Jeff Hardy made his long-awaited return to AEW on the April 12th episode of Dynamite.
On the show, the former WWE Champion came to the rescue of his brother Matt and was greeted by a huge ovation from the crowd. It was Jeff’s first action in almost a year after his 2022 was badly affected by legal problems and his long-running battle with addiction.
That June, Hardy was arrested on numerous DUI-related offenses and suspended without pay by AEW. He attended a rehabilitation facility in an effort to banish his well-documented demons before his DUI case was settled in February 2023.
After his return on Dynamite, Hardy has largely flown under the radar, wrestling sparingly on Rampage and on the Double or Nothing pre-show.
Before Jeff’s enforced break from the ring, like many members of the AEW roster, he took a number of independent bookings, often teaming with his brother. However, speaking on his podcast, The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt explained that fans shouldn’t expect Jeff to wrestle outside of AEW any time soon.
“He doesn’t wrestle on the indie scene right now,” Hardy said. “Jeff doesn’t want to wrestle on indies. He only wants to wrestle on AEW right now. He’s open doing signings and cons and stuff like that, but he only wants to do two a month. He’s really put his foot down with that and I respect that and I’m cool with that.”
Jeff Hardy Vows To End His Career In AEW
In the days after his return to AEW, Jeff Hardy admitted that at one point he never imagined that he would be back in the ring. The star went on to thank fans for their support before revealing that he will end his career in All Elite Wrestling.
The 45-year-old star began wrestling in the early 1990s and made his WWE debut as an enhancement talent in 1994 after lying about his age. Hardy went on to become one of the most beloved Superstars of the modern era thanks to his death-defying in-ring style and string of classic matches.
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