Matt Hardy Confirms WWE Reached Out To Jeff About Returning for HOF Induction
Matt Hardy has confirmed a report that WWE recently reached out to his brother Jeff about returning for a Hall of Fame induction.
Late in 2021, WWE released Jeff Hardy following a situation that occurred at a house show event. Jeff had competed alongside Drew McIntyre and Xavier Woods in the main event of a show in Edinburg, Texas.
Speculation ran rampant as Jeff appeared to be lethargic and exited into the crowd after giving McIntyre the hot tag. Jeff took pictures with fans and made his exit before the match finished. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful broke the news that Jeff was let go after turning down WWE’s offer to enter a rehabilitation program. Last week, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that John Laurinaitis called Jeff about being part of this year’s Hall of Fame class.
According to Matt Hardy, the Observer report about Hardy hearing from WWE is true. During his latest Twitch stream, Matt says WWE calling Jeff about returning is a “real thing” that actually happened. Jeff wasn’t interested, but did request the results of the drug test he took around his WWE release. Lawyers had to get involved before Jeff got his hands on the results – but they came back clean.
“He got a call, which this has been reported online, from John Laurinaitis and they had offered to induct him into the Hall of Fame and 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 [Jeff] just asked for his drug test at the very end of the conversation and said, ‘No, I just want my drug test. I want the clean result,’ kind of the clearest thing if that makes sense and I think it should, especially given his history.
“So, after my brother and his wife dealt with WWE and the drug testing company quite a bit they actually spoke with a lawyer and kinda had them help them out a little bit. Just a couple of days ago he got the drug test back and the drug test is compliant. Everything was a negative, it passed on all levels.”
Matt later revealed that Jeff told him he simply knew his run in WWE had reached its end by the time he entered the crowd.
“I feel like Jeff was just kinda stressed out in many different ways about several different things. He just told me, confessed to me, said whenever he went over that guardrail he said he just knew he was done there.”
Reby, Matt’s wife, played devil’s advocate on behalf of some fans asking and brought up the theory that Jeff tried to get himself fired intentionally. Matt doesn’t believe that is the case.
