Having signed with All Elite Wrestling, Matt Hardy addressed why his brother, Jeff Hardy, has remained with WWE during an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
Hardy explained how his brother had accrued a lot of time away from the ring while under contract. Because of this, WWE simply extended Jeff’s contract to make up for the time away from in-ring competition. Matt shared how he managed to work through his contract without getting injured, allowing him to leave and sign with AEW.
“Jeff had two major surgeries during his deal. He had shoulder surgery and then he had the knee surgery. He also had some personal time off he needed to take. Altogether it was about a year and eight months,” Hardy explained. “Once that happens in WWE if they still continue to pay you, they can extend his contract so he had a year and eight months tacked on to his deal as opposed to my deal. I worked all the way through without ever being injured, so that is why Jeff is still working there now.”
During the course of their discussion, Hardy also addressed the current status of his Broken gimmick in AEW. He noted how, if his debut had taken place in front of fans, then Broken Matt Hardy would have been a lot more viable.
Hardy explained this was due to the gimmick’s subtleties. He argued that these intricacies would have been picked up and enjoyed by a live audience. In lieu of that connection, Hardy has decided to “hold off” on the gimmick and return to a “character-based in reality” until the time is right to re-introduce Broken Matt Hardy.
