One of the narratives currently following Matt Hardy on social media is that he pushed his brother, Jeff Hardy, to remain on the path of daredevilry both in and out of the ring, with some even assuming that Matt ‘enabled’ Jeff in falling off the wagon again.
On Tuesday night, an emotional Matt addressed a fan who accused him of orchestrating Jeff’s abrupt exit from WWE last December, and for encouraging the high-flying Charismatic Enigma to perform audacious spots at the age of 44.
“Words posted on Twitter cannot hurt me,” Matt wrote. “I’ve never suggested my bro do anything that hurts him.. As a matter of fact, I proposed the Brother Nero concept so Jeff WOULD NOT do his high impact moves. I don’t care if Jeff ever wrestles again, I just want him healthy for his family.”
For what it’s worth, the person to whom Matt was responding deleted their Twitter account.
Matt’s tweet seemed to echo his sentiments following Jeff’s DUI arrest on June 13. In conversation with Jon Alba, Matt would reiterate several times that Jeff’s well-being takes precedence over the Hardys’ wrestling legacy, which was supposed to be capped off with a reported run as AEW World Tag Team Champions.
“He’s just so remorseful, so embarrassed, he like hates himself, and I think that’s a part of it too,” Matt said on his “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast. “And he has to know obviously what he did was atrocious, terrible, terrible decision-making, but then also he has to know that people love him. It’s very important. Just like you said, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the individual. You have to keep yourself in check, you have to be on top of yourself, you are the only person that can really ensure you’re not going to go awry or go in a bad direction, whether it’s because of mental issues or whether it’s because of addiction issues.”
Shortly before Jeff’s DUI arrest, Matt made some startling comments on his podcast, revealing that Jeff was “almost knocked out” during The Hardys vs. Young Bucks bout at Double or Nothing in May.
“[Jeff] doesn’t remember the match at all after that happened,” Matt said. “He was literally just a vessel being given directions throughout this match, to kinda do what he was supposed to do. So considering he got really knocked loopy terribly at some point earlier in the match, he still did pretty good … If you look at that Swanton he does on the stairs, he still does it perfectly.”
The comments understandably raised red flags among fans concerned for Jeff’s health, and to AEW’s credit, Jeff was pulled from a scheduled match the week after Double or Nothing, with AEW President Tony Khan confirming via social media that Jeff was dealing with an injury. However, the dreaded ‘C’ word was never brought up, something Dave Meltzer referenced recently while addressing the alleged concussions suffered by Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole.
Jeff pleaded not guilty to his DUI charge at a June 28 hearing in Volusia County, Florida. He remains suspended without pay from AEW and has reportedly been at a rehab facility since June 21. He bonded out of jail on June 13 a few hours after his arrest. Matt, for his part, seems to be working the incident into a potential new direction for his character.
