Tony Khan Allegedly Not a Fan of Matt Hardy’s ‘Broken’ Gimmick in AEW

Matt Hardy recently opened up about why his beloved “Broken” gimmick didn’t take off in AEW and why he eventually transitioned to the “Big Money” persona.

Hardy made his AEW debut under his “Broken” character during the first episode of Dynamite after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He quickly became involved in a high-profile feud, teaming with The Elite against The Inner Circle in the first-ever Stadium Stampede at AEW Double or Nothing 2020.

However, the “Broken” Matt Hardy character didn’t stick around for long in AEW, and in a recent episode of his podcast, “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” he shed some light on why the change happened. According to Hardy, AEW President Tony Khan wasn’t fully on board with the “Broken” persona.

“‘Broken’ Matt Hardy wasn’t Tony Khan’s cup of tea anyway as it was,” Hardy explained. He then revealed that after his feud with Sammy Guevara wrapped up, the shift to the “Big Money” Matt character was already in motion.

“I think ‘Big Money Matt,’ a guy who’s out there bragging about his wealth and status and how much money he’s made in this industry, whatever, because if you notice immediately after we do The Elite Deletion, you see me doing promos on TV kind of boasting about how I destroyed Sammy and it was the best thing on the pay-per-view. The wheels were already in motion to do ‘Big Money’ Matt.”

Matt Hardy’s run in AEW came to an end in April 2024, and shortly after, he made his way back to TNA Wrestling. His brother, former WWE Champion Jeff Hardy, followed suit and left AEW in June 2024 to join Matt in TNA, reuniting the Hardy Boyz once again.