Matt Hardy and Dax Harwood Debate Five-Star Matches

A social media exchange between veteran wrestlers Matt Hardy of TNA and Dax Harwood of AEW has drawn attention this week, stemming from differing views on the importance of so-called five-star matches in professional wrestling.

The dispute began during a recent episode of Hardy's podcast, "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," where he discussed TNA's direction ahead of its new television deal with AMC Networks. Hardy advocated for prioritizing storytelling and emotional engagement over pursuing highly rated matches. "I want TNA to focus more on storytelling than five-star matches," he said. "Five-star matches are overdone, and AEW can have all of those. TNA would have good matches, but they wouldn't obsess over it."

Harwood's comments surfaced the same day Hardy's podcast remarks gained traction online. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Harwood reflected on age and wrestling critiques. "I think, in wrestling, the older you get, the more you complain about 5 star matches," he wrote. "I also think, the older you get, the more you secretly wish you had 5 star matches. Whatever a 5 star match even is." When a user suggested Harwood ignore ratings from longtime wrestling journalist Dave...