Chris Jericho Responds To Backlash Over Drowning Spot Of Matt Hardy

The Stadium Stampede match involving Chris Jericho and others during the AEW Double Or Nothing PPV mostly received praise from the fans but there were a couple of instances that were criticized.

Matt Hardy’s drowning spot was one such angle fans believe should have been altered in the light of the recent tragic demise of the former WWE star Shad Gaspard.

Jericho responded to the fan reaction over the spot during his Saturday Night Special live stream and the former AEW Champion said that it was unnecessary:

“The backlash was not unnecessary, there was the big chuck of Santana and Ortiz kind of ‘drowning’ Matt Hardy under the water as he changed his personas. None of us ever even thought about it. I never even thought about it once.

Looking back on it, there’s a couple of things that were said they we shouldn’t have said,” admitted Jericho “But, the spot itself, Matt’s being doing that for a long time. It’s not like we maliciously set out to do anything disrespectful."

Y2J then said that they should be more cognizant about such things in future but he also claimed that Shad himself would have appreciated the match:

“But, I actually think that Shad would really appreciate that match ’cause he enjoy kind of those goofy sides of that sort of thing.”

The Stadium Stampede match saw Matt Hardy teaming up with The Elite to face the Inner Circle and the faces ended up winning this bout.