The “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” will premiere Friday, January 7.
Matt Hardy is coming to the Podcast Heat network.
Hosted by Jon Alba, “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” will launch its premiere episode on Friday, Jan. 7.
“It’s the perfect time to transition into something new,” Hardy said. “This podcast is going to give a different perspective to older, more historical events, and see how they translate in today’s modern climate.”
A professional wrestling superstar, Hardy has starred in virtually every major North American company the last two decades. Currently starring with AEW, Hardy’s most famed work took place in WWE, but he also crafted a memorable run in Impact Wrestling when he introduced his “Broken” character.
Friday’s debut episode will focus on the 1999 No Mercy ladder match pitting Matt and Jeff Hardy–then known as The New Brood–against Edge and Christian, a breakout moment in all of their careers.
“That’s the match that was our launching point, helping us turn into superstars,” Hardy said. “So it’s also the launching point for ‘The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.’”
One of the greatest tag team wrestlers in history, Hardy is excited to tag with a new partner in Alba.
“Jon brings a very rare modern approach to the industry, and we’ll have a great chemistry and dichotomy,” said Hardy. “We have very different perspectives, so it will lead to a lot of new insight.”
Alba also brings a dynamic background to the show. He spent the past three years in Orlando reporting for Spectrum News 13 after winning an Emmy Award in 2015 for his work as an MLB Network producer. He provided top-notch wrestling coverage during the height of the pandemic, and now takes on a new role alongside an industry icon in Hardy.
“Matt Hardy has a mind for this unlike anybody else,” Alba said. “I don’t think there has ever been anyone like him. He’s a serial reinventer, and he’s always been one step ahead. Our goal isn’t just to look back at memorable moments in Matt’s career. We are going to bridge the past with the present and look at how those events shaped pro wrestling as we know it today. That’s the core theme of every episode.
“Learning from Matt’s journey, whether it’s character development, in-ring storytelling, out-of-the-ring storytelling, or psychology, that is what is going to make this podcast different. This will be a different voice, a fresh outlook, and I’m really looking to dropping our first episode.”
For Hardy, who is approaching his 30th year in wrestling, the podcast is a new opportunity to reconnect with his fan base in a distinct and compelling manner.
“When I started with AEW, my initial mindset was to start with ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy and segue into some different stuff,” Hardy said. “Obviously, that was the first empty-arena pandemic era show for All Elite Wrestling, so we ended up changing course. I ended up becoming ‘Big Money’ Matt, and there are parts of that character, though it is larger-than-life, which are real. But with 2022 coming around—and this was even before the possibility of me and Jeff teaming up again somewhere down the road—I wanted to go back to being more of me.
“This is Matt Hardy the man, and the podcast is going to enhance that. I’m going to open the doors of my mind and really share all my secrets. The reasons, the motivations, I’m going to be fully transparent with all those things. It’s going to be great for the podcast, and I hope it’s going to make my character in wrestling even more understood.”
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Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.