Matt Hardy Reveals Why Jeff Hardy Refused WWE Hall of Fame Offer
AEW’s Matt Hardy has discussed the offer WWE made Jeff Hardy to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2022 and why Jeff gave them a “hard no.”
WWE released Jeff Hardy from his contract in December 2021 after an incident at a live show led to the ‘Charismatic Enigma’ being sent home. It was soon reported that WWE had let Hardy go after he refused to go to rehab.
Weeks later, Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Hardy has been approached with an offer to return to the company. This was said to have happened “a few weeks ago” and would have included an induction into the WWE Hall Of Fame.
During a recent Twitch stream, Matt Hardy confirmed the offer and also gave his thoughts on why WWE may have made it. According to Matt, his brother’s drug tests all came back clean.
“It took them several weeks and they had to kind of jump through some hoops to get his drug test results back. Obviously negative. He has passed every drug test he’s had while he’s been there. The issues that he had in the past were with alcohol and he hasn’t had those in quite a while. So everything is on the up and up for Jeff.”
“They did realize they jumped the gun a little bit whenever they released him before they got these drug test results back. And it’s strange because they waited weeks, and they really had to go after these drug test results to get them back. Because I guess they knew it wasn’t going to paint them in the best light. But longest story short, they offered him to be inducted into the 2022 Hall of Fame.”
Matt Hardy went on to explain that Jeff had asked if the induction would be for The Hardy Boyz rather than just himself. WWE told him that, due to Matt being under contract with AEW, it would be a solo induction. This led to Jeff Hardy giving the company a “hard no”.
“Jeff asked ‘so you want to induct me into the Hall of Fame?’ and he said ‘well let me ask you, I know you guys have spoken with AEW. Is this going to be the Hardy Boyz? Is this myself and my brother Matt?’ And they go ‘oh, no no, no, no. We can’t get Matt. He’s under contract at AEW. You know, it would just be you.’ And Jeff said ‘well, that’s a hard no.’ He definitely stood up for the team of the Hardy Boyz.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription.