Jeff Hardy On AEW Debut Becoming Wrestling’s Worst Kept Secret

Jeff Hardy has commented on his AEW debut, and the circumstances that led to it becoming one of the worst kept secrets in wrestling.

The former WWE star debuted for AEW on the March 9 edition of Dynamite, the day he became a free-agent.

Between teases on AEW TV and interviews during Jeff’s 90-day non-compete clause, many fans expected Hardy to arrive in AEW on this date.

Speaking on the latest edition of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Jeff noted that he thought AEW would wait longer to debut him, especially after a video of himself telling Jared Myers he was AEW-bound went viral.

Recalling his nerves ahead of the debut, Jeff said:

Jeff: “For me, I was crazy nervous that whole day because it was so bizarre, the night before I had no idea what time my flight was gonna be. I kept telling myself they’re gonna wait until next week, just because that interview I did at one of my music shows got leaked and I pretty much plainly said I am going to AEW and then people went crazy. Yeah, so all that was kind of rushing through my mind, so maybe they won’t do it that night.

“About 6.04am Beth went to check my phone and she said ‘oh, it’s happening’, and so it was on front hat point from that point on, and I didn’t sleep and I know Matt didn’t. I really wasn’t completely free until like midnight.”

Matt: “Tony (Khan) wasn’t gonna speak to him until his contract was totally done, so literally we were planting the seeds of me turning back babyface, and being able to re-team with Jeff at some point in the future, there wasn’t a set time about when it’s going to happen.

“Even that day, he literally didn’t have his travel until 6 and 7am that morning. H couldn’t get on the same flight as me. It was super chaotic day and even during that day they said ‘ok Matt you have this new contract, what if we just offered Jeff that same thing?

“So, it was quite an adrenaline rush, I gotta say I was very happy when I got past that day and now he is here and he is All Elite, and it’s official and we can talk about it and it’s out in the open, so just up to that point it was very stressful, especially on me.”

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Jeff was released from his WWE contract in early December, following an incident at a WWE house show. Jeff has since commented on the situation surrounding his WWE departure, which you can read more about at this link.

During Jeff’s debut, the popular star ran to the ring to save Matt Hardy from a beatdown, not before stopping to dance on the entrance ramp. The real reason why Jeff decided to dance instead of immediately helping his brother has also been revealed.

Stay up to date with AEW win/loss records for 2022 using our tracker at this link.

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• secret
• Jeff Hardy
• Debut
• AEW

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