hardy’s career moments, in a new interview. Hardy spoke with PWMania and you can check out the highlights below:

On being interested in acting and signing growing up: “You really went into the archives there. Yeah. So I’ve always sort of been in entertainment. Just growing up as a kid in New York, I really took for granted all of the resources that were there in hindsight now but I’ve always in like dance or piano lessons or some form of the arts and that happened to lead me to a belly dance group and that’s how I ended up on that Broadway thing.”

On her foray into wrestling as a host for Lucha Libre USA Masked Warriors: “Well, that was sort of like the big break per se in wrestling. I had been wrestling before that. But I guess with wrestling how it goes, if you don’t have any outside legitimacy from another brand or name tacked on, you’re not worth a sh*t. So yes, that was my sort of first big break, I guess in wrestling.”

On her first impressions of TNA when she went there: “I was so excited to get to TNA and a lot of people assumed that just because of the popularity of the act that I was associated with TNA that that was sort of my introduction to TNA and my first rodeo there but they used to do this knockout knocked down… kind of introducing new girls, you know, on this girl’s centric pay per view, which was really cool. That was the beginning of my TNA career I guess you can say although career is a very strong word, but you know what it is what it is. The thing with me though, is every single time I’m very close to catching a break, I ended up pregnant. And that’s what happened there. They actually offered me a contract after the Knockouts Knocked Down pay-per-view and I was so excited and I’m like yes, this is gonna live my dream. I’m gonna be a wrestler. This is it like legitimized! Nobody can tell me nothing and boom pregnant. That was sort of the end of that. But yeah, that was great. That was a great experience. I left everybody on there.”

On Matt Hardy’s TNA World Title win in 2015: “He is, like, probably the biggest wrestling fan that I know, in addition to just doing it himself. So stuff like that means, I’m sure it would mean a lot to anybody, but it really meant a lot to him. And that was a huge deal. We came out, we just had our baby King Maxel and it was in his hometown, well not his hometown… Well it was like an hour away, so kind of in the hometown, and his dad came, and it was a big celebration ring. That was very emotional for him, too, because I think it was considered like a major world title for him. And he’s only got like one other of those. Sort of like a, an important thing later on in his career that he could finally do, and he was really excited about that.”

On if she thought the Hardy Boyz’ return to WWE in 2018 was the start of their last chapter: “No I didn’t. Because I feel like logically, most people would say, Oh, this is gotta be it, right? Go out with a bang. Why wouldn’t this be the end, he’s old, blah, blah, blah, you know, but like I said, he’s the biggest wrestling fan, I know, he’s not going to stop until he physically has to stop. And even then, you know, I feel like he’ll be out there in a wheelchair, getting heat. So I didn’t think that was the end at all. But it did feel like full circle, sort of like something that he felt needed to happen and that he wanted to happen and we were happy to be able to work that out. That was a very, like, chaotic, last minute morning of practically sort of thing, just with the transition from TNA and drama with, you know, the “Broken” name and all that stuff. It was all very chaotic time, but it ended up being worth it for sure for that moment. They needed that that part in their story to come full circle.

“We went to Disney World the next day, and I was stopping and taking a break, get some rest up and the guy next to me was watching it on YouTube. I mean, it even transcended, you know, just the everyday wrestling fan because people are remembering them their childhoods or when they were younger and there’s that element of nostalgia and then there’s also that, sort of like, viral moment from even casual watchers like “whoa, wait, what’s going on? This is a huge thing”, so that you know, it really was a moment.”

On if she’s talked to him about the idea of retiring from the ring: “Yeah, we had that talk about 10 years ago. But you know, what, you have the talk once and you kind of see where it stands. Like I said, he’s not going to stop until he has to stop. He is still hoping to achieve some goals that he has already previously mentioned in AEW, some of those include his brother, some of those don’t. But he got some stuff that he wants to do there still, and he’s, he’s gonna do it. One way or another. He’s gonna do it.”

On possibly teaming with Matt in a tag team match: “So you know, this is crazy. Just a couple weeks ago, right after Thanksgiving here, I did a show and it was my literal first time in a public ring in over five years. And that was versus Jeff Jarrett there, I was managing Matt. And there was some talks of possibly doing some sort of intergender tag match with his girl and me and Matt, but, I wouldn’t go that crazy. I wouldn’t go that crazy but I would say never say never. You know, our days as an independent tag team, I think maybe at an end, unless, I could go back to wearing the babies on my back and stuff. I feel like my place in wrestling is more behind the scenes. At this point. I produced a ton of WWE vignettes and in video footage, TNA stuff, a lot of stuff that led up to the AEW, debut stuff for AEW. So I feel like a lot of people don’t realize that a lot of that stuff was like, you know, my producing, my filmmaking, my ideas. That’s where I kind of have the best time in wrestling as of now, aside from the musical part of, you know, writing entrance themes and stuff, but, you know, I’m pretty busy. You know, I got the four kids, I homeschool the four kids, I have a legitimate day job, I’ve got my content creation, it’s a lot going on. And wrestling is sort of an afterthought nowadays, because again, you know, I’m old and fat and ugly.”