During an appearance on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Matt Hardy discussed his appreciation for Vince McMahon and his return with his brother Jeff Hardy to WWE at WrestleMania 33.

Here is what he said:

“When I was at WWE, and obviously whenever I went back to WWE in 2017, it was really important for me to go there and leave on a good note because when I left in 2011, I just wasn’t in a good place. I wanted to go back because I do owe all those guys. I have a great appreciation for WWE, Vince McMahon, and all those people because I wouldn’t be who I am without them. I very openly acknowledge that, and I’m grateful for that. So I went there. I wanted to be the best I could be. I wanted to go back and work, and if I’m leaving or finishing, leave on the right terms, whatever it may be.

“So my brother got hurt, which is very weird because he hasn’t been hurt throughout his 27 year career. Finally, things caught up to him. He had a couple surgeries during that time, and he was gone, and he was away. So I was talking with Vince and Creative about different ideas and what I was going to do.  They were trying to get me to re-sign because this is right around the time AEW started up. I had been very close to The Bucks for a while. I had worked with them originally back in Impact, and then I worked with them in Ring of Honor. I had worked with them a few different times.

“Right towards the end of that Impact run, we were going to do a cross promotional thing between ROH and Impact doing The Hardy Boyz vs The Bucks. If that would have happened, that would have been very, very cool, but it didn’t end up happening because Jeff Jarrett came back, and he wasn’t in the best place in his life.  We ended up leaving and returned to WWE. Then when I did come back to WWE at that time, I just wanted to be the best employee I could and really show them that I’m grateful, I’m appreciative, I’m going to kick my a** and be as good as I can for you, and so is my brother.”

Matt left WWE in early 2020 and joined All Elite Wrestling.