Jeff Hardy Talks Future Plans, Reuniting With Matt & Much More!

TNA Superstar Jeff Hardy was recently a guest on Ring Rust Radio. On Tuesday he made his return to TNA Impact Wrestling after being out of action for several weeks. In anticipation of his return, Jeff talked about various topics in his interview including: the recovery process after suffering a serious leg injury, wanting to win the TNA Tag Titles one more time with his brother Matt, donating his brain to CTE research, possibly getting inducted into TNA’s Hall of Fame and his future plans.

The following are excerpts from that interview.

Before missing the last few weeks, you had just returned from a serious leg injury. How does your leg feel now after a few extra weeks of rest and what was the recovery process like for you?

“It’s been rough. I broke it April 28th of last year so almost a year ago now. End of April this year I’m going to get the rod out of my tibia and hopefully it’s going to help with some of the pain that’s going on in my knee because it’s starting to come out a little bit. Once I get that taken out, I’m going to leave my PCL alone and just continue to work with brace as long as I can. Right now it’s still good and holding up. If I could show you how my knee looks now and how it moves you would think, “Wow, how are you even walking?” It’s crazy how stable it is but the brace is really good and I’m going to wrestle with that as long as I can. Having that PCL surgery is just like the ACL surgery where it is 6 to 9 months I’ll be out of action.”

While you have accomplished so much in your career thus far, you haven’t held the world title in TNA since 2012. What are your long-term goals with Impact Wrestling and do you believe another world title is in your future?

“For sure yeah, I am going to drive myself crazy until I when that world title. Actually, I would love somewhere down the road before my time is done with TNA to team up with Matt again and win the tag team titles. When I broke my leg, we had just won the titles and we didn’t even get to defend them. I was also the Omega champion at that same time and I just had to give it up. So I would like to try to make up for things from when I got hurt. By far I want to be the world champion again and tag-team champion again with big money Matt, even as arrogant as he is.”

Concussions are a hot-button issue in sports right now, especially in wrestling with both Kevin Nash and Rob Van Dam recently announcing that they’re going to donate their brain for CTE research. How would you say head injuries have impacted you over the course of your career, and what would be your level of interest in potentially donating your brain like Nash or RVD did?

“My wife read where Kevin Nash announced that and I said, ‘Oh my God I have to do that.’ I for sure will do whatever it takes and I would love to be a part of that. It’s a huge serious issue in wrestling. I’ve rung my bells so many times especially back in the day when chair shots to the head were legal. My goodness, I took so many of those. Luckily, I’m only aware of about two or three concussions that I have had but there’s really no way of telling how many overall. When Nash announced he was doing that I was on board and I didn’t know that RVD did as well. That really inspired me to do the same thing.”

I think it’s safe to say you’ll one day get inducted into TNA’s Hall of Fame. When that happens, what would that honor be for you and who would you like to induct you?

“I’m not really a popular fan of the whole Hall of Fame thing. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs and I don’t feel deserving a lot of times. It would probably be something like they would induct me and I deny it and say I don’t deserve it. Ultimately, if it had to happen Eddie Vedder would be really cool if he could come in and induct me. I mean Billy Corgan did induct Earl Hebner.”

You signed a new contract with TNA recently, which means you’ll continue to be a key part of the company moving forward. Why did remaining with TNA appeal so much to you, and what do you see yourself doing beyond that contract? Could this be the last one, or do you intend to continue wrestling well beyond that?

“I don’t know, it’s hard to say especially with this injury. Right now I’m taking it match by match. It was an obvious choice and I didn’t hesitate to re-sign because I owe it to them. I’ve been riding all my life and it was a bad thing to do to get hurt outside of the ring. It really hurt TNA with me being a main player in the game and out of action. I just felt like I owed it to them, a good year of strong wrestling. I hope things happen for a reason because now it’s really challenged me to up my style and I’ve learned a lot about myself since I’ve been injured. I’ve been lucky considering this is my first serious injury I’ve ever had. It really has been hell but it’s also been good in a way with Matt doing so well and being on top. For future and long term, I am focused on getting through here and right now and maybe check out options next year about this time.”

Jeff goes on to talk about how his Willow character was a dream come true and how he wants to bring it back, not being interested in winning the X-Division Title, his brother Matt currently being at the top of TNA and more. You can listen to this interview in its entirety in the video below.

Mark’s reaction: It’s nice to hear that Jeff is feeling better and made his return this past Tuesday. He’s expressed interest in reuniting the Hardy Boyz in WWE, so wanting to do so in TNA as well makes sense. In regards to donating his brain for CTE research, that’s big. Mick Foley recently announced that he’ll be doing the same as well. You can read more information on that as well as my thoughts on Foley and Hardy’s announcement of it by clicking here.

When I hear anyone talk about TNA’s Hall of Fame, I can’t help but giggle a little bit. I don’t want to sound mean, but I don’t feel like TNA will even be around much longer. It’s not like their Hall of Fame is held in high regard or anything by those in the business. I’m sure it would be a nice honor for him, but whenever I read any headlines that say “Insert Name Here is the next inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame,” I think nothing of it.

When it comes to Jeff’s future plans, I think he plans on being with WWE next year. He’s said it multiple times to the point where people were a little surprised when the news that Jeff re-signed with TNA broke. He even alludes to it a bit in this interview. He feels like he owes it to TNA to give them one more good year of wrestling, and then when next year rolls around he’s going to re-evaluate his options.

Are you looking forward to seeing Jeff back in the ring? Would you ideally like to see him wrestling again with WWE? Do you care at all about the TNA Hall of Fame? Leave any of your thoughts in the comment section below.

Thank you WrestlingInc for transcribing the quotes.