Originally published on ProWrestlingSheet.

Just days after making his AEW debut, Matt Hardy has opened up about the end of his latest WWE run and the beatdown he received from Randy Orton on the way out.

On the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, Hardy explains how Vince McMahon never seemed to understand what people liked about the Broken/Woken character and said the only thing Vince seemed to like about the character was his laugh ... which is why they played it up so much on WWE TV. 

Matt then talked about having dinner with The Young Bucks months ago just as friends and the topic of All Elite Wrestling coming up. Hardy told the EVPs he'd see what happens over the next few months before his contract expired and after that made many attempts to pitch ideas to WWE, but none of it ever came to fruition and he grew to be creatively frustrated. 

However, as the end of Matt's contract drew near, WWE suddenly began trying to re-sign him.

"They were just trying to re-sign me now at this point just to have me under contract so I was a WWE property," Hardy stated. "And I kept turning down money, which was good money, but I wanted to be in a prominent role on television and I don't think Vince saw that for me."

As you'll recall, Matt was used on WWE TV during his final weeks in the company as part of Randy Orton's WrestleMania program with Edge. The first angle done was meant to write him off TV, which Hardy confirmed, but then he was brought back for another week. 

Hardy claims McMahon was confident he'd re-sign with the company, which is why a match against Orton was announced ahead after the angle occurred ... but Vince changed the planned two-segment main event match during the production meeting because he finally realized Matt would be leaving.

"I had already pretty much made up my mind that I was gone at this point, even though they actively tried to sign me," Hardy explained. "I couldn't have any sort of creative assurances and that's what I wanted at this point. I wanted a dialogue with Vince."

Adding, "I was very honest and very open with everyone. I told everyone from Vince all the way down what I wanted and what I expected if I was gonna stay around, and once we weren't on the same page I said, 'ok, well thank you guys very much, I'll go my own way.'"

Matt also confirmed he had talks with Triple H as his contract was expiring and alluded to the rumors of Levesque trying bring the Broken character to NXT.  Noting, "If Triple H would've been the guy that was solely in power, I would've probably had a much better opportunity of getting what I wanted creatively."

Listen to the full interview below.