by Phil Speer March 11, 2003
"The Hardy Boyz: Exist 2 Inspire" comes out on Tuesday, March 18. The 270-page autobiography tells the life story of Matt and Jeff Hardy. WWE.com caught up with Matt to talk about it.
WWE.com: What can fans expect from the book?
Matt: I think fans can expect to learn a lot about the Hardy Boyz -- about Matt and Jeff -- that they haven't learned yet, which is pretty amazing considering all that's been out about us so far. We went into some good detail in the book. To me, still, the most interesting part -- which is a very large part of the book -- is from when we decided we wanted to be professional wrestlers and sports entertainers to when we made it to WWE. Just the trials and tribulations going from starting to fulfill the dream to actually accomplishing the dream. There are so many good stories in there, especially about how tough it is and how many odds we had to defy and how many barriers we had to break to get here.
WWE.com: So there's even more information than in the eXtreme Magazine that came out about you, Jeff and Lita?
Matt: Oh yeah. No doubt. The book is very thorough, much more thorough than that. Whenever we talk about WWE, and the TLC Matches and the Ladder Matches, you hear a lot of inside perspective from Jeff and myself, which is really interesting. If you're a fan of Matt and Jeff, you're going to love it. But I think that even if you're not a fan of Matt and Jeff, you're going to enjoy it as well because it's a great story.
WWE.com: Would you say the book is mostly about your career in sports entertainment? What does it mostly concentrate on?
Matt: It starts by talking about us growing up in North Carolina, and how basically we grew up in the middle of nowhere, and the only way we really had entertainment was to entertain ourselves. So it starts from when we had our little childhood group called the Adventurers with our cousins, and the things we would do -- go out and build hideouts, and everything we did as kids. (It continues) up to the point where we discovered professional wrestling and sports entertainment and said, "Wow, this is really want we want to do because these guys are like superheroes. This has got to be the coolest occupation in the world because they're loved and respected by all, they're great athletes and they get to do some drama and some comedy and everything else in their act. How cool would it be to do this?" The bulk of the book follows from when we decide that until we actually make it to WWE, which in my opinion is the most interesting part of the book. And all the trials and tribulations are in there -- when we started in WWE, some of the tough experiences we went through and some of the tests we had to go through. It goes all the way through to when we end up splitting, and the era of Mattitude was born.
WWE.com: You must talk about your mom.
Matt: Yeah, that's in there too. There's a section on our mom. In the book, which Michael Krugman helped us write, the chapters are real short -- it's almost like topics. There's definitely a section about our mom, and how (her death) influenced and changed both of us, and how it helped form us into the people we are now. There are so many things. Like I'm sure people have always wondered, "Have you ever been in a real fight inside the ring?" There's a great story in there about when we were wrestling at a Harley-Davidson convention, and Jeff and I actually get into a real fight with a guy who weighs 400 pounds. It's a tremendous story. There's a story about when I ended up going to the prom with a girl because her mom knew she had a crush on me and ended up paying to have me go to the prom with her. I didn't even realize until I went back and read it how much stuff we had done. It's really amazing in a short amount of time.
WWE.com: You talk about your relationship with Amy (Lita) too, I'd imagine.
Matt: Yeah. We talk about that -- about when that started and how that formed, and how it worked out great for both Amy and me.
WWE.com: Because you're telling so many candid stories in the book, are you concerned about the reaction you're going to get from people who are included in the book?
Matt: Maybe some of them. But I'm also a big advocate of, "you can't be afraid to tell the truth." There's really nothing I've done in my life that I'm ashamed of. So if I've done it, I'm not afraid to talk about it again. I don't think there's anything that's said that's so far from the truth or so far-fetched that it's going to hurt somebody's feelings.
WWE.com: Not even the girl who you took to prom for the money?
Matt: Well, maybe. But there's also names changed.
WWE.com: Why the name "Exist 2 Inspire?"
Matt: I think it's a good description of both Jeff and myself.Neither one of us came from the mold of people who would typically be here in WWE, especially considering our background and where we're from, and considering we had no family in the business (and) we had no connections in the business. I think our whole journey of getting here is really a success story, and really an inspirational story. It just tells everybody that regardless of what you want to do, if you really believe you can do it, you can. "Exist 2 Inspire" is a phrase Jeff and I have thrown around for a long time anyway, and we always believed that we both kind of exist to inspire, so we thought it was fitting for the title of the book.
WWE.com: You've been working on the book for several months, haven't you?
Matt: Yeah, we started on it last summer, around May.
WWE.com: This is the first time WWE released an autobiography about two people. What was the writing process like?
Matt: Actually, this may be surprising, but I did quite a bit more work than Jeff did on it. We both met with the writer, sometimes together, sometime individually, so he could get both perspectives. Probably a lot of the book is more of my perspective than Jeff's, just because I was able to spend more time on it, and was willing to spend more time. Then there were times where we talked about individual stuff, like when I'm talking about Amy, or when Jeff's talking about his girlfriend or about his Ladder Match with the Undertaker.
WWE.com: So when you're reading it, it's like one chapter's by Matt and the next is by Jeff?
Matt: There are some chapters that just go back and forth between Matt and Jeff -- with both of our comments. And then occasionally you'll slip into a chapter that's just about Jeff or just about me.
WWE.com: The book comes out next week, and WrestleMania's coming up. Are you concerned about the schedule that you have coming up?
Matt: I'm always concerned about the schedule because one thing I really try to do now is take care of myself. It's really important, now more than ever, to try to get in the gym and keep my body in shape, and try to sleep six or seven hours a night if I can. Sometimes the schedule makes that impossible. For instance, last week when we were in South Africa, I probably slept three or four hours a night, which I hate doing because that's when you get hurt -- when your body's drained physically.But I'm just going to try to do my best to force myself to go to sleep at a certain time and hit everything on the schedule and still try to stay physically in one piece. I've been doing this for five years here, man. My body's taken a lot of abuse, and especially because I try to wrestle a pretty impactful style. So it's really important for me to try to take care of myself. There are a lot of people hurt now too, and I want to be here to give as much of a contribution as I can.
WWE.com: Is that what you meant when you said "now more than ever" you need to take care of yourself?
Matt: That's one of the reasons why. Now more than ever I need to take care of myself because I definitely feel like I'm needed around here to make a contribution. Also, just because it's going to be such a hectic schedule. I'm going to be gone for two months coming up, between the crazy full-time schedule -- which is always a crazy full-time schedule -- and the book signings.
WWE.com: And WrestleMania too.
Matt: Yeah, and WrestleMania. It's going to be almost two months straight. It's so hard, man. I just moved into a beautiful new house. I miss it.
WWE.com: Anything you want to add?
Matt: I definitely want to add -- and I said this once before, but just to summarize -- if you're a Hardy Boyz fan, I definitely think you're going to love the book. I want you to come out to a book signing; I want your feedback. I want to hear what people think about it. And even if you're not (a Hardy Boyz fan), I think you really should still read it and give it a chance because I think you're going to enjoy it anyway. I think it's got a different feel than all the other books, because it's by two people, and because our story's just so different, even though we're still in a lot of ways in the infantile stage of our career. It's definitely differently paced than all the other books. I think people will really relate to it, because we're still more like average people than a lot of the other Superstars are.
credit wwe.com