Why Matt Hardy Won't Be Back For AEW Any Time Soon
And don't expect an imminent Elite Deletion...
Matt Hardy is one of AEW's currently quarantined superstars, thanks to the former WWE star's Compound being in North Carolina, which has been under lockdown as a state since the last week of March.
He's not been entirely off AEW programming of course, because he popped up Dynamite to challenhe Chris Jericho to an Elite Deletion match on the Hardy Compound. Any thoughts of that being very soon are questionably placed on two fronts: firstly, the match is yet to even be confirmed at all by AEW and secondly, the state simply won't allow it to happen while there's a lockdown.
And if you had any hope that someone at AEW could sweeten the deal for North Carolina officials to get it to happen, you're probably not counting on Reby Hardy's say in the matter.
She's taken to social media this weekend to criticise companies that are still actively recording wrestling, saying that WWE fans have more than enough existing content they can go back to enjoy without the product having to be active right now...
And crucially, where Matt Hardy is concerned, Reby says that there's no way she'd be letting her husband get back into active participation until the North Carolina lockdown ends, because her family safety has to come first.
So when might that be?
Well, North Carolina only reported its first deaths on 25th March from 500 reported cases (or at least positive tests) and since then there's been a leap to 80 casualties and over 4000 cases. That upward trend should mean that lockdown continues for some time, if other current models are anything to go by.
So maybe don't count on Matt Hardy appearing properly for a while yet.