Jeff Hardy Talks About The End Of His WWE Run—Cody Reportedly Signs w/ WWE

Jeff Hardy’s exit from WWE made quite a bit of news. There were many conflicting stories that came out as we awaited his debut in AEW and of course for his 90-day no-compete clause with WWE would come to an end.

He wasn’t exactly hush-hush about the whole thing, as many tidbits of information did surface and yes, from the main man’s mouth himself, but he finally opened up about everything that happened before, during and after his release from WWE—even the crazy rumors about WWE offering him a spot in the Hall Of Fame solo and without his brother, Matt, all if he stayed with the company.

It was while speaking on the Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy Podcast that he said the following (about his walking out of a WWE live event and all of the above):

“…WWE was so strange, I had been there for almost two years. After I came back from knee surgery, another strange thing about our careers, when Matt debuted in AEW, the pandemic had hit, in front of nobody, he teleported down from the nosebleeds. I was supposed to [return] in Detroit in front of 20,000 people; I came back from knee surgery in front of nobody…

The best way I can describe my journey the last few months in WWE was like ‘glimmers of hope, maybe I still do have something…The last glimmer of hope was Survivor Series, which was really good. It came down to me and Seth Rollins, I was killing it, almost won and the crowd was so behind me. I felt like one of the most popular babyfaces in WWE because the crowd was so with me…

Then there were other times where I felt like a ghost, roaming the halls like, ‘why am I even here? I don’t feel important.’ I kept doing my deal and would show up and do whatever they wanted me to do. I’ve never been a politicker so I don’t go out of my way to try and get a certain spot or achieve a certain status. That night in Edinburg, Texas, I finished my heat, I took the heat, and I said, ‘I’m ready to go.’ Went over the rail, disappeared into the crowd…

Naturally, they think I took something like drugs or whatever, but I didn’t. If I was that bad, I should have never went out there, that’s the way I see it. I thought, ‘Just another unpredictable thing I can do and I’ll get away with it.’ …it was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done because everything worked out so perfectly, mainly because my first day in AEW, I felt valuable for the first time. The care and love I was shown, I got chills thinking about it…

In WWE, it felt like they just wanted to keep me there to sell action figures. I put so much love and joy in painting my face, when I see it come out and immortalized in an action figure, I’m like, ‘that’s why it do this, it’s so cool.’ That’s one thing I’m super excited about in AEW, my first action figure with the face paint…It felt right in the moment. I wasn’t trying to get released…I was so excited to be a part of it, some little spot or something, but I wasn’t even involved. ‘Why am I even here?’ Not just SummerSlam, but, ‘Why am I still here in WWE? What’s my purpose?’ because it didn’t feel like I had much of one…”

via Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy /fightful.com (Transcription)

About how WWE offered him the Hall Of Fame, he said:

“It felt completely wrong. It didn’t feel like the time at all…I almost felt offended. I was very emotional and almost felt offended. Like, ‘What? Wait. After my 90 days is up and the Hall of Fame is in April and I do go to AEW, how is that going to work? What are y’all trying to hit me with if I do sign with AEW when I’m free and me going to the Hall of Fame, how would that work?’ My mind and emotion went crazy and I was in tears. This is my career. I know I’ve been a very influential person to a lot of young and misunderstood individuals, but it felt so wrong. It almost felt like, ‘How dare you’ in a sense…

I know that sounds crazy. You get offered Hall of Fame and it’s like, ‘Oh, of course, I’m a Hall of Famer.’ It’s never really meant that much to me, the Hall of Fame, whatever it is, but it’s just not time for that. That’s why I was like, ‘It’s a hard no.’ Especially because it feels like something Matt and I should go in together, as the Hardy Boyz, when the time is right. It’s just weird. I still don’t know how I feel about that; overall, it just felt so wrong…

Maybe I should have said, ‘What if I’m in AEW at the time of the Hall of Fame?’“

via Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy /fightful.com (Transcription)

About how he is overall and how he feels about the allegations that he was on drugs at the end of his WWE run, he had this to say:

“I’m great. It’s very common with the outsiders that don’t really know me to go, ‘he has a history of drugs and alcohol, is he okay?’ When you get put in a position to where they want you to go away for 28 days from your family, but your family believes in you, the three people you love most in your life, when they believed in me, that’s all that I need. That’s when you have to be like, ‘Screw the outside world, it doesn’t matter.’ I hope that doesn’t sound mean. ‘F*** the outsiders,’ when it comes to family, those are the ones that really matter most. Even stuff about, ‘Oh, he should have done the Hall of Fame,’ it kind of makes me sick. I’m very comfortable in my own skin and I believe in myself so much and my family does to, that’s really all that matters.”

via Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy /fightful.com (Transcription)

Cody Rhodes Supposedly signs with WWE

Many weeks of speculation are certainly behind us. There was a time when many wondered if Cody Rhodes would ever be returning to WWE after he and tony Khan parted ways, but according to recent reports, the deal has been made.

For weeks, many have been waiting for him to appear on Raw or SmackDown, many believing that he would be the opponent for Seth Rollins at Mania, but he hasn’t showed just yet. However, many in the industry believe he will be showing up at Mania specifically…make a surprise debut, a la AEW if you will.

According to a report at PW Insider by Mike Johnson, Cody has indeed signed a contract and that was apparently done 10 to 14 days ago as of this writing, according to sources within WWE.

It’ll be interesting to see if he does make an appearance before or at Mania. The build for a match is at zero if he doesn’t appear on Raw at least by Monday, but if he shows on the day of and out of the blue challenges Rollins, the fans are in for a surprise treat for sure. The build is lacking though and that might hurt his debut in the long run, but we’ll see when we’ll see I guess.

NEXT: Britt Baker On Her Loss Of The AEW Women’s World Championship To Thunder Rosa