Matt Hardy Critical Of Private Party's AEW World Tag Team Championship Run

Private Party's AEW Tag Team Title run came to an end this week, and Matt Hardy really feels that AEW dropped the ball with their reign.
Matt Hardy on AEW Rampage
Matt Hardy on AEW Rampage / Lee South - All Elite Wrestling

Fans of Private Party were left severely disappointed this week after they dropped the AEW World Tag Team Championships to Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin on Dynamite.

Adding a bit of insult to injury, the match was a border line squash as The Hurt Syndicate was down right dominant from bell to bell. Their victory brought to an end a disappointing first tag title run for Private Party.

Their former manager, Matt Hardy, was certainly left disappointed by Wednesday's outcome.

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On the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy Podcast, the multi-time World Tag Team Champion was very critical of how his former on-screen allies were booked. That goes for their entire reign, not just on Wednesday night. Hardy said he feels bad for both Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen.

“I would have liked to see their title run optimized, I would’ve like to seen it utilized in a better fashion. I would’ve liked to see them become legit cornerstones of the tag team division. I think following up the match with the Young Bucks where they got a huge reaction and it was very organic when the crowd reacted, I really think there was something you could’ve built on and that could’ve made them legitimate stars."

Hardy has previously offered constructive criticism on how AEW's creative team has (in his opinion) dropped the ball with certain stars in the past, including Wardlow and Daniel Garcia. He's now adding Private Party to the list, believing the work wasn't really put in to make them a legitimate tag team.

The stage was certainly set for Zay and Quen to go on a big run following their matches with the Young Bucks and the tremendous, organic crowd reaction that they received when they won the titles.

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"You had a chance to make them but you needed a plan. You needed a design, a blueprint of what you were going to do to get them to that certain point. You needed some sort of story to get people invested in them, but they just didn’t have any of that. It was just random matches and matches don’t mean s--- if there’s not some bigger context of a story."

Hardy was understanding of the fact that AEW caught some lightning in a bottle with the Hurt Syndicate, but that doesn't change his mind that more could have been done with Zay and Quen across the 84 days they held the gold.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino has been covering professional wrestling since 2019, but his broadcast career has spanned over 15 years. He can be heard every weekday morning on 700WLW radio in Cincinnati, OH. You can also read his work over on SI's Cincinnati Reds Talk. Follow Rick on X and Instagram: @RickUcchino