AEW star Jeff Hardy is, sadly, for his many fans, back in trouble again, quite possibly deep trouble, this time arrested on a DUI charge in Florida.
Hardy had been scheduled to compete in a triple threat AEW tag team title match with his brother, Matt, against the Young Bucks and the reigning champs, the Jurassic Express, on Wednesday’s “Dynamite,” but that match is now obviously off.
Among the reasons there: the Monday arrest resulted in his third DUI charge in the past 10 years in the state of Florida, which could expose him, under that state’s laws, to up to five years in prison.
According to published reports, Hardy had a blood alcohol level of .291 and .294 in two breathalyzer tests administered upon his arrest Monday, more than three and a half times the legal limit.
You do have to wonder if there’s a connection to his years of battling substance abuse issues and his punishing in-ring style, which came to a head most recently at AEW’s May 29 “Double or Nothing” pay-per-view.
Hardy was noticeably not himself after an early bump, and it was revealed later, by Matt Hardy, on a podcast, that Jeff didn’t remember the match after the bump, hinting that his brother had suffered an apparent concussion.
Frighteningly, considering, he would hit two off-the-top-rope dives after the head injury, including one that had him leaping from the top and landing on Matt Jackson, who was prone on the steel ring steps on the floor.
Which would be a jarring move to hit for somebody not suffering from a head injury.
Throw in the head injury, and that Jeff had hit a similar move two weeks earlier in a singles match with Darby Allin, and it’s maybe not a surprise that a guy in what it doesn’t take much to imagine is likely a lifetime of pain might try to self-medicate.
This is what takes so many wrestlers at relatively young ages – the wear and tear on their bodies, their brains, the constant pounding of the pavement from one town to the next, leading to self-medication of one form or another that turns into abuse and then ends in some kind of tragedy.
Jeff Hardy is 44 years old. Matt Hardy is 47, and his body is broken to the point that it’s likely that he’s done whenever Jeff is done.
Jeff, again, sadly, for his many fans, may be done at this stage.
AEW has suspended him indefinitely, and is putting him into rehab, and has conditioned his return on him completing it.
I’m of the mindset that AEW founder Tony Khan was booking the Hardys to win the tag titles this week, basically kicking off a final flurry of a run for them to defend the belts against the Young Bucks at “All Out” in September and then maybe drop them to FTR at “Full Gear” in November.
That’s not going to happen now, and maybe it’s for the best.
No more swanton dives for Jeff Hardy. No more leaps from a 12-foot ladder or a balcony.
Assuming he completes his rehab, AEW should give him a job as an agent, so that he can help put together great matches without having to take bumps.
His bump card was out of room for X marks a while ago.
Story by Chris Graham
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