Matt Hardy Clarifies Why Jeff Hardy Did Not Compete In Recent AEW Match
Jeff Hardy has had his struggles this past month between his arrest and an injury that occurred.
In an interview recorded prior to Jeff's latest arrest, former IMPACT World Champion Matt Hardy clarified on Drinks With Johnny why he and his brother were not involved in AEW's Casino Battle Royal a few weeks back on "Dynamite."
"In the Casino Battle Royal," Matt said. "Jeff ... was taking a couple of weeks off, just to be cleared from the doctor which is why he didn't compete in that, and then obviously, I chose not to as well. It was an interesting concept though, especially the very shocking announcement that CM Punk had to leave and have surgery."
CM Punk defeated Hangman Adam Page in the main event of Double or Nothing to become the new AEW World Champion. Unfortunately, he had to step away from AEW five nights later, as he announced that he was going to have surgery due to a foot injury he suffered. The Casino Battle Royal took place on the June 8th edition of "AEW: Dynamite," to determine who would face Jon Moxley in the main event of "Dynamite," with the winner of that moving onto Forbidden Door to face off against the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto, which ended up being Tanahashi, for the Interim AEW World Championship.
The Casino Battle Royal was won by Kyle O'Reilly, who went on to lose to Jon Moxley in the main event. Moxley versus Tanahashi will take place at Forbidden Door on June 26th on Pay-Per-View for the Interim AEW World Championship.
At Double or Nothing, the Hardys took on the Young Bucks in a tag team match, where the Hardys walked away with the victory. The Hardys were originally scheduled to face The Young Bucks and then AEW World Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express in a three-way ladder match for the titles on "AEW: Dynamite" on June 15th. However, Jeff was arrested on Monday, June 13th, and then suspended by Tony Khan and AEW.
The ladder match was then changed to a traditional tag team ladder match, between the Young Bucks and Jurassic Express. The Bucks went on to win the AEW Tag Team Championships for a second time. Following the match, Christian Cage turned on Jungle Boy, who he had been aligned with for a little over a year.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Drinks with Johnny" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription