Matt Hardy Confirms He Has Not Retired From WWE

Matt Hardy confirmed in a recent interview that, contrary to his recent social media activity, his in-ring career isn't over just yet.

"I took time off to heal some nagging injuries and I'll be back sooner rather than later," Hardy said in a new interview with Sportskeeda. "So, I've been doing this twenty-six years. I was just a little beat up. I was given a little time off. From when I've been back, for over a year and a half, I was full time. I did everything."

Hardy hasn't been seen on WWE television since the July 30 episode of Monday Night Raw, where he and Bray Wyatt lost a tag team match to The Revival. Shortly afterwards Hardy revealed on Twitter that he was dealing with a number of nagging injuries, including portions of his back fusing to his pelvis after a long career of performing leg drops.

On Sept. 16 Hardy posted a video to his YouTube channel indicating his wrestling career was over. He also began a long Twitter thread of various career highlights and photos taken throughout the years with fans.

"Thank you for letting me live my dream for 26 years, wrestling fans," Hardy wrote in the video's description. I don't necessarily wish it was this way, but it's time to go home. Time to go home and be a father. Time to go home and be a husband. I did so much more than I ever imagined I would do. Thanks for making this incredible journey with me, ladies and gentlemen. I love you all."

But Hardy later pointed out in an interview with Lillian Garcia that he deliberately had never uttered or written the word "retire."

"People throw around the word retirement where typically, I guess, if someone teases that, it's retirement, but retirement is not a word I ever said. I never said retirement. I said, 'I need to go home,' and I really did," Hardy said.

"After being there for a year and a half and I worked on a full time schedule the whole time I was there and obviously I'm not a spring chicken anymore, but doing this 26 years in October, so I needed to go home," he continued. "I needed to address some issues I was having with my lower back and my hips. If I can bounce back from those issues and get back in the ring and be physical, that's great and if I can't, we'll do whatever we need to do on-air to figure out something entertaining for Matt Hardy."

Hardy was spotted getting in the ring at a WWE live event in Madrid, Spain, in early November, though he was merely there to break up a brawl between Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin.

Since returning to the WWE at WrestleMania 33 in 2017, Hardy has won the Raw Tag Team Championships twice — once with his brother Jeff and another with Wyatt as "The Deleters of Worlds."