Matt Hardy has been part of the business for over three decades now and he’s seen how everything has changed over the years. Hardy’s never afraid to criticize modern wrestling, and now he’s called out over-choreographed wrestling in 2025.
While speaking to Robbie Fox, Matt Hardy talked about how pro wrestling has changed in 2025. He said he sees a lot of young wrestlers doing complex combo sequences, and called out modern pro wrestling for being over-choreographed.
Hardy stated that part of the magic of wrestling is being able to go out there, listen to the crowd, and respond in the moment. That’s how you truly connect with the audience and give them what they want.
“These young guys and all these combos… I see a lot of criticism nowadays for over-choreographed sequences or something like that. I agree 100%. I think pro wrestling is over-choreographed in 2025. Part of the magic is being able to be out in the ring, listen to your crowd, and give the crowd what they want.”
Hardy then shared a story about working with Eddie Guerrero. At the time, both of them were heels. Eddie told Matt they should just go out there, see how the crowd reacts, and decide who would play the babyface based on that. Hardy said Guerrero was great at reading the audience and would do something different every night depending on the reaction.
Matt Hardy remembered one match where he hit a big move on Eddie and almost pinned him. Eddie told him to “grab a hold,” so Matt put him in a simple chin lock. Since they were both heels the crowd was quiet.
Hardy asked if they should move on, but Eddie said no. He told Matt to wait and said the crowd would come around and they did. The fans got more into the match, and eventually, Eddie became the babyface. They made it up as they went, based on how the fans were reacting.
“Eddie Guerrero—I got to work with him a lot. There was a time when I was Matt Hardy Version 1, and I was a bad guy. He was a bad guy too at that time. We were working house shows, and he just said, ‘Let’s just go in the ring and talk about it. We’ll see who they cheer. If they cheer you, then you’re the good guy. If they cheer me, then I’ll be the babyface, whatever.’ He totally listened to the crowd, and he would do different stuff every single night.
One of the best pieces of advice he gave me—I remember, it was the first night we were working, both heels. I had done some big move to him, almost pinned him. One, two, kickout. And he said, ‘Grab a hold. Grab a hold.’ Just a basic chin lock. I was going up and down, and there were two heels in there—no Jeff Hardy who shines when he sells and gets all the sympathy.
I remember asking, ‘Eddie, should we get up? Should we get out of this hold?’ And he goes, ‘No. To hell with these people. We’re going to sit here and wait. They will come. Trust me, they will come.’ And they did. Eventually, the crowd came alive, we shifted the match, and Eddie became the babyface, calling the comeback. We just called it all as we went. It was very cool.”
Obviously modern-day wrestlers are incredibly athletic, but Hardy warns that if they don’t slow down and give the audience time to connect, the emotional part of wrestling could get lost. Therefore, we’ll have to wait and see if the current talent takes his advice.
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