On a recent edition of his podcast, Matt Hardy discussed what his brother Jeff Hardy’s relapse meant to him and how he was proud of his brother for dealing with his recovery and focusing on his sobriety. The Hardy Boyz are one of the most famous tag teams wrestling today. They made a name for themselves in the infamous Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches aka TLC matches. Once they reached the peak of their popularity in the early 2000s they stayed there and have remained one of the best tag teams in the world.
However, being in wrestling for over 20 years means there are bound to be ups and downs in their career. Matt Hardy has faced some adversity of his own throughout his career, but Jeff has also had some real struggles with substance abuse for the latter part of his career.
In December 2021 during a WWE house show while in a tag match, Jeff was not his normal self. He left the match and walked to the back. WWE believed that he was under the influence of an unknown substance and sent him home from the tour. A few days later he was released from WWE after he refused to accept treatment. It is still unknown exactly what was going on with Jeff.
In 2022 Jeff joined his brother Matt in AEW. The Hardy Boyz reunion was short-lived and Jeff’s demons returned unfortunately. In June of last year, Jeff was arrested for a DUI, and it was his third DUI in 10 years.
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During a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt spoke about Jeff’s latest relapse and how it affected him on a personal level. He said the following on his podcast:
“Obviously, Jeff relapsing, having his issue, and also getting in a substantial amount of possible trouble sucked. It was rotten. It was terrible for several reasons, the first one being his health and his well-being, and him being fine and healthy and a good human being, being Jeff Hardy. He kind of lost that there again.”
“Then on top of that, it also affected me personally because we were connected to the hip wrestling. Obviously, we were teaming as The Hardys, and our next few months were locked in. We had planned out what we were gonna be doing, so then it kind of threw that up and I was in limbo.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
MATT HARDY SAYS JEFF HARDY TOOK A LOT OF TIME TO STRAIGHTEN OUT HIS LIFE
Jeff faced significant legal trouble after his DUI arrest. Luckily, he was not in an accident and seriously injure himself or anyone else. However, to deal with his issues, both legal and personal, he had to take a lot of time off. He didn’t return to AEW until April of this year. So from June to the next April, Jeff was getting his life together.
Since returning to AEW, Jeff has stepped back into his old role of veteran tag team wrestler and has returned to tagging with Matt. Jeff seems to be back to his old self and hopefully can stay clean this time around.
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During his podcast, Matt Hardy expanded upon how Jeff is handling his recovery differently this time and expressed pride in how aggressively his brother is handling his sobriety. He also thinks this time will be different for Jeff as the last time he was in recovery was when their father was on his deathbed. Matt Hardy continued:
“He’s really put his foot down and decided to be aggressive in his sobriety as well,.He’s not going to overdo himself or overwork himself. He said that if he’s going to be wrestling, it’s going to be in AEW. So I’m very proud of him on that front because he really has put his foot down and he’s stood up for himself, and sometimes it’s hard for him to do.”
The Most Xtreme Thing Anyone Can Do Is Get Back Up After Falling
Jeff is one of those wrestlers it is so hard to see stumble. He is universally loved by fans and fellow wrestlers. He is also an inspiration to many fans and young wrestlers. However, what makes him such an inspiration is seeing your hero fall and get back up again. Hopefully this time it will stick and we won’t have to see Jeff relapse yet again. The wrestling world is rooting for him.
What do you think of Jeff’s return to AEW? Do you believe Matt Hardy and his comments about his brother turning over a new leaf? Has Jeff lost a step, or is he better than ever? Would you like to see the Hardys win some tag team gold in AEW? Do you see Jeff Hardy ever being the AEW World champion? Let us know if you would like to see Jeff stay in tag team wrestling or if he should be a singles wrestler.
SOURCE: The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Wrestling Inc.
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