Matt Hardy Discusses Triple H’s Retirement, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania Match

On this week’s “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” the AEW star discussed a wide range of topics. Here are the highlights: 

Steve Austin’s return at WrestleMania 38:

“I loved it. I was so happy that Steve got that moment. Steve was always great to myself and my brother, but he was always really cool with me. We had a great relationship.”

“He looked great, like a million bucks. I’m so glad he got to have a match in 2022 and it was constructed in the right way where he looked great in it. I had texted him later that night and then got to talk to him a little later on. So I was very happy for him, and no one more deserving in my opinion than Stone Cold Steve Austin to have that moment.”

Triple H:

“You know, I mean it is what it is. I mean we all have to retire one day. I remember I reached out to him after I heard about his condition and spoke to him briefly. Obviously, I’ve known Paul for a very long time, and worked with him many, many times and had good experiences with him. He’s incredible in the ring. He’s one of the smoothest workers you will ever be in the ring with. He’s really smart. He’s a student of the game. He loves the business and obviously, I love this insane sh*t, so I really bond with anybody else who has that much of a love for it.”

“Whenever I came back to WWE those last years 2017 through 2020, I had a great relationship with him. I feel like once he retired from being a full time wrestler and he was more of an office person that NXT was really like his huge passion. He loved that so much with every iota of his heart. That was really special to him, building that from the ground up and creating something special. I got along great with him.”

“I feel like anytime he produced any of our stuff, he had really good ideas and he was really selfless when it came to helping talent, especially once he didn’t have to focus on anything in-ring. He was at his best at that point. So I had a great relationship with him those last three years that I was there, for sure the best.”

“I reached out to him and wanted to make sure he was okay. I was glad he was hopefully recovering well. It sucks he has to retire, but I’m glad he’s healthy because he has a big family and I know he loves his daughters.”

H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription