10 Things That Didn't Go The Way AEW Wanted

7. Jeff Hardy Lets The Cat Out Of The Bag

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AEW

Following his bungled, unfair WWE release at the end of 2021, many speculated that Jeff Hardy would eventually end up in AEW alongside his brother Matt. While that has now indeed happened, any sense of uncertainty over the Charismatic Enigma's future landing spot was ruined by Jeff himself.

In the case of most big-name new signings, a promotion will tend to lean more towards a surprise debut. For Hardy, the only element of surprise left was the when he would arrive in AEW rather than if he'd arrive in AEW. And even then, Matt Hardy had already publicly declared when exactly his brother's WWE non-compete clause was set to expire.

As for Jeff, he let the cat out of the bag on his AEW signing by outright telling YouTuber Jared Myers, "I'm going to AEW. I'm so excited, I'm so nervous and excited," before later adding a "f**k WWE" for good measure. From that moment on - a fortnight before Hardy's AEW debut - it was just a case of pondering when Jeff would land in Tony Khan's All Elite Wrestling.

While there's no reports of any sort of heat on Jeff Hardy for ruining the surprise, one has to imagine that Khan would've preferred Jeff not to have taken away some of the shock factor of seeing the three-time WWE World Champion in AEW.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.