"Absurd and Preposterous" – Matt Hardy Dismisses AEW Ring Size Debate

Matt Hardy recently addressed the ongoing controversy surrounding the smaller AEW ring used at Grand Slam: Australia during the latest episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy. The TNA star shared his thoughts on the situation, including some humorous observations and his perspective on the debate.

Hardy acknowledged the online discussions about the ring size, noting that he found humor in some of the reactions. "Okay, I did see this chatter on wrestling Twitter, wrestling X, whatever we call it nowadays. And the thing I was laughing about, I did see people were talking about that. It was a big issue. And I saw someone made a graph that said, ‘I can’t believe the ring was this big.’ And the image had two people fighting in it. They were like six feet tall, and the ring was like five by five. I don’t know if you saw that."

Regarding the controversy itself, Hardy dismissed the uproar as unnecessary, pointing out that it is common practice for wrestling promotions to use different rings, especially when traveling internationally. "It’s absurd that this became a talking point, I think. I mean, that’s very typical. When WWE, they have rings overseas that they’ll use, or whatever. I think they have WWE rings that have probably been shipped over there and just stay over there if they do international business. But with AEW going to Australia for the first time, like I totally get them getting someone else’s ring and using it. And whether it’s 16 feet or 18 feet or 20 feet — I mean, who cares? It’s crazy that it became a talking point."

Hardy also addressed the speculation that the ring size may have contributed to injuries sustained by wrestlers, calling it an overblown debate. "These people are so concerned about the inner workings of the business. Like, ‘Oh my god, the ring size. And is this what really hurt Buddy? Is this why he got hurt? Because of the ring?’ And especially if you said he didn’t — I didn’t see that post, if you said he did it in character. It’s just, they’ll take any molecule of information and turn it into a molehill, you know? And it’s crazy that that became such a debate. It just seemed like a silly conversation."

He further elaborated on the differences in ring sizes, explaining that while a 16-foot ring may feel smaller, an 18-foot ring is fairly standard, and WWE’s traditional 20-foot ring was not always the norm. "I mean, 16 is a pretty small, tight ring. 18, pretty standard ring I feel like nowadays. 20 you see sometimes. You know, the WWE rings were famously 20 forever. It’s very weird that the conversation took this turn, and that became a major talking point like, ‘Oh my god, they’re in a small ring. And how lazy of them to rent a ring and not bring a ring there.’ I think it was an absurd, preposterous talking point."

Hardy also shared his personal experience, noting that smaller rings can actually be easier to work in. "In all honesty, they’re easier to work in. It’s just quicker when you run the ropes back and forth. And I don’t think that’s a hard — it was much harder to try and get myself used to the six-sided ring that TNA had. That was a much tougher experience I thought, than a standard ring. Because sometimes you have someone whipping you and like, if you’re kind of communicating, you’re working on the fly, you don’t really 100% know what you’re doing. Sometimes in the six-sided ring, you didn’t know where you were going specifically. And you didn’t know if you wanted to go to these ropes or the turnbuckle or the other turnbuckle. That would be a lot trickier because the ropes are so short, and they’re also angled so strangely."

Comparing the AEW ring to more traditional four-sided rings, Hardy emphasized the familiarity and ease of navigation. "In a four-sided ring, in a square, it’s pretty easy to know where you’re going. If someone is trying to give you an Irish whip into the ropes, or if someone’s trying to give you an Irish whip into the turnbuckle or whatever it may be."

Despite the online debate, Hardy made it clear that he sees the issue as overblown and believes that AEW’s decision to use the available ring in Australia was a logical one.