Jim Ross Says 'Dumbass' WWE Got Matt Hardy over Before He Went to AEW

Matt Hardy's last act on WWE television was as fodder for one of the hottest WrestleMania 36 storylines, as he was put out of commission with a conchairto by Randy Orton.

Jim Ross thinks that was a huge mistake.

The AEW commentator thanked his former employer for putting Hardy over on his way out the door, allowing for the Broken One's debut with the company to mean more. 

"Why would you have someone on your payroll, and you're paying them and traveling them, you're putting them on television, if you wanted their character to die?" Ross said on his Grilling JR podcast, per Wrestling Inc. "Everybody said 'They're burying Matt Hardy,' and that was their intent is to bury Matt Hardy, but for their own mismanagement and lack of attention to detail and lack of common sense, they got Matt Hardy over more on his way out then they did while he was there. He was doing promos, he was in hot angles, he was with Randy Orton. You're not burying him, you're getting him over, dumbass! Now Matt Hardy is in AEW which is going to be great for us."

Hardy debuted on AEW last month with his Broken gimmick, starting a feud with Chris Jericho—another WWE-to-AEW defector. While the coronavirus pandemic forced Hardy to debut without a crowd pop, his appearance drew rave reviews on social media. The Hardy-Jericho feud has also been praised, in large part because the heavily produced content comes across better to an audience than an empty-arena match.

WWE would likely disagree with Ross' "dumbass" characterization. The company was able to play on Hardy's history with Edge and further a storyline that dates back nearly two decades. If anything, it was mutually beneficial for WWE and Hardy for him to go out that way.