Jeff Hardy Reveals Reaction to AEW Debut and What Led to 'Juke and Run' Entrance
Jeff Hardy made his long-awaited AEW debut at Revolution, but the true Hardy Boyz reunion wouldn't take place until the following Wednesday on Dynamite. It was quite the reception on both nights for Jeff, who finished up his 90-day non-compete after being released by WWE and headed to All Elite Wrestling to reunite with his brother Matt. On the newest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Jeff joined Matt and Jon Alba to talk all about his first days reunited with Matt on the road and his big AEW debut, including what led to his now-famous juke and run entrance.
Jeff was asked about the reception he received when he ran out to save Matt, and he couldn't have been more thrilled by the reaction from the fans. He also revealed that Matt told him to take his time coming down the ramp, and Jeff ended up finding a sort of middle ground in his approach.
"The reaction was the best form of adrenaline and energy from the wrestling fans. Just that pop you know as they call it, and I had to let out that nervous excited energy with the yell and I was so torn because I'm saving my brother right, and one of my greatest heroes was out in the ring, Sting," Hardy said. "And this new guy, his name's Darby Allin, and I had just met him for the first time that day and I'm like 'this is really happening, I'm about to debut in AEW'. So the question for me was like, because Matt was saying 'just take your time, do the juke, you're a star, just do that' and I'm like I can't do that. I'm saving my brother, so I tried to do the juke and run at the same time. But I think it worked out perfectly and it was overwhelming, and I'll be glad when I get a patient entrance so I can absorb all that energy from the AEW universe."
Jeff was also asked about his first days on the road with Matt, and fans are definitely invested in seeing the Hardy Boyz back together, as literally spent 14 hours over two days meeting and greeting fans, and Jeff is loving every second of it.
"Yeah for sure this past weekend was completely insane. We did like four towns in two days and these like massive meet and greets were incredible. The support and the love we still have as The Hardy Boyz and now that we've reunited, in a new wrestling world is such an exciting feeling, to have this open-minded vision of the future as far as this last run and what the Hardy Boyz are capable of and it's really exciting," Jeff said.
"We signed autographs and took pictures for fourteen hours over the course of two days, and that's not even an exaggeration. We went overtime on every signing because there was such a big turnout for it," Matt said. They also talked about having their music back and how much of a difference it makes, and both Matt and Jeff are enjoying not just taking on people in AEW but also getting to knock out some dream matches outside the company as well.
It was great. It was like a rock show, his rock shows that he does. He's the big rock star of the Hardy Boyz, that's what I call him nowadays. But I mean it was great, coming out to those receptions, especially the music. Having the old music back is so cool and there's so much nostalgia surrounded around that but there's, we're still in the game, working on a new level and we're much smarter now, and it's great that we're able to do this last run, especially on the platform that is AEW and also supplement it with these indie appearances and also get to take on teams like the S.A.T., who we've never had a chance to take on in the past. Also the Major Players, Matt Cardona and Brian Myers. We've never worked them in the past, so we're also going to get to fulfill a lot of dream matches outside of AEW, which is really cool," Matt said.