Matt Hardy opens up about Jeff Hardy’s AEW return: ‘He seems different’

On a new edition of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt Hardy opened up about his brother Jeff returning to AEW.

Jeff made his return to AEW television on Dynamite this Wednesday. It was Jeff’s first appearance since a June 2022 DUI arrest where he was driving at more than three times the legal limit. It was Jeff’s third DUI arrest since 2018.

Jeff was suspended without pay after the arrest, with AEW saying that he could only return “upon successfully completing treatment and maintaining his sobriety.”

Jeff’s DUI case was resolved this February without him having to serve any jail time. Due to him spending time in rehab, Jeff was given 38 days credit for time served. His license has also suspended for 10 years.

Matt Hardy said on his podcast that Jeff “seems different” after the work he’s done on himself during his 10 months away from AEW.

This is the most work I’ve ever seen him do on himself. And he had 10 months. He seems different. He seems different. And once again, I don’t want to sit here and vouch for him. I don’t want you to take my word for it. I don’t want you to take anyone else’s word for it. I want you to watch him and follow his actions. He’ll make you a believer, if that’s what you need. I am confident his actions, his conduct, and his behavior will make people a believer.

He’s made me a believer. I’ve got to see a lot of him and I’ve got to follow his journey and I know the work he has put in and I know how dedicated he has been to legitimately changing and trying to get his sh*t together once and for all. And all I can say is like I’m just so extraordinarily proud of him. He’s done great.

And [on Wednesday] everybody was so happy to see him. And he was like happy to be there. It was so adorable, right before we went out, he was so nervous and he was so worried because he hadn’t been in a ring at all. He actually came to my house on Monday night and got in my ring, ran the ropes a little bit, took a few bumps… It was a fun time, just catching up with him was.

Matt also spoke about the reaction Jeff received in his return:

He was worried how the people were going to react to him. Jeff is just one of the few individuals who just has ‘it’ and something that’s just so extremely special and people are connected to him in such an organic way. And when he came out and the people went nuts and they were cheering and chanting for him. They hit that, ‘Welcome back! Welcome back!’ It was great, man. A magical moment. Really glad we got to this point and I’m very excited to see where we go forward from here.

When his co-host Jon Alba said it will be up to Jeff to prove himself to the world, Matt agreed:

That’s correct. Obviously coming off his past, he has stuff to prove to people. Once again — I’m the ultimate optimist. My mentality doesn’t work for everybody, but I say, like hey, people change, give them a chance, especially if they’ve legitimately put the work in and tried. I do that with everybody. Either he’ll prove them wrong or he’ll prove you right. I have a very good feeling about this point Jeff’s at in his life right now.

In his return appearance, Jeff saved Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy, and Hook from a beatdown by The Firm. Matt said on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy that, after recently undergoing eye surgery, Jeff got cleared for physical activity at the end of last week.

AEW has announced that we’ll hear from The Hardys on this Friday’s episode of Rampage.