Recent news about AEW’s Jeff Hardy returning to the company soon may disappoint fans of the former WWE Champion. Hardy hasn’t been seen in the company since his DUI arrest back in June 2022 and Tony Khan has been quiet on when he would back on TV.
PWInsider have reported that Jeff Hardy will appear was set to have his pre-trial hearing in late October 2022, which means his trial will take place in November 2022 at the earliest. He was arrested on June 13th, 2022 for driving without a license and being three times over the legal DUI limit. He had previously lost his license for DUI offences, as he has been arrested a number of times over the past two decades, owing to his struggle with drugs and alcohol.
He was suspended without pay by AEW and sent to a rehab facility to help recover from his addictions. He has been getting in trouble about his drug issues since the early 2000s, when he was fired by WWE in 2003 during one of the biggest pushes in his career. He also caused controversy during his ill-fated match with Sting at TNA Victory Road 2009, turning up high to the main event of the show and ruining the match for the fans in attendance.
WWE fired Jeff Hardy in December 2021, after he refused to go to rehab following his erratic behaviour during a house show main event. He walked out on the match early, but later tests proved he had no drugs in his system but was simply burnt out with the WWE lifestyle. He joined his brother Matt Hardy in AEW months later and reformed the Hardy Boyz tag team until his suspension in June 2022.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ is expected to leave rehabilitation soon and make a return to the squared circle. This will excite fans of “The Rainbow Haired Warrior” as it could mean we see him come back into the fray of the tag team division before the beginning of 2023.
This corroberates the claim by his brother Matt that said Jeff Hardy was going to come back to wrestle in AEW “soon”. Before AEW All Out 2022, he tweeted out this about a potential return for Jeff Hardy.
It’s all good, @realcoachrosey. Tonight’s #AEWAllOut is gonna be an epic PPV. It’s a stacked @AEW card. We’re getting close to learning my brother’s future, so I’ll be taking a definitive direction soon. I’m extremely excited to get on a path so I can haul & kick ass.
Matt and Jeff Hardy were planned to win the AEW Tag Team Champions before they were forced to split up after the DUI. Instead their title reign went to The Young Bucks. When he does return, it’s likely that Jeff and Matt will return to the tag team division for one last title run, assuming he can stay sober this time.