10 Things That Didn't Go The Way AEW Wanted

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.