During the latest edition of the Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy AEW superstar and pro-wrestling legend Jeff Hardy opened up about his decision to walk out of a WWE House show in Texas, a move that ultimately led to his WWE release and his signing with AEW. Highlights from the interview are below.
On subconsciously walking out of the WWE live event:
Certain things happen for a reason. Subconsciously, that was maybe the smartest thing I’ve ever done, guided by something higher than me, I’ll say.WWE was so strange, I had been there for almost two years. After I came back from knee surgery, another strange thing about our careers, when Matt debuted in AEW, the pandemic had hit, in front of nobody, he teleported down from the nosebleeds. I was supposed to [return] in Detroit in front of 20,000 people, I came back from knee surgery in front of nobody. I came back from surgery, Matt debuted in front of nothing because of the pandemic. It was weird. The best way I can describe my journey the last few months in WWE was like ‘glimmers of hope, maybe I still do have something.
How his last glimmer of hope was at Survivor Series:
The last glimmer of hope was Survivor Series, which was really good. It came down to me and Seth Rollins, I was killing it, almost won and the crowd was so behind me. I felt like one of the most popular babyfaces in WWE because the crowd was so with me. Then there were other times where I felt like a ghost, roaming the halls like, ‘why am I even here? I don’t feel important.’ I kept doing my deal and would show up and do whatever they wanted me to do. I’ve never been a politicker so I don’t go out of my way to try and get a certain spot or achieve a certain status. That night in Edinburg, Texas, I finished my heat, I took the heat, and I said, ‘I’m ready to go.’ Went over the rail, disappeared into the crowd. Naturally, they think I took something like drugs or whatever, but I didn’t. If I was that bad, I should have never went out there, that’s the way I see it. I thought, ‘Just another unpredictable thing I can do and I’ll get away with it.’ It was more serious than that.
Calls walking out at the live event one of the smartest things he’s ever done, and felt validated after arriving at AEW:
Again, it was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done because everything worked out so perfectly, mainly because my first day in AEW, I felt valuable for the first time. The care and love I was shown, I got chills thinking about it. In WWE, it felt like they just wanted to keep me there to sell action figures. I put so much love and joy in painting my face, when I see it come out and immortalized in an action figure, I’m like, ‘that’s why it do this, it’s so cool.’ That’s one thing I’m super excited about in AEW, my first action figure with the face paint.
What he was thinking about when he walked out:
It felt right in the moment. I wasn’t trying to get released. Just thinking about Survivor Series and how fun that was, the connection with the crowd and they wanted me to win so bad, it made me think back to SummerSlam, it was a big crowd, and I was just there all day for nothing like, ‘Why am I even here?’ I was so excited to be a part of it, some little spot or something, but I wasn’t even involved. ‘Why am I even here?’ Not just SummerSlam, but, ‘Why am I still here in WWE? What’s my purpose?’ because it didn’t feel like I had much of one.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)