Jeff Hardy Opens Up About Controversial 2021 WWE Exit
Jeff Hardy has revealed why he left WWE in 2021.
At WrestleMania 33, the Hardy Boyz made their stunning WWE return and immediately won the Raw Tag Team Championship. The pair went on to enjoy moderate success as a team and as singles stars before Matt Hardy left the company in 2020 after allowing his contract to expire.
Jeff remained with WWE until late December 2021 when he was released in somewhat bizarre circumstances. Hardy walked out of a match during a live event by hopping the guardrail and heading into the crowd. There were reports the star had been acting erratically, and he was ultimately released after refusing to go to rehab.
Matt later revealed that Jeff passed a drug test but by that point, he was already done with the company. After waiting out his 90-day non-compete period, Jeff signed with AEW in March 2022, but he was arrested three months later for driving under the influence.
This caused a planned World Tag Team Title run with Matt to be scrapped, and although he returned to action ten months later, he never recaptured the momentum his AEW career promised, and he left the company in June 2024.
After allowing his contract to expire, Jeff again linked back up with Matt in TNA, and the pair currently hold the World Tag Team Championship.
Jeff Hardy Details Personal Struggles
During a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Hardy was asked about why TNA is the right place for him to be at this point in his career. However, before getting to that and his desire to pay back his brother Matt, Jeff opened up about his departure from WWE in late 2021.
“I’m not sure. It was so weird. When I left WWE in 2021 my dad had been real sick. 2017, right after we went back to WWE at Mania, that was probably around the time that he felt good for the last time before he slipped back into this dark depression.
But yeah, I’d been taking care of him, and it was just bad to where he did not want to be here. He was ready to go. Our mom died at a young age, I was 10 when she passed away. So I’ve always told myself when he needs me, I’m going to take care of him. I just did everything I could to get him excited about life and all that stuff.
So that’s definitely when my drinking got carried away during those times that I’ve never really talked about.
The year 2021 is when I miss WrestleMania because my dad had just passed away. April 6, my wife’s birthday, is when my dad passed away, which was strange in itself. But yeah, it just got out of control and I needed something extreme to happen.
It’s sad the way it worked out, but I refused to go to rehab, so I ended up waiting my 90 days out and showing up in AEW, and naturally screwed that up as well. I feel so bad about Matt’s position, because now being in TNA, I feel like I can really kind of pay back for that to the fullest extent.”
In November, it was announced that Jeff Hardy and his brother Matt had signed new contracts with TNA. The new deals will keep the TNA World Tag Team Champions with the company for another 12 months.
H/t to WrestleZone