Various: Matt Hardy Confirms WWE Offered Jeff Hardy Hall of Fame Spot, Impact Ratings Update, Indies

Feb 1, 2022

Matt Hardy Confirms WWE Offered Jeff Hardy Spot in Hall of Fame for Return Deal

As noted before, WWE recently offered Jeff Hardy a new deal to potentially return to the company, which included a spot in their Hall of Fame as a member of this year’s class of inductees. Hardy reportedly turned down WWE’s offer and instead requested the results of his recent drug tests in the company.

During a recent House Hardy stream on Twitch, Matt Hardy confirmed that the reports and rumors of Jeff Hardy passing his recent drug tests in WWE and being offered a spot in their Hall of Fame as part of the terms for a new contract are true.

“He took this drug test, he ended up being released a few days later. He never got the results of this drug test, he obviously passed all his drug tests. He was drug tested quite often when he worked there. It also leaked out that, he thought this was going to be a private conversation, they said with go to rehab or be released. They gave him an ultimatum. He said, ‘Okay, you can release me then, I don’t need to go to rehab.’ That was his mentality at the time. Three weeks later, he hadn’t got his drug test and he asked to see it and got it. He was fighting, scratching, clawing to get the drug test and he got the run around.
After my brother and his wife spoke to WWE a bit, they spoke to a lawyer to have him help them out. A couple of days ago, he got his drug test and it was compliant, Everything was negative, he passed on all levels. The main reason he was so adamant about getting those is because he wanted to clear his name.
He got a call from John Laurinaitis and they offered to induct him into the Hall of Fame. That’s not made up. That’s a real thing that happened. He just asked for his drug test at the end of the conversation. He said, ‘No, I just want my drug test,’ kind of to clear his name.”

Hardy also gave his thoughts about the incident at a house show event this past December that led to his brother Jeff’s release from the company.

“Whenever my brother ended up being released, he had taken a drug test. Usually, these drug tests come back in 10 to 14 days. Those 10 to 14 days had been up and he never got a rest and he was curious as to where his result was. He knew he had passed his drug test because he knew he hadn’t been doing any drugs and he has been clean, he’s been clean the whole while he’s been there. There was an issue where they said, ‘Jeff Hardy had this erratic behavior’ and he ‘jumped over the guardrail’ or whatever. Hello, he’s Jeff Hardy, he’s a weird dude. That’s kind of what he does. The erratic behavior is why they gave him a drug test and sent him home. He addressed it with me and, as he was saying, he knew at that point…working for WWE is a very stressful job. I am not going here to bury WWE, I love WWE, Vince McMahon, everyone who is there. I wouldn’t be who I am and I wouldn’t have this life right now. I have great appreciation and I’m very grateful for everything I’ve done for them and every opportunity they’ve given me. It’s all good, but it’s also a very stressful environment. Anyone who has worked there knows that. I feel Jeff was stressed out in many ways about several things and he confessed to me that when he went over that guardrail, he knew he was done. He was literally done with the match and he felt done …
I don’t think he did it intentionally trying to get fired. He does shit like that all the time. There are times where we’re in the ring and he just goes into business for himself because that’s how he feels. That’s how he is. He’s a very, emotionally, supercharged person and he follows his emotions and instincts.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Backstage Reaction within Impact Over Last Week’s Ratings Numbers

As noted before, this past Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling’s Impact! drew 182,000 viewers and a 0.05 key demographic rating. This was the highest overall viewership for an Impact show since the February 16, 2021 episode.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Impact officials were very pleased with the ratings numbers for last week’s show on AXS TV.

Johnson reported that Impact officials had been expecting their television ratings to increase for some time due to all of their other key numbers, including digital and international, had been trending upwards.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

AEW recently announced that they will be holding their next set of AEW Dark tapings on February 5th at the Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Josh Barnett announced that Game Changer Wrestling’s next Bloodsport event, Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8, will be taking place on March 31st in Dallas, Texas. Barnett also announced that this event will be part of GCW’s The Collective series of events in the city from March 31st to April 2nd.

Terminus announced that Daniel Garcia, Davey Richards, and Tre Lamar will be making an appearance for the company at their Terminus II event on February 24th in Atlanta, Georgia.

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced that this year’s Crockett Cup tag team tournament will be taking place on March 19-20 in Nashville, Tennessee. The company also announced that tickets for this upcoming two day event will officially go on sale starting February 4th.

Chase Owens recently announced that his contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling expired on January 31st and he is currently a free agent.

NJPW recently announced that they will be holding a NJPW Strong themed event called Windy City Riot on April 16th in Chicago, Illinois.

NJPW also recently announced four new matches for the card of their NJPW Strong themed Rivals event on February 17th in Los Angeles, California:

Fred Yehi, Keita Murray, & The DKC vs. Bateman, Misterioso, & Barrett Brown
Chris Bey vs. Blake Christian
10-Man Tag Team match – Team Filthy (“Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Danny Limelight, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson, & Royce Isaacs) vs. Fred Rosser, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors, Adrian Quest, & Taylor Rust
TJP vs. Brogan Finlay