Matt Hardy isn’t blaming TNA for the confusion surrounding Jeff Hardy’s TNA World Championship match. He’s actually blaming the fans.
After TNA caught heat for advertising Jeff Hardy vs. Nic Nemeth only for the match not to air during Thursday night’s live episode of iMPACT!, Hardy addressed the controversy on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast and fired back against claims that the company misled viewers. According to Hardy, TNA was actually responding to months of fan feedback.
He explained that fans had repeatedly asked the company to announce major matches well in advance so they could buy tickets, which is exactly what TNA did with Jeff Hardy’s title shot.
“Well, I can explain that because people were saying, ‘You need to advertise matches for these tapings.’ We did a couple tapings where they didn’t really advertise a lot because they didn’t want to spoil things… They said, ‘You need to advertise matches for the tapings. What is going to be taking place there that night so we can buy tickets?’… They advertised a huge world title match in Philadelphia. It’s going to be Nic Nemeth versus Jeff Hardy. And that started selling tickets and that’s what they need to do.”
Hardy also argued that TNA never hid what was actually airing live. He pointed out that the company separately promoted the live broadcast, listing matches like Mustafa Ali vs. Jason Hotch, the Knockouts TV Title Tournament bouts and a Hardy Boyz in-ring promo, while the Jeff Hardy title match was simply one of several bouts taped during the Philadelphia events.
“They made videos saying the live show features this… There’s two Knockouts TV Title Tournament matches… The Hardys have an in-ring promo… The main event is Mustafa Ali versus Jason Hotch… They did all that stuff and that other match was advertised, but then people became critical because without seeing it said ‘live’ or without watching the video that talked about what was specifically on the live show, they were upset that match wasn’t on the live.”
Even after the hosts brought up Nic Nemeth’s own admission that TNA could have communicated things more clearly, Hardy stood by the promotion’s handling of the situation. He made it clear that TNA gave fans all the information they needed and never falsely advertised the championship match as part of the live broadcast.
“I do think it was fairly represented… They specifically went out of their way to put ‘live’ if it was going to be on the live show… They did not falsely advertise it for the live show ever.”
Hardy did admit that casual viewers may have been confused by TNA’s live-and-taping format, but he believes anyone following the company’s official announcements should have known exactly what was airing.
“That… that… that is fair. That… that isn’t wrong. But it’s just one of those things like they several times over just like on the website there was a video on social media was out there about what all was specifically going to be on the live broadcast. And I think people just saw that match and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is such a big match,’ and they just got so excited like, ‘Oh my God, it must be happening.’ But, you know, they… did not falsely advertise it for the live show ever.”
So while Nic Nemeth admitted the messaging could have been clearer, Matt Hardy is taking the opposite stance. As far as he’s concerned, TNA did nothing wrong, and the backlash came from fans assuming the advertised title match was part of the live broadcast.
Do you think TNA promoted the show clearly enough, or do you understand why fans felt misled? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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