Jeff’s suspension made headlines a few weeks back. The suspension of course came after he was arrested for a DUI…his third overall. Jeff has had issues with narcotics and alcohol for years, but managed to establish quite the career for himself regardless.
To reiterate form previous pieces on the subject and to gather what you may already know, he was released from WWE because he refused to get treatment for what the company felt was an addiction issue.
He then signed with AEW, stating that there were no issues, but a few months after signing on, the arrest was made public.
This time though, when a stipulation was put forth for Jeff…essentially either get help or you can’t wrestle for AEW anymore, he made the right choice this time around.
via AEW /YouTube
Tony Khan recently spoke on the issue of Jeff Hardy and explained the ultimatum they brought up to him. These statements were made while Khan was speaking with Wrestling Inc on a media call. He said:
“Jeff is doing much better…As I understand, Jeff’s in treatment. I don’t want to say too much about what’s going on, because it’s his business, but I’m here for him, whatever he needs…
AEW does not condone Jeff’s alleged behavior. We’ve made it clear to Jeff we will assist him in getting treatment for substance abuse issues, which he has indicated he’s open to receiving…
In the interim, he is suspended without pay, and he can only return to AEW upon successfully completing treatment and maintaining his sobriety…
I feel like I’d be remiss if I didn’t give Jeff a lot of credit for now doing the right thing…And this is what we said — Jeff’s got to do the right thing if he wants to stay with AEW. Because it’s his last chance…
We do have a policy in place about making sure people come in and show up to work in the condition to work…That’s the most important thing. There’s a testing policy.”
In the end it speaks volumes that Jeff has decided to get help in order to finish his career on the right foot…to accept the help offered to him by Khan and company.
Finishing his career on the right note is something a legend like Jeff Hardy deserves after all. In the end everybody deserves as many chances as they need to make things right. Jeff’s a good man and an epic wrestler and he deserves the chance to make things right…something Tony Khan and AEW are quite obviously giving him the chance to do.
