During the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW superstar spoke about The Hardy Boyz facing The Dudley Boyz at WWE Royal Rumble 2000 in a Tag Team Tables Match. On a previous episode of the podcast, Matt revealed that he, Edge, Christian, and his brother Jeff received $10,000 each for their ladder match at No Mercy 1999. Matt Hardy noted what the four superstars received for their match at Royal Rumble 2000, explaining why they received less.
“Our payday for this match was $7,500,” Hardy revealed. “Obviously we got paid more than what we initially made for the Tag Team Ladder Match and I know we were happy with this amount because we got more and they thought more of us. We were able to have an interaction with [Jim Ross] about this and basically we were learning more about the whole salary and how the payday scheme works basically.
“You have x amount of dollars to pay the talent on the show and then they break it down into certain percentages based on where your match falls in the hierarchy and our match was given $30,000 so then that was split between four people because there were four people in the match. It was $7,500 each and in the big scheme of things we were pretty happy about that and we were pretty sure we were going to get a WrestleMania spot following the tag team ladder match and the tag team table match so we were cool with the $7,500.”
While speaking about their match at No Mercy 1999 with Edge and Christian, Hardy stated that he pitched a faction between the two teams to rival with DX to Vince McMahon. Matt Hardy continued to talk about the WWE Chairman and revealed what he was so adamant about The Hardy Boyz doing during their match with The Dudleys.
“Vince McMahon was adamant, adamant that he wanted his baby face team that just secured this new big victory in Madison Square Garden, this iconic venue, he wanted us in the ring with our hands raised,” Hardy mentioned. “He said that’s the most important thing, you have to be in the ring with your hands raised. Jeff now, my brother, he just feels things. He doesn’t give a s–t about structure, he’s not good with time, that was never his gimmick, the gimmick with time was mine.
“We’re out here, we’re already battling the clock to get this match in, and after Jeff goes through Devon to win the match, we’re down there and we get a hit from someone telling us the time, ‘20 seconds, get in the ring, Vince says get in the ring!’ Jeff is still in the mode, totally selling, I picked his a** up, I drug him over as he’s down selling, I dumped him over the barricade.
“That’s the most hilarious thing, I like to throw him over the barricade like he’s my opponent. I throw him over the barricade, I get over there, pick him and drag him into the ring because I know his mentality is like dude that’s a huge bump, I’m going to sell. So I drag him into the ring, we get the glory shot, we get that beautiful shot of us holding our hands up and there’s a big pop from the crowd. I know Vince was adamant, vocally adamant, he said it multiple times I want my babyfaces in the ring with their hands raised as the triumphant winners of this match.
“Come hell or high water, I was going to make sure that happened because I was going to be following his command especially because we were new and just started to get over at that juncture. It was such a quick moment, dumping his carcass over like he’s a dead body.”
After speaking about the funny moment at the end of their Royal Rumble 2000 match, Matt Hardy revealed what he would change about that spot given the benefit of hindsight.
“Looking back in hindsight, if we had been told on the floor right after Jeff landed through that table, I probably wouldn’t have done that now,” Hardy mentioned. “I probably would’ve been more defiant and I would’ve picked him up and raised his hand there. It wouldn’t have been in the ring but at that juncture, I wasn’t going to risk pissing off the boss. I was going to follow the structure and the orders that we were given.”
