The Hardys losing the TNA World Tag Team Championships at Lockdown wasn’t just about putting the belts on Nic and Ryan Nemeth. Matt Hardy says there’s a much bigger plan behind it, and it ultimately involves positioning Nic Nemeth as the man Leon Slater needs to overcome.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt was asked what happened after The Hardys walked into Lockdown as champions and left without the titles. There was one practical issue involved. TNA’s upcoming television tapings are in Canada, and Jeff Hardy still has difficulties getting into the country. But Matt quickly pointed to the bigger creative reason.
“First and foremost, TVs are in Canada and still Jeff has some difficulties coming into Canada. They’re really highlighting Nic Nemeth. They’re trying to turn him into a big deal because he is going to be the guy that Leon Slater is going to be going against when it’s all said and done.”
That apparently feeds into some pretty significant plans for Slater. Matt says the hope is to eventually make him the youngest TNA World Champion of all time.
“I think we’re, you know, we’re hoping to make Leon Slater, when it’s all said and done, the youngest TNA World Champion of all time.”
So putting Nic over The Hardys wasn’t simply about changing the tag team champions. Matt believes TNA is trying to build Nemeth into a bigger heel now so Slater has someone meaningful to eventually overcome.
“I think right now there’s going to be a lot of—a lot of spotlight put on Nic Nemeth to really make him this heel that you want to see Leon Slater overcome and follow Leon Slater’s journey.”
Getting there apparently required The Hardys to give up more than just the belts. Matt revealed that their Lockdown match had six minutes cut from it because the rest of the show ran long. Considering they were working the main event, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about that.
“We went in there, we had our match, ended up being happy with it, although the show was heavy and we lost time going in there, which is something that should not happen to the people who are the main.”
John Alba joked that you don’t cut The Hardys’ time, and Matt admitted a younger version of himself probably wouldn’t have taken it quite as well.
“If this would have been the ’90s, brother, heads would have rolled, no doubt. So, yeah, we had lost six minutes going out there.”
The Hardys still got to their planned finish. Matt came off the cage with an elbow onto Ryan Nemeth and was preparing to cover him when Nic caught him with his finish and pinned him to win the titles. Matt says that was essentially the point of the whole thing: give The Nemeths some of The Hardys’ credibility while continuing to build Nic for what TNA apparently has planned with Slater. When Alba described it as “sprinkling a little Hardy dust on them,” Matt agreed.
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, that—that was the goal of this match, I think.”
So The Hardys losing at Lockdown appears to be one piece of something much bigger. If Matt’s explanation is anything to go by, TNA is building Nic Nemeth now with the eventual goal of having Leon Slater overcome him—and potentially become the youngest World Champion in company history along the way.
What do you make of TNA’s apparent plans to build Nic Nemeth for Leon Slater? Let us know in the comments.
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