AEW’s Jeff Hardy is currently in treatment after he was arrested for a DUI and subsequently suspended. AEW President Tony Khan has said Hardy won’t be allowed to return to active competition in AEW until he has completed a treatment program, and during today’s media call for AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door Khan addressed the Hardy situation and revealed an update on Jeff’s status, though he also addressed comparisons between Jeff’s situation and Jon Moxley going in for treatment in 2021. Khan said Jeff needs to do the ring thing if he wants to stay with AEW because it’s his last chance.
Khan said “Jeff is doing much better. As I understand, Jeff’s in treatment. I don’t want to say too much about what’s going on, because it’s his business, but I’m here for him, whatever he needs.” That’s when Khan addressed the comparisons between Jeff and Moxley.
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“I’m really glad nobody got hurt,” Khan said. “But what Jeff did going out and driving is different from the other thing. And I just don’t like hearing them the two compared, if that makes sense. I feel like I’d be remiss if I didn’t give Jeff a lot of credit for now doing the right thing. And this is what we said – Jeff’s got to do the right thing if he wants to stay with AEW. Because it’s his last chance.”
“It’s totally different. Jon didn’t put anybody at risk like that, he wasn’t out drinking and driving … So that’s why I didn’t like hearing it compared,” Khan said. “But I will say Jeff is in treatment and doing better. I talked to Matt about it the other day, and we’ll be here and we’ll support him for what he needs. This is what he had to do; he had to go to treatment to get us to keep supporting him at this time. And we are.”
During the media call, Khan also talked about AEW’s approach to providing help and support when a talent seeks out help, as well as the company’s testing policy.
“We’re here for anybody that steps up and wants to get help, and hopefully they’ll come to us instead of it being under circumstances where they get themselves in trouble,” Khan said. “But the most important thing is they get the help, and I’m here to stand by anybody who that needs help and will get it. It’s available to anybody here. Anybody who needs time off, if they have an issue, they can take it, no matter how big of a star they are.
“They can be the most important person in the company in terms of drawing revenue, or somebody who isn’t on TV as much and isn’t drawing as much revenue, it doesn’t matter. It’s the same quality of first-class treatment if they need it,” Khan said. “As far as everything else, we do have a policy in place about making sure people come in and show up to work in the condition to work. That’s the most important thing. There’s a testing policy.”
H/T WrestlingInc
