As the professional wrestling world turns its attention from 2023 to 2024, with new feuds, angles, and maybe even an in-ring return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson just over the horizon, others, like Matt Hardy, are still engaging with one of the true breakout pieces of fictional wrestling media, A24's The Iron Claw.
Watching the film for the first time in order to discuss it on his podcast, The Extreme Live of Matt Hardy, the “Broken One” revealed his thoughts on the movie and why he thinks, even with some changes, it still made for a powerful picture.
“I have [seen it], and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought they did an excellent job telling the story of the Von Erichs,” Matt Hardy said via Fightful. “I know there was stuff moved around time table wise and I know there was a brother that wasn’t even included in the movie and some of the other events were left out, but guys, they had two hours and a little change. That’s a lot of storytelling, to include all of those other things I feel like you’d need much, much more time. So, I was good. I was good with what they did. It packed a very powerful punch and it really came off as a sad, hard tragedy that the whole Von Erich family was.”
Turning his attention to the most controversial part of the film, Aaron Dean Eisenberg's portrayal of Ric Flair, Hardy admitted he didn't think the portrayal was very accurate, but in the eyes of most fans watching the show, aka normal folks instead of major marks, they probably didn't care too much either way.
“It’s funny because most people were pretty close, they either resembled or they had it down really good as far as the character they were playing specifically,” Hardy noted. “The Von Erichs, I thought they really picked good actors and they all turned in great performances. The more I watched [the Flair clip] back, it was very much not like Ric. I feel like it could have been closer but at the end of the day, I feel like someone that is a casual fan that doesn’t give a s**t about pro wrestling, it doesn’t make a difference to those people. I think the people who got their pantys in a wad are just people that are die hard wrestling fans, like, ‘C’mon, I can do better than that.’ It’s one of those things, it would have been nice if it sounded and looked more like Ric Flair in some ways, and had the brovato that Ric Flair has, the charisma that Ric Flair has, and says Woo the way he says Woo. Because this guy didn’t necessarily do that, but he was the representation of the character and it was a little fun character.”
Would The Iron Claw‘s Ric Flair have been better if he simply got the Woooo! right, let alone didn't cut a promo at all? Sure thing, but as Eisenberg pointed out in his own interview, that was his interpretation of the character, and he stands by it, even if most fans don't.
Sammy Guevara reflects on his spot with Matt Hardy at All Out 2020.
Speaking of Matt Hardy, Sammy Guevara actually sat down for an interview with Chris Val Vliet in concert with his return to AEW and reflected on one of his most infamous spots in professional wrestling, concussing “Broken Matt” in their match at All Out.
While Guevara clearly wishes the match didn't end the way it did, he gave Hardy props for not holding it against him, as it could have negatively impacted his career in a major way.
“But man that match. You know, unfortunately, it’s remembered as one of the worst moments in AEW, but I think it was a lot of learning from all aspects of what to do in a situation like that,” Sammy Guevara told Chris Van Vliet via PW Mania. “I’m just happy Matt was okay. I remember when I was in the back crying, I was so upset. He’s a hero of mine and stuff keeps happening because the chair thing just happened a couple of weeks before that. And I followed him to the hospital and I stayed with him until like five in the morning to make sure he was good. But I will say respect to Matt because he could have said, ‘You know what? It is just not working out with this kid. Don’t want to work with him anymore.' But he’s still working with me. We did the Elite Deletion match at his compound. And, you know, that’s respect to him to finish the story the right way. Instead of just cleaning his hands with it. He was like, Oh, we got to finish it the right way.”
Could Hardy have ended Guevara's career right on the spot for his dangerous actions at All Out? Potentially so, but Hardy is a professional, and whether he knew it or not, what with the concussion, he helped to make Guevara more professional that day, too.
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