Real Reason WWE Released Jeff Hardy
A major backstage update on Jeff Hardy's WWE departure.
Turning down WWE's offer of rehab led directly to Jeff Hardy being released by the promotion.
This is according to Dave Meltzer, who writes in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Hardy was "impaired" while competing at WWE's 4 December house show in Edinburg, Texas, where he tagged out of a six-man main event and left through the crowd before the bout was finished. The promotion reportedly pulled Hardy from the road that night, replacing him with Rey Mysterio the following evening.
WWE asked Jeff to go to rehab after this. When he declined, the promotion opted to let Hardy go rather than hitting him with a suspension.
The report also notes that Hardy is bound to a standard 90-day non-compete clause preventing him from appearing for other promotions before 9 March 2022. He will be paid up to that point, becoming a free agent afterwards. Per Meltzer, WWE made their decision in the knowledge that if Jeff ended up working for their biggest competitor in the United States, AEW, he would likely become a major star there.
Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp had previously reported on Hardy deciding to reject WWE's offer of "help and rehab," though this hadn't been cited as the exact reason for his release until now.