AEW veteran star Matt Hardy recently talked about the promotion's wrestling product and weighed in with his thoughts on reaching the audience.

AEW officially announced the launch of AEW Collision, a new weekly in-ring series that will air Saturday nights on TNT from 8-10pm (Eastern). It has been noted that the launch of AEW's second primetime cable series will apparently bring a 'brand split', with the majority of AEW's large (and growing) roster appearing exclusively either on Dynamite or Collision.

It will feature Powerhouse Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Thunder Rosa, Miro, and Andrade El Idolo, among others. However, there was no mention of CM Punk's return as previously rumored.

On his podcast, Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star was asked whether he believes the company is primarily attracting hardcore followers and not sufficiently appealing to casual fans.

Matt Hardy responded by saying that the company has a long way to go before they can really connect with mainstream fans. Hardy went on to state that AEW does have characters. However, the veteran star believes that the company should continue to focus on development to attract new audiences, giving them a good reason to tune in and stay connected with their product. He said:

“That’s a positive for AEW without a doubt that the Turner folk are all about the hardcore pro wrestling fan base. The hardcore fan base, they’re gonna tune in each and every week, even if they complain about the show, even if they pretend to hate the show, whatever it may be, they’re gonna tune in because at the end of the day, they love pro wrestling. Those are the fans that you always have to appreciate because they are always going to be there.”

“You know, me, I’m a big advocate, especially after being around for 31 years, I do think to grow the pro wrestling fan base of AEW, I do think we need to appeal to some more casual fans who might not be all about just the wrestling and the five-star matches. I think you can garner some fans and gain some fans by having characters that are on a journey that is extremely compelling. I think that is something that is important and that is done in AEW. I’m not acting like it isn’t done. That is done in AEW, but I still think at the end of the day, AEW focuses on giving a great wrestling product when it’s all said and done. I think that’s cool that the people from Warner Media and Turner that they’re leaning into that and that’s what they approve of.”

With their expansion of the TV product through the introduction of 'Collision,' the promotion would be hopeful of garnering increased viewership. AEW Collision is set to premiere on June 17.