AEW Star Hits Out At "Entitled" Wrestling Fans

This AEW star isn't happy with those fans who think they can book better than Tony Khan.

by Andrew Pollard
Matt Hardy
AEW

Matt Hardy has hit out at "entitled" wrestling fans who think that they can do a better job of booking AEW than Tony Khan can.

Speaking on his Extreme Life podcast (via eWrestlingNews.com), the veteran discussed those die-hard fans who are at times maybe a little too critical of the booking seen in All Elite Wrestling.

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As Hardy explained:

"It's a really intriguing concept that so many fans that consider themselves die-hard fans, and this is no disrespect to them, but they are so caught up and captivated by the inner workings of the business and why things are happening. They feel like they can book better than the booker who actually runs the show. It's so crazy now. Wrestling fans feel so entitled, especially the more die-hard, smart fans that are online.

Matt continued on:

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"They feel entitled, like, 'No, my opinion counts. You're wrong and I'm right'. That's very strange, but it is what it is. That's the world we live in today, so we just have to deal with it. But at the end of the day, Tony Khan is the guy flipping the bills. He makes the decisions, he's paying everybody, so it's his decision to make. If he makes it, I support him 100%."

Of course, the elephant in the room here, is one might argue that Tony Khan was nothing but an extremely wealthy die-hard wrestling fan before he decided to launch AEW...

While so much of the AEW product has been great throughout the promotion's relatively short lifespan, there have been certain instances where even the biggest of AEW fans have been left scratching their head at what's played out - or not played out - on the company's programming.

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Much like any other wrestling company, AEW should not be above criticism, but there absolutely is a corner of online fandom that will react in a rather extreme way when they aren't happy with what they're seeing from the promotion.

As for Matt Hardy, he's been with AEW since March 2020. Currently, the iconic Hardy Boy finds himself as part of the Firm, with Matt's most recent in-ring outing being a six-man tag match pitting himself, Ethan Page and Isiah Kassidy against Angelico, Luther and Serpentico for this coming week's episode of AEW Dark: Elevation.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.