Matt Hardy Details How TNA Appearance Came About

Matt Hardy surprised fans when he returned to TNA at the Rebellion event earlier this month. The return led some fans to conclude that he'd signed with the promotion after previously revealing he had passed on an AEW contract extension to enter free agency, but he clarified that he has yet to sign a contract. Hardy took time out to delve into how his TNA return came about during the "Extreme Life of Matt Hardy", explaining that it was Tommy Dreamer who reached out to him initially. 

"He just said, 'Hey, TNA has been asking about you, if you're free now they'd be interested. I've got some dates I could run by you,' he said, 'It'd be great to work with you again.' And then I ended up speaking to him and he shot me some of the dates," he explained. "The dates that they all shot kind of fell on the weekend that I wasn't already booked... So then I said, 'Okay, well I think this could be cool,' and we worked out some stuff on Wednesday and Thursday creatively. I talked to some of the creative people. We got everything up and running. They got me a flight, they got everything set up. It was gonna be a big secret – kayfabe – by coming at the end of the show as I did. And it materialized very quickly over just a couple of days."

Hardy once more clarified that he is on a per-appearance deal with TNA, "We're just kind of playing it by ear just to see how long this lasts. This is while I'm still speaking to entities at AEW, still speaking to other entities in other places." 

Matt Hardy has previously confirmed that he is still negotiating with AEW for a potential return. His brother, Jeff Hardy, is still reportedly signed to AEW until some time in the Spring, pending any additional time the company intends to invoke due to injuries and hiatuses.

Matt Hardy continued to opine that he and his brother had experienced a cooling-off period towards the end of their AEW tenure. They last wrestled together in January, teaming with Mark Briscoe to beat Kip Sabian, The Butcher, and The Blade. He reasoned as such that a return to TNA, however long or short-lived, served as an opportunity to get some excitement behind his name once again. 

"Towards the end of AEW, myself and Jeff, I feel like we had cooled off so much," said Hardy. "[I am] in no rush to sign a contract because I think I can do TNA television for a few weeks back to back, be in a good angle, be in a good story, and I think it will help me heat back up a little bit. I think that's important, especially when you've been cooled down a lot. I think there's some other places I could pop up and make appearances or whatever."

Since his 2020 debut, Matt Hardy has yet to win a title either by himself or with his brother in AEW. They were expected to win the AEW Tag Team Championship in Summer 2022 before Jeff Hardy's DUI arrest and subsequent suspension. They never got another shot at the titles, although they did unsuccessfully challenge for the ROH tag titles last year. Matt Hardy is a former world and tag team champion in TNA, and he seemingly returned to begin a championship program with Moose.