Jeff Hardy Released By WWE Following House Show Incident
Jeff Hardy is no longer contracted to WWE. Fightful reported the news this morning, with an additional note from Sean Ross Sapp that WWE offered help/rehab to Hardy, but he refused.
Jeff made the headlines a few days ago for all the wrong reasons, as he was sent home from a house show loop after a strange incident during his match in Edinburgh, Texas, which was a six man tag where he teamed with Drew McIntyre and King Woods to take on Roman Reigns and The Usos. Hardy was reported to be looking "sluggish", and after tagging out of the match, left through the crowd, not returning to the ring to celebrate the victory with his teammates.
Jeff Hardy has had a history of substance abuse issues, and it appears that those issues have reared their head again. Hardy recently talked about those demons during an interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin on the Broken Skull Sessions, on the WWE Network. Jeff talked about knowing this was his final run and chance, and wanted to make the most of it. He had also expressed a desire in other interviews to work with Roman Reigns, and it appears that he was going to get that chance following his move to Smackdown in the WWE Draft.
Thoughts: This is terrible news. I've given grief to WWE over some of their questionable releases this year, but I can't fault them on this one at all. Jeff Hardy is one of my all time favourite wrestlers. I was there at WrestleMania 33 when he returned to WWE with his brother Matt, and lost my mind like everyone else in the stadium. The fan in me wanted Jeff to win a bunch of world titles again and main event WrestleMania, but the realist in me understands that WWE didn't pull the trigger on that, despite the never-waning popularity of the Charismatic Enigma.
I think it would be fair to say that Jeff is perhaps his own worst enemy. It really seemed like he had turned a corner in his life going off the interview with Stone Cold, but I guess you never know when these problems can pop back up again. Perhaps the most concerning aspect of this story is Hardy's refusal to accept rehab. Wishing Jeff Hardy all the best in dealing with all of this, both as a fan and simply as a human being.
