TNA's Matt Hardy Reflects On Brother Jeff's Time In AEW: 'He Still Had A Demon'

Back in 2022, Jeff Hardy's AEW arrival was met with a great deal of enthusiasm and hopes that he and his brother Matt Hardy would take on the tag division by storm, wrestling dream matches such as one final bout against Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. Unfortunately, Jeff's run ended in controversy when he was arrested for a DUI and faced felony charges, and even after returning, his momentum fizzled out before his contract expired.

Although Jeff's AEW departure was sour, Matt claimed that his brother was originally very happy. "He seemed good for a while," Matt recalled during an episode of his "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" podcast. "He just still had his demon – the big demon he has tattooed on him now. He still had that demon that was kind of holding him back."

Matt then shared his feelings about he and his brother's run in AEW, noting that they were working hard in the beginning and were put in a great position to succeed by Tony Khan. "I don't have any complaints about that at all," he noted, while admitting that he doesn't blame Khan in the end. "I understand why he was going to be having second thoughts about doing whatever with him. The sad thing is: Jeff's had a few f**k-ups and then maybe at that point, Tony Khan was like 'I don't know if I can trust him.'"

Recalling how their AEW run together began, Matt again said that Tony Khan had massive plans for the two of them, even after Jeff's debut in AEW became a meme as he hit his dance while running in to save his brother. 

"I wanted him to come out and be presented as a major star with a major entrance, and my whole mindset was: we have this Hardy Boyz music, which is going to shock the audience, and I think he can also shock the guys that are in there whooping my ass," he recalled. Hardy explained that he wanted Jeff to do his "juke" on the way to the ring, as it's an iconic part of his entrance. Matt's original idea was that Jeff's arrival would leave everyone in shock, and they'd all be staring at Jeff, but that's not what occurred. "They just kept whipping my ass." Hardy did note that Jeff picked up that the attackers weren't stopping, giving his brother credit for hauling down the ramp instead of continuing his dance.

Jeff suffered an injury a short time into their run, while facing the Young Bucks at AEW Double or Nothing 2022. Recalling the match, Matt described his brother as getting "knocked loopy" and suggested that he might have been dealing with a hangover. Matt was careful with his words, though, repeating that he did not have all the facts regarding the situation.

Not long after that match, on June 13, 2022, Jeff Hardy was arrested for three felony charges including a "3rd DUI offense within 10 years," "driving with a suspended/revoked license," and "violating restrictions placed on a license." According to Matt, he, Jeff, and Matt's wife Reby were all in Orlando, Florida, that day after a signing at Dave & Buster's when things went awry.

"Jeff had to go back to Jacksonville to do something. He was getting some sort of scan done – I want to say he was getting a scan done on his brain or something. And it may have been from even that injury in the Bucks match," Matt recalled. "I remembered Reby and I had phoned home, because she was with me, and I remember landing in Raleigh, North Carolina, and turning on my phone and getting a bunch of messages and I had just learned that Jeff had been arrested."

Matt recalled feeling sick to his stomach after reading the news, but despite being disheartened by everything, he was still very worried about Jeff. He first checked in with Jeff's wife, Beth, but all the while, Matt knew that the situation would spiral out of control.

"The only positive I could say out of [the arrest] was that this was the straw that broke the camel's back and made him change everything about his entire life," Matt added. "He's been the best version of himself ever since then."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.