Jeff Hardy AEW Debut Teased
Before last night’s AEW surprise was revealed, one of the names speculated to be appearing was Jeff Hardy. Whilst Hardy wasn’t in attendance at the show, AEW would make reference to his WWE exit, hinting at a likely debut at some point in the future.
Jeff’s brother Matt Hardy would be at ringside during Keith Lee’s first AEW match in the corner of his protégé Isiah Kassidy.
During the contest Matt would grow tired of Kassidy, before jumping the guardrail, leaving the ringside area before heading out of the arena.
For those that missed the reference, this is reminiscent of the Jeff Hardy house-show incident that led to his WWE release, where Jeff would jump the rail and leave through the crowd in the middle of a six-man tag match.
Hardy would then be drug tested by WWE, before they offered him a spot in rehab, which Hardy refused. The results would eventually come back negative, although this was after WWE’s decision to release Jeff had already been made.
This wasn’t the only hint at a possible Jeff Hardy AEW debut, as before the show, Matt Hardy would take to Twitter to post an ‘extremely’ interest post. He would say:
“AEW Dynamite begins in 10 mins. Tonight is MAKE or BREAK for you, Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen. If you fail me, I’ll be extremely disappointed.”
The use of the word ‘extremely’ is of course a reference to Team Xtreme, the alternative name sometimes used for the Hardy Boyz in WWE, as well as for their trio with Lita.
It seems that in the end, Matt became disappointed with Isiah.
Matt’s departure from the Hardy Family Office stable has been in the works for several weeks, with Andrade El Idolo taking the role of joint-leader, with the group renaming itself to ‘Andrade-Hardy Family Office’ (or the AHFO). It’s likely that they will now be known as simply the ‘Andrade Family Office’, setting up a Hardy Boyz reunion at the same time.
Interestingly, Jeff Hardy’s WWE non-compete clause is said to expire on Wednesday March 9th, 90-days after his WWE release, which is the same day as the first Dynamite after AEW Revolution pay-per-view.
With that said, Matt has teased that Tony Khan may have bought his WWE contract out, although this is unlikely.
