This past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, the one and only Jeff Hardy returned to action.
The former world champion had been gone since mid-2022 but triumphantly came back to assist his brother Matt, who was receiving a beatdown from Ethan Page and The Firm. Matt Hardy spoke about Jeff battling his demons on the latest edition of his Extreme Life podcast.
The Broken One begins by revealing how Jeff’s appearance on Wednesday came together, and how it will eventually lead to a huge multi-man match against The Firm.
This literally came together the last few days. We’ve been talking about this for a while. Jeff’s eye will take a while — I kept making jokes, ‘How did you fly here today, did you take a red eye? Ahahaha.’ — He still has blood in his eye. They said that would probably take six to eight weeks. I put it out there, ‘In six to eight weeks, he should be good.’ His vision is fine, his eyes are stable, they’re working in sync now. He got cleared at the end of last week to do stuff physically. We had an idea of bringing him in and interjecting him into this scenario. The segment cut a little short, but here’s a great spoiler, watch Rampage on Friday and you’ll find out where this match is going to be and who the official competitors are. Jeff will be involved, HOOK will be involved, Isiah (Kassidy) will be involved. You’ll find out who from The Firm we’ll face on Rampage.
Matt would then address the elephant in the room, which is whether Jeff can keep his head on his shoulders and not self-implode as he has in the past. Matt states that Jeff has made him a believer from all the work he’s done on himself, and believes he will also convince the audience the same thing.
This is the most work I’ve ever seen him do on himself. He had ten months. He seems different. He seems different. I don’t want to sit here and vouch for him, I don’t want you to take my word for it or take anyone else’s word for it. Watch him and follow his actions. He’ll make you a believer. I am confident that his actions, conduct, and behavior will make people a believer. He’s made me a believer. I’ve seen a lot of him and gotten to follow his journey and I know the work he’s put in and how dedicated he’s been to legitimately changing and trying to get his shit together once and for all. I’m so extraordinarily proud of him. He’s done great. Everyone was happy to see him. He’s happy to be there. It was so adorable, right before we went out, he was so nervous and so worried because he hasn’t been in a ring, at all. He came out to my house on Monday, got in the ring, ran the ropes, took a few bumps. He was worried how the people were going to react to him. Jeff is one of the few individuals who has ‘it’ and people are connected to him. When he came out and the people went nuts and were cheering and chanting, it was great, a magical moment. Really glad we got to this point and very excited to see where we go forward from here.
In conclusion, Matt is excited for this chapter of his brother’s life.
Coming off his past, he has stuff to prove to people. I’m the ultimate optimist. My mentality doesn’t work for everybody, but I say, people change, give them a chance, especially if they’ve legitimately put the work in and have tried. I do that with everybody. Either he’ll prove you wrong or prove you right. I have a very good feeling about this point Jeff is at in his life.
As noted, AEW currently has some non-wrestling plans for Jeff Hardy as he is still recovering from his recent eye surgery. You can read about that here.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)