Chris Jericho Says Backlash Over Matt Hardy ‘Drowning’ Double Or Nothing Spot ‘Was Not Unnecessary’

AEW Double Or Nothing brought some fans to speak out about a spot where Matt Hardy was seemingly drowned. This took place days following Shad Gaspard’s death at Venice Beach and some were uneasy about it.

During Jericho’s Saturday Night Special, he spoke about the controversial segment. He said the backlash was something that nobody ever thought out during the filming.

“The backlash was not unnecessary. There was the big chuck of Santana and Ortiz kind of ‘drowning’ Matt Hardy under the water as he changed his personas. None of us ever even thought about it. I never even thought about it once.”

Chris Jericho admitted that there were a couple of things that he wishes wasn’t said. The spot itself was been done for a long time by Matt Hardy and no disrespect was intended. In the future they will just have to keep things like that in mind.

“Looking back on it, there’s a couple of things that were said they we shouldn’t have said,” Jericho admitted. “But, the spot itself, Matt’s being doing that for a long time. It’s not like we maliciously set out to do anything disrespectful. And of course, anybody who knows anything about me would know that. So, something that (we, I) didn’t notice until after and in the future, obviously we should be more cognizant of it.”

“But, I actually think that Shad would really appreciate that match ’cause he enjoy kind of those goofy sides of that sort of thing.”

It’s hard to know how everyone is going to react to something. The Stadium Stampede match was a wild ride for a lot of fans and the stars involved. Chris Jericho said that Shad Gaspard would have appreciated the match because it fit his personality. In retrospect, Y2J still wishes they would have realized the controversy a spot like that in water would bring.

Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the quote