AEW Superstar Matt Hardy went live for a Twitch stream on Monday night and commented on his brother Jeff’s current state following his WWE release.
According to Matt, his brother will tell his side of the story when he’s ready to do so. He also noted that Jeff is “in the best place” these days and everything is fine. He also believes Jeff’s final WWE drug test will come back clean.
Matt went on to say that he understands WWE’s stance on Jeff due to his history with addiction. He also noted that WWE “may have jumped the gun with this a little bit” and he doesn’t believe his brother needs rehab at the current time.
You can check out some highlights from the Twitch stream below:
On Jeff appearing in his vignette that debuted on Twitch: “Yeah, I mean, that was great. I mean, that was fun. It was just like our chemistry. Once you have great chemistry with someone on top of just being a partner, a tag team partner, who’s been doing this for a quarter-century. We’re brothers, and we just we’re always on the same wavelength as far as that goes. [Jim Ross] would use this expression quite a bit. It is very, very true. Jeff and I worked so well together because he’d say, ‘Matt Hardy is the steak, Jeff is the sizzle.’ That is such a good analogy. It just …. as far as being the steak and sizzle and I gave Jeff that reference.”
On Jeff’s current state: “For the people who were worried about Jeff, who were concerned about Jeff, I’m here to tell you, he is good, and there’s no reason to be worried or concerned about him. I’m gonna say this. I’m going to preach here for a second. In 2003, when my brother was first released from WWE, I was worried about him. He was in a very dark place, we were still young. We were new, and this stuff was all kind of new to us, I was very legitimately worried and concerned for my brother then. Then it took a couple of years. But he kind of got through that stage. Then later on there were, obviously, points in time where Jeff and myself, we both had issues because our bodies were so beat up with pills and whatnot. We both got past that. Jeff does not have any kind of issue with that. I do not, we will not, I never will.”
“Then in 2019, there was a time when there was so much drama going on and Jeff had his issues with alcohol, which are very well documented. WWE ended up having him go to rehab at that point. After he got through that period, that was a very good experience for him. He learned so much. I could communicate with him a lot better because I had also experienced that same type of deal and we had that in common that we could talk about it and our relationship was also strained then, because myself and my wife, were doing all that we could to hold Jeff and his family accountable because we were concerned about them over his behavior. I was concerned about Jeff then. But for the last year and a half couple years, Jeff has been the best version of himself that I have ever seen.”
On Jeff’s WWE release: “So what I am saying is that Jeff is in the best place. I’ve seen him a very long time, as far as the details of what went down on that evening. In that match on that night, I have talked with Jeff and I feel good about everything he said. That is Jeff’s story to share. I’m sure he will, when he is ready to actually, he’s told me he will when he’s ready to do so but before anyone rushes to judgment. Obviously, they drug tested him after all this stuff, wait to hear the results of that. When that comes back clean, then, you know, hopefully, people will feel better about you know, because I feel very good about Jeff, I feel confident about Jeff and WWE. I understand their stance too. They feel like they were kind of backed into a corner because of his history and even though they may have jumped the gun with this a little bit, you know, they made a decision and it is what it is and Jeff did say he wasn’t going to go to rehabilitation because he didn’t think he needed to and I don’t think he did either, and that’s the honest to God’s truth. So that is where that lies.”
(h/t – Fightful)
