Chasing Glory Recap w/ Matt Hardy – Addressing Retirement Rumours, Teaming with Bray Wyatt, Battle with Drugs & Alcohol, More!

Garcia welcomes Matt Hardy to the show.
Garcia asks Hardy about WWE’s Evolution PPV. Hardy says an all-woman PPV was overdue in many ways. He points out that WWE’s female Superstars work just as hard and travel just as much as the men, and it’s great to see them get this opportunity. He also thinks it’s very important for all of WWE’s female fans, who’ve been supporting these athletes for years and now they get to see them shine.
Garcia asks Hardy about his return to WWE at WrestleMania a couple of years ago. He calls that moment “magical” and calls the crowd’s reaction “intoxicating”. He points out that people were jumping up and down and screaming as he and Jeff walked down the ramp, and it was amazing to see that display of emotion. He says that was one of the most amazing moments of his career.

Garcia mentions that the most recent episode of WWE 24 which featured The Hardys was a tremendous piece of television. Hardy points out that he and Jeff always knew that if they were going to tell their story they wanted to do it under the WWE umbrella. He notes that Kevin Dunn and WWE Network officials were reluctant to put some of the darker content in the documentary, but The Hardys thought that content was necessary and luckily it was left in. The reaction to some of that content has been nothing short of incredible.

Hardy informs that his first love was baseball, and he and Jeff were very good baseball players. When they first discovered professional wrestling their mindset changed, and they set their focus on becoming WWE tag team Champions.
Hardy points out that his two sons have added great value to his life. He mentions that it’s wonderful to have children whose lives are more important than your own, and it’s also cool for him to have two boys who will experience brotherhood the same way he did with Jeff when they were young.
Hardy mentions that he lost his mother to cancer when he was a young boy. He can still remember her passing away in the hospital bed, and that was the only time he saw his father cry. It was a surreal moment for him because even though she was sick, he never thought she was going to pass away. Looking back now, he’s glad their entire family was able to be there by her side when she passed.

Hardy informs that he’s basically the polar opposite of his wife, Reby. She’s more of a pessimist and he’s an optimist, but they make a great team when they work together. He points out that she helped him get through his darkest days, and he’ll never be able to thank her enough for that.
Garcia asks Hardy about his struggle with drugs and alcohol. Hardy notes that when he and Jeff first arrived in WWE they didn’t drink or do any drugs, and some of the old-timers would make fun of them for that. Over years the constant pain became too much and they went down a very slippery slope. Jeff fell into pills and drug abuse first and that was a very terrifying time for him, as he watched his brother struggle with those demons.

Eventually Matt began to struggle with similar issues and he nearly saw everything he loved slip away. He credits his wife, Reby, for making him push through that.
Hardy says he enjoyed his time tagging with Bray Wyatt and they actually became great friends while working together. He thought they could have done so much more with that team, noting that wrestling every week on television marginalized two very strange and unique characters. The initial idea for that team was for Wyatt to live at the Hardy Compound where they could film some creative vignettes and wrestle sporadically, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Hardy points out that he’s still a part of WWE, and although he had to step away from the ring for a while to take care of some injuries, he confirms that he’s not officially retired. He notes that if his hip and back allow him to return to in-ring action at some point in the future that’ll be great, if not he’ll find another way for Woken Matt Hardy to entertain the fans.
Hardy informs that he and WWE are planning on continuing the Hardy Compound series on the WWE Network and the next episode that’s planned is a Christmas episode. The next episode will pick up where the Halloween special left off, and he thinks fans will thoroughly enjoy the continuing storyline from one episode to the next.
That sums up this week’s episode of Chasing Glory. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!