Jeff Hardy officially arrived in AEW during this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, saving his brother Matt Hardy after he had been kicked out of the AHFO faction. An emergency meaning among the members kicked off the second half of the show and resulted in Hardy getting booted after Private Party voted him out. Darby Allin and Sting ran out to assist, but it wasn’t until Jeff’s music hit that the heels finally ran away. Matt ended things by nailing Blade with a Twist of Fate, followed by a Swanton Bomb from Jeff. Tony Khan took to Twitter shortly afterwards to confirm Jeff had signed with the company.
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Hardy was released by the WWE back in December days after he walked out of the arena mid-match during a live event in Texas. WWE asked him to check in rehab following the indecent, but after he declined they released him from his contract. It was later revealed in a series of Matt’s Twitch streams that WWE “jumped the gun” in firing Jeff and that his final drug test with the company proved he was completely sober. The company then attempted to bring Jeff back into the fold via a WWE Hall of Fame induction, but when he learned that the induction would not also include Matt he turned them down.
Jeff revealed in an interview with Jared Myers last month that he intended on going to AEW, though he had to initially back off those comments. It was during that interview where he explained in his own words why he opted not to go back to WWE.
“They released me and tried to make me go to rehab but I’m just so over it. My dream match was with Roman Reigns, I’ve talked about that many times but then I said, ‘so you want me to go away for like 28 days just to save my job?’ No,” Hardy said. “You know what’s important to me? Family. My two daughters, my wife, they believe in me. F— WWE man. It’s like a private, personal thing. I’m not going to f*cking go to rehab. If they believe in me, that’s all that matters, my wife and my two girls.”
Tony Khan has mentioned his interest in bringing in Jeff in the past. He said during a media conference call last week, “I do really like Jeff a lot, I think Jeff is still obligated to another company for several more days. But at some point when Jeff is free and clear, I’d love to have Jeff in AEW. Jeff is a friend of mine, I really like him very much and I think the world of him, I have a lot of respect for him as a wrestler and he’s also a really nice person. I think he would fit in very well in AEW and we would love to have him…”
Between Jeff’s release and his arrival tonight, he and Matt have been hard at work promoting a reunion tour on the independent scene. That starts this weekend with a pair of bookings for Big Time Wrestling and will include promotions like Northeast Wrestling and MCW and opponents such as The Briscoes, Matt Cardona & Brian Myers, NZO & Big Caz and Flip Gordon & John Morrison.
