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The Hardys lifted the lid on their Full Metal Mayhem match at TNA Bound for Glory 2024, revealing Jeff Hardy painted the whole canvas himself.
At the PPV, The Hardys took on ABC and The System for the TNA World Tag Team Championships. The bout was a Full Metal Mayhem match which is a derivative of the TLC match they made famous in the Attitude Era. Matt and Jeff Hardy won the match, earning their first tag team titles since Matt left WWE in 2020.
The Hardys recently spoke with Bill Pritchard of WrestleZone, where they were asked if Jeff Hardy did all the artwork for Full Metal Mayhem himself, or if he had help. Jeff says he took it on himself, pitching it to Tommy Dreamer. They knew it’d be a lot of work, but they pulled it off.
“I took it all on myself man. I pitched the idea to Tommy Dreamer. And he liked it and I said, ‘Okay. This is going to be a lot of work but we’re going to make it work. It’s going to be amazing.’ And just to be out there in the ring, it was almost like, I was in a dream realm or something, or in a Tim Burton movie,” Jeff said.
Jeff credited Matt for coming up with the name of the match. He originally wanted to call it “Full Metal Poetry In Mayhem” after the ‘Poetry in Mayhem’ variation of his Poetry In Motion signature move. However, Matt pitched the “Reimagined” tag and it stuck.
“I don’t think you understand how much work, and dedication, and passion Jeff poured into doing these things,” Matt Hardy added. “He spent ten days, ten very long days painting the canvas. Doing it over and over. He spent days at TV where we went in early to do media, he would spend the last ten hours of the day painting tables or chairs or ladders. He was so passionate about this. And one thing I can tell you about my brother when he is into something and he really believes in it and he likes the concept, he totally commits to it. He truly truly does.”
The Hardys: The Ring Was Like Sandpaper
Jeff also said that the friction from the painted mat was like sandpaper for the wrestlers when they bumped in it.
“It was also a lot more extreme than people probably know because after all that paint dried on the canvas, it was kind of like sandpaper in spots. My humor is a little strange but after the match, we were all just filthy with paint and then I went up to Matt, I said, ‘Man, that was so cool man. That canvas was nasty baby!’ Shoutout to the Nasty Boys, because we were all filthy with that paint. But it was so worth it.”
Matt said Jeff’s work added such a different feel and flavor to the match. He’s thrilled with how the match came off, despite the layers of dried paint having an abrasive feel.
“We did. Everybody that was in that match was covered with like, you know how sandpaper has those little particles? It feels like little pieces of sand or whatever, grainy material? We were all covered with that,” Matt added. “It was in our hair, was on our shirts. It was everywhere. And it was so funny. It had good traction, if nothing else. You didn’t slip in that ring.”
Watch our full interview with The Hardys below:
