Matt Hardy Shoots on Creative Issues with WWE, Vince McMahon Before Joining AEW

Newly signed AEW star Matt Hardy appeared on Chris Jericho's Talk Is Jericho podcast Friday to discuss what led him to leave WWE.

Hardy made a surprising return to WWE alongside his brother, Jeff, at WrestleMania 33 three years ago, but that was essentially the high point of Matt's stint since he wasn't given a long-term opportunity to run with his "broken" character.

Hardy told Jericho (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Jason Ounpraseuth) that WWE's unwillingness to work with him creatively was what made him depart:

"I pitched idea after idea after idea to WWE, and I never got any feedback. I would hear a little chatter here, a little chatter there, but there was never anything that like stuck or like, you know, anything that ever like sparked any kind of like creative fire in Vince's mind. That just became frustrating, and then later they were just trying to re-sign me just to have me under contract so that I was a WWE employee, and I kept turning down money, which was good money. But like I wanted to be in a prominent role in television, and I don't think Vince saw that for me."

Hardy theorized that his age (45) played a role in Chairman Vince McMahon not wanting to put him in any big spots.

Additionally, Hardy discussed the day he told everyone that he wasn't re-signing with WWE and noted that the outcome may have been different had Triple H been the one in charge rather than McMahon:

"What a weird day, and it was like, I'm very honest and open with everyone. I told everyone from Vince all the way down what I wanted and what I expected if I was going to stay around. Once we were on the same page, and I said, 'OK, well, thank you guys very much. I'll just go my own way.' And even days after I left, I talked to to Triple H. It's just like he was cool, and I feel like if Triple H would have been the guy that was solely in power, I would have probably had a much better opportunity of kind of getting to do what I wanted creatively, but it is what it is."

While Hardy was a multi-time tag team champion during his most recent stint in WWE, he was primarily used as enhancement talent over his final year. That included taking beatings from Randy Orton during his final two appearances on Raw.

In stark contrast, Hardy made his surprise AEW debut on Wednesday's episode of Dynamite and was announced by Matt Jackson as the replacement for Nick Jackson on The Elite's team for Blood and Guts against The Inner Circle.

Hardy was in full "broken" garb, which suggests he will be given a long creative leash and have the opportunity to take his character and run with it, much like he did in Impact Wrestling before returning to WWE.

In many ways, Hardy's issues with McMahon and WWE echoed sentiments expressed by Jon Moxley during an interview with Jericho after he left WWE and joined AEW.

Although AEW is occurring on a smaller scale than WWE, it is undoubtedly gaining momentum and has already firmly established itself as the No. 2 wrestling company in the United States.

It is possible that Hardy won't make as much money and won't be known to as wide an audience as he would have been in WWE, but if creative freedom was his biggest want, then it is difficult to argue with his decision to jump ship.

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