Following the surprising debut of Jeff Hardy in AEW, the Charismatic Enigma joined The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast to talk about his departure from WWE.
Matt has previously stated that the company was jumping the gun releasing Jeff, assuming he was about to fail a drug test due to an incident at a WWE live event.
Jeff spoke in length about the situation and revealed all the details surrounding why he walked out of the show in Edinburg, Texas that ultimately led to him being let go by WWE.
“Certain things happen for a reason and subconsciously that was one of the smartest, maybe the smartest thing I have ever done guided by something higher than me,” Jeff Hardy said. “WWE was so strange, I had been there for almost two years I guess after I came back from knee surgery. When Matt debuted in AEW, the pandemic hit in front of nobody, he teleported down in the nosebleeds and I was going to debut in Detroit Michigan, I came back from knee surgery in front of the performance center to nobody.
“It was just weird, the best way I can describe my last few months in WWE was just glimmers of hope like maybe I still do have something and the last glimmer of hope was the Survivor Series which was really good. Came down to me and Seth Rollins and I almost won and the crowd was so behind me, I felt like one of the most popular babyfaces in WWE.
“Then there’s other times where I just felt like a ghost roaming the halls, I don’t know, why am I even here? I don’t feel important at all. I kept doing my deal, showing up and doing whatever they wanted me to do and I’ve never been a politician so I don’t go out of my way to get a certain spot or to achieve a certain status.
“But yeah that night in Texas, I finished my heat, took the heat, and just said I’m ready to go. Went over the railing, disappeared into the crowd and naturally, they think I took something like drugs or whatever but I didn’t. I mean if I was that bad I should’ve never went out there is the way I see it.
“But yeah, it’s just another unpredictable thing that I can do and I’d get away with it but it was more serious than that. It was one of the smartest things I had ever done because it 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 felt like I was supposed to be there, I just got chills thinking about that.
“With WWE it just felt like they were keeping me there to sell action figures and that’s one of the things, I get so much joy out of painting my face and when I see that come out and immortalized in an action figure I’m like man, that’s why I do this. This is so cool and that’s one thing I’m super excited about here in AEW is my first action figure with the face paint. This is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.”
Jeff Hardy made his AEW debut last week, helping his brother fend off the HFO on AEW Dynamite, and then teamed with his brother this week against Private Party.
Continuing to talk about the details surrounding that night in Texas, Jeff Hardy mentioned what led up to him walking out of that match. The former WWE Tag Team Champion talked about the highs and lows of his most recent run with WWE and why he felt like he had no purpose.
“It felt right in the moment, I wasn’t trying to get released,” Jeff said. “Just thinking about Survivor Series and how fun that was, that connection with the crowd and how they wanted me to win so bad. It just made me think back to SummerSlam, I went to SummerSlam and it was a big crowd in this stadium in Vegas and I was there all day for nothing. I was like why am I even here?
“I was so excited about being a part of it, some little spot or something but I just wasn’t involved. I was like why am I even here? And that’s not just at SummerSlam but like why am I still here in WWE? What’s my purpose because it felt like I didn’t have much of one.”
Immediately after he was released from WWE, talks of AEW and a reunion with his brother Matt grew rapidly. Jeff Hardy revealed conversations he had with people in AEW throughout his final run with WWE and why his plan was always to come to AEW once his brother left WWE to become All Elite.
“When anybody from AEW said ‘hey man, how much longer do you got over there?’ ‘ah, a little under two years now…’ but that was ultimately the plan [to go to AEW] depending on how things went throughout those two years,” Hardy said. “I’m in good shape but I’m still pretty beat up so I don’t know how much longer I’ve got so I just want to make the most of how much longer I do have.
“I’m sure Matt feels the same way, let’s get this in while we can. I just felt like I was wasting away in WWE, for my good moments that hadn’t happened yet, while I’m healthy and still feel pretty good out there in the ring. I just feel valued now and I think that’s very important as a performer.”
