Matt Hardy Reveals Brodie Lee Thanked Him For Leaning Into AEW Exalted One Rumours

Matt Hardy has revealed he deliberately leaned into rumours he was going to be The Exalted One in AEW in order to help build up the reveal for Brodie Lee.

Hardy was heavily linked with being The Dark Order's Exalted One prior to joining AEW, with Hardy himself releasing stuff on social media that suggested as much. However, Lee was eventually revealed as holding the role.

Hardy knew Lee was getting the Exalted One position from talks with Tony Khan and The Young Bucks, and wanted to help build the anticipation, something he says Lee was thankful for.

Speaking on the AEW’s Unrestricted podcast, Hardy said: "I tried to actually release stuff via social media that I was going to be the Exalted One, because I had conversations with The ‘Bucks and Tony and I knew Brodie was going to do it.

"I thought Brodie was going to do amazing at it, which he did. I figured the more I could lean into that I was going to debut as The Exalted One, it would be a bigger reveal for him whenever he eventually debuts. Even if people got mad and someone did want Matt Hardy to show up on that show, they were going to get me later. So it was a win-win either way.

"It was really cool. One of the things Brodie said after that was, ‘thank you for going out of your way to tease that it was going to be you so many times. I feel like that helped me and gave a better reaction because it was less anticipated.’ I was always really appreciative of that.

"It was weird because I didn’t get to know Brodie at all until AEW. We had worked on different brands in the past whenever I had been around. What an amazing guy. I was so happy for him that night. It was so great that he came to AEW and got the opportunities that he deserved and he kicked ass."

H/T Wrestling Inc.