Current AEW Star and pro wrestling legend Matt Hardy recently took to an episode of his “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, where he talked about a number of topics such as how WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was really confident that his heel run would work after his infamous turn at WWE’s WrestleMania 17 and how he really liked Stone Cold’s mentality and approach of trying something new.

Matt Hardy said:

“It was interesting. I mean Steve was really confident in himself and he thought he could make this thing work and I like that mentality, I like the approach of trying something different and new. You have to always change, you have to always evolve, right? Stone Cold became a character that was so beloved, it was very hard to get him booed and that was gonna be problematic all the way through that.”

Matt Hardy also talked about how it was difficult to make Stone Cold Steve Austin a full fledged heel just like his brother Jeff Hardy because they were both so beloved by the fans and they could connect to the fans in a way that only very few people can.

Matt Hardy said:

“I almost, to me, it feels very similar to Jeff Hardy. It would be hard to make Jeff Hardy a full fledged heel because he’s just such a beloved character and people connect with him in a way that very few people do. Stone Cold was that way too. I know he went out, and it was in Texas of all places where he is absolutely put on a pedestal, and he was getting cheered when he was beating The Rock’s ass after aligning with Mr. McMahon or whatever. They knew that was going to be problematic so they said ‘How can we get some legitimate heat on this guy?’ and he said ‘Well, let’s call in these young heartthrobs, the Hardy Boyz and Lita, Team Extreme.’ Let’s get some heat on those guys.”

You can check out Matt Hardy’s full comments in the video below. H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes.