On his Mattitude Monday stream on his Twitch channel, AEW star Matt Hardy provided an update on his brother Jeff Hardy. Saying he just got off the phone with his brother prior to the stream, Matt Hardy discussed the delay in Jeff Hardy getting his drug results back and what led to him walking out of the WWE house show match that led to his most recent release.
“Whenever my brother ended up being released, he had taken a drug test,” Hardy said. “And usually these drug tests come back in 10 to 14 days. You’ll get the sheet that says ‘you are compliant and you were negative on everything.’ Those 10 to 14 days had been up for him, and he never got a result, and he was very curious of where his result was because he knew he had passed his drug test because he hadn’t been doing drugs.
“He’s been clean, he’s been clean the whole while he has been there. I know there was an issue, they said ‘Jeff Hardy had this erratic behavior. He jumped over the guardrail or whatever.’ But look, it’s Jeff Hardy. He’s a weird dude, it’s kind of what he does. The erratic behavior is why they gave him the drug test and they sent him home.
“Working with WWE is a very stressful job. And I am not going to say that I am here to bury WWE, because I love WWE. The WWE and Vince McMahon and everybody who’s there, I wouldn’t be who I am, I wouldn’t have this life that I have right now. So I have a great appreciation. I’m very grateful for everything I’ve done for them, I’m grateful for every opportunity that they’ve given me.
“It’s all good. But it’s also a very stressful environment as well. Anybody who has worked there knows that. So I feel like Jeff was kind of stressed out in many different ways by several different things. And he just told me when he went over that guardrail, he knew he was done. He was done there. He was literally done with the match, so he felt done.”
Asked by his wife, Reby Hardy, if his brother’s behavior was an intentional decision to try and get fired, Matt Hardy revealed he didn’t believe it to be the case, saying Jeff Hardy’s behavior was in line with how he handles things. He then went back to Jeff’s release and revealed that his brother had felt the ultimatum of going to rehab presented by WWE was intentionally leaked onto the internet.
“I don’t think he did it intentionally trying to get fired if that’s what you’re asking,” Hardy said. “I just think he did it because he does s–t like that all the time. There are times we’d be in the ring wrestling or working, and he just goes into business for himself because that’s just something he feels. That’s how he is. He’s a very emotionally supercharged person and follows his emotions and instincts. And if something feels a certain way, regardless if it’s the best-case scenario for the outline of the match or scenario he’s working in, he just does it. He just does things. And I think that’s one of the reasons he’s beloved as he is. Because he’s a very emotional, passionate, and driven guy. If he has a feeling, he just goes for it.
“So that’s just what happened to happen on this occasion, and he went for it. He ended up being released a few days later, and they never got the results for this drug test he had obviously passed all his drug tests because he was drug tested quite often when he worked there. It’s 10 to 14 days later and he hasn’t gotten back his drug test. And it also leaked out on the internet, he thought this was going be a private conversation, they said something like ‘either go to rehab or be released.’ They kind of gave him an ultimatum. And he just said ‘okay, well go and release me then because I don’t need to go to rehab.’ That was his mentality at the time.”
According to Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy ultimately didn’t receive his drug test back until three weeks after it was complete and needed help from a lawyer to do so. Matt confirmed reports that John Laurinaitis had reached out to Jeff for a potential Hall of Fame induction, and also that Jeff’s drug test came back negative, making him clean.
“Three weeks later, he hasn’t gotten his drug test back,” Hardy revealed. “And especially because that little bit of information, that it was either ‘go to rehab or be released’ was leaked, now it’s public information online on the internet, he definitely wanted to see the results of his drug test. Three weeks out he asked to see it and got it. I felt like there was a little bit of ‘well it’s the drug test company’ and the drug test company said ‘well it’s a WWE thing’ or whatever. And he was kind of fighting and scratching and clawing to get this drug test, and he was kind of getting the runaround.
“Then he got a call, which has been reported online, from John Laurinaitis and they had offered to induct him into the Hall of Fame. They said they wanted to do this. I know people have seen this online and that’s not made up, that’s a real thing that happened. And he just asked for his drug test at the very end of the conversation, he said ‘no I want the drug test. I want the clean result’, kind of to clear his name, as he should, especially given his history. So after my brother’s wife dealt with WWE and the drug testing company quite a bit, they actually spoke with a lawyer and kind of had them help them out a little bit. And just a couple days ago he got the drug test back, and the drug test is compliant. Everything was a negative, he passed on all levels.”
