Matt Hardy Says AEW Didn’t Have Plans For Jeff Hardy’s Debut

Matt Hardy has opened up on how there were no plans made for his brother before Jeff Hardy joined AEW.

The 9th March was the one-year anniversary since Jeff Hardy debuted on AEW Dynamite, coming to the aid of Matt Hardy, Sting and Darby Allin.

But although the arrival of Jeff allowed AEW to reunite The Hardys, one of the greatest tag teams of all time, Matt Hardy has shared that plans were already in place for him to become one of the good guys, and that there had been no discussions on what role his brother might play.

Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt shared how AEW boss Tony Khan had decided to turn him into a baby face and start working a program with another former WWE Superstar, Andrade.

“I was going to turn babyface regardless if Jeff came or not. There were no Jeff plans. They didn’t make Jeff creative plans. Tony refused to do that; only after Jeff got released from WWE. I could’ve turned baby face, done a program with Andrade for four weeks or whatever, and then Jeff could’ve showed up. There was no plans at that time [for Jeff].”

Matt Hardy would go on to explain that Tony Khan had taken the no-compete clause in Jeff’s release from WWE very seriously and refused to discuss plans until the day before Jeff debuted on AEW television.

“He takes [the non-compete clause] as serious as a heart attack, is the old saying. He just won’t do it. He feels it’s not worthwhile to do. The way that deal went is we know I’m turning babyface at some point; it turns out Jeff’s no-compete clause ends on a Tuesday and there’s a Dynamite the next night.”

Jeff Hardy’s position with AEW was recently discussed by Matt Hardy, following being suspended due to an arrest for driving under influence. Before his suspension, Jeff had performed in matches with Darby Allin, Adam Cole and Bobby Fish, whilst also teaming with Matt to take on The Young Bucks in a match that received four stars off the wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer.

Tony Khan has been linked with another former WWE Champion, with rumors intensifying after Khan admitted to having “a ton of respect for that great wrestler and somebody that any wrestling company would be very fortunate to have wrestling for them.”

H/t to 411 Mania