When Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy decided to finally take a stand against The Firm this week on Dynamite, they knew they were going to be outnumbered. They had a plan for that in the form of some high-powered backup: a returning Jeff Hardy.
The younger Hardy brother, who had been off AEW TV for 10 months, made a beeline for the ring wielding a steel chair, running off the rest of The Firm and hitting his signature Swanton Bomb.
It was a far cry from when Jeff Hardy made his AEW debut in March 2022, when he famously stopped to do his “Dougie” dance on the ramp while Matt was getting the crap kicked out of him (ironically, by a group that included Private Party, Kassidy’s tag team).
What changed this time? As it turns out, Kassidy specifically asked Jeff not to do any “juking” when he ran out to make the save, as the funny video he tweeted out today shows.
Before the chaos, I had to set some ground rules…#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/h1imqOg18a
— Private Party (@IsiahKassidy) April 13, 2023
Props to Kassidy for getting Jeff to pinky promise. Can’t be more sure that someone’s going to stick to their word than that.
There’s a serious discussion to be had about Jeff Hardy’s return due to the reason he was away. On June 13 of last year, he was arrested for driving with a suspended license and felony DUI, sadly not the first time he had substance abuse issues during his career. Tony Khan announced his suspension without pay the next day, stating that the only way he’d be allowed back on AEW programming was if he completed alcohol rehab and showed he could maintain his sobriety.
Wrestling fans are putting faith in Khan that he’s sticking to his guns with Jeff Hardy and that resources are in place to help him if he feels he’s going to backslide on staying sober. That said, if he’s going to be an active performer again, there’s nothing wrong with some lighthearted references to his AEW debut, and Kassidy and the Hardys managed to craft a good one here.