Matt and Jeff Hardy might be tag team legends in their own right, but their rise to the top almost looked very different.
The brothers first began appearing in WWE as far back as 1994 as enhancement talent, but it was until 1998 that they officially signed with the company. Their high-flying and death-defying in-ring style helped endear the pair to the audience and they won WWE tag team gold for the first time in July 1999. Later that year their star rose even further as a result of a remarkable Tag Team Ladder Match against Edge and Christian which is still revered to this day.
However, while the Hardys were finding their feet in 1998, they were almost added to D-X. Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the now-AEW star recalled the pitch from Vince Russo.
“The first thing that comes to mind, like when we first got there, and we’re trying to like, you know, get our feet underneath this and like understand what was going on, obviously for the first year, really just went with the flow. And whatever they asked us to do, we would do.
But something they pitched is they had an idea, and it was creative, this came down from Vince Russo, where he wanted myself and Jeff to be pledges for DX. And we were like, into that. You’ll see moments if you look back in 1998, when we’re in tags, there’s several times we probably do it for like four or five weeks straight.
When we come to the ring, we go up in the corners, and Jeff and I are doing this [DX symbol]. And we do the DX and we’re going to pledge for DX and eventually kind of ended up being like their lackeys to a degree in pledge with them. And then they were going to kind of see where it went.
And then maybe we could legitimately like be a part of DX when was all said and done, that was an idea that Vince Russo had and he would drop. Eventually we did it for like four or five week, and they said, Okay, enough of that we’re not going to do this, like, you know, these guys aren’t quite ready, let them do whatever that is. And then it just stopped immediately and was never revisited again.”
Jeff Hardy DUI Case Closed
After being arrested back in June 2022, Jeff Hardy’s DUI case has finally been closed after Hardy submitted a written plea of nolo contendere to all charges. This is where a defendant agrees to accept punishment but does not accept or deny responsibility for the charges brought against them.
Here is the full sentence via Volusia County court records:
- A 38-day county jail sentence with 38 days credit for time served
- Two years probation
- $4586 in fines and court fees
- A 10-year suspension of his license
- Two years with an interlock device and 90-day vehicle impoundment
- Court-mandated DUI school or drug rehab program
- Community service
There is no word on whether Jeff Hardy will wrestle again. Shortly after his arrest, the star was suspended by AEW without pay.
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