Jeff Hardy is a true veteran in the pro wrestling world, having worked in various promotions in his career. Hardy has always managed to reinvent himself and stay relevant throughout his pro wrestling career. Unfortunately, Jeff Hardy’s personal demons continue to plague his existence even now. In fact, Hardy was never turned heel in WWE because he was not reliable.
Throughout his career in WWE, Jeff Hardy has achieved great success, winning championship titles as both a solo wrestler and as part of the Hardy Boyz tag team alongside his brother, Matt.
Despite this, the WWE never allowed Hardy to undergo a heel turn, where a previously heroic character becomes a villainous one. Recently, a former WWE executive has shed light on the reason behind this decision.
While speaking recently on his podcast ‘Grillin’ JR’ , WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross stated that WWE never turned Jeff Hardy heel due to his unreliability, which was well-documented at that point.
I don’t know if he’s too big [of a merch mover]. I think maybe, my guess on this question would be another one with reliability issues. How far do you go with someone that you don’t totally trust? And I think that’s where Vince was because I gotta go through all this stuff.
I gotta be, Vince is not gonna call Jeff Hardy and say, here’s this, here’s the issue. And here’s my thoughts on it. He’s gonna have JR. Do it. So I take the heat, I didn’t mind it, I was getting paid really well. So I think Jeff’s issue was Jeff. And his credibility was the fact that can he be trusted? And is he clean and sober? And can he stay clean and sober? And we know the answer to that? The answer is no. He didn’t stay clean and sober. He had all kinds of issues. He’s still [dealing with issues].
As previously reported, Jeff Hardy’s DUI case is now officially closed and his driving license has been suspended for 10 years. We will have to wait and see when Jeff Hardy will make his return to AEW.
What’s your take on this story? Sound off in the comments!