WWE News: Major Problem In Play For Jeff Hardy’s Possible Return To WWE In Early 2017
Fans all know by now that WWE’s brand split massively affected the entire company from top to bottom. Several veterans are reportedly returning to WWE, and some have already been confirmed. As we saw on last night’s WWE SmackDown Live broadcast, Rhyno officially returned by goring Heath Slater. Fans also saw the announcement of Shelton Benjamin returning to SmackDown as well.
Meanwhile, PWInsider reports that Jinder Mahal will also make his return. Several others are also rumored, including Melina and Carlito. However, the big name that many fans have been wanting to see back with the company is Jeff Hardy. It was reported recently that Jeff Hardy was telling people that he was planning to return to the WWE when his TNA deal expired in February 2017. There may be some issues with his plans, however.
According to Cageside Seats, WWE is hesitant to sign Jeff Hardy because he doesn’t plan to work a full-time schedule. WWE wants the veterans that come back to be on the road with the young talent. They need the vets there to help with attendance now that the brands are split. Another major issue for Hardy is that he cannot leave the country due to his criminal history with drugs from years back that occurred right after he left WWE. Of course, he was using while in the company, as we all know.
WWE may be able to swing something better than other places, but it may be difficult for them to do so. Despite this, WWE can manage with not taking Jeff overseas when they go to various countries around the world. While Hardy will eventually be able to go, the real issue is that he’s not able to right now, and WWE would want their top vets to be with them.
Jeff Hardy is a special case, though. He’ll clearly help put butts in the seats, which has never been an issue for him. The issue for Hardy has always been being able to trust him. TNA learned firsthand that he can show up hammered or high. TNA was always willing to work with Hardy in spite of his drug issues, whereas WWE simply would have fired him for one violation like what we saw at Victory Road years back.
To his credit, Jeff Hardy has reportedly stayed clean for the last few years. He also claims to be in better shape than he’s been in years, which is an encouraging sign. However, Hardy is hard to trust despite this because you never know if he’ll slip. There’s a huge risk/reward system with Hardy. We know the reward is that he’ll help sell out arenas and bring eyes to television. The risk is that you never know if he’ll be on something one day or not.
TNA currently does not have a Wellness Policy like the WWE, so all Jeff has to do is just not show up in bad shape and he can theoretically use whenever. In WWE, he simply could not get away with that sort of thing, as they do random drug tests on most everyone all the time. Jeff Hardy would certainly be someone they would test more often than anyone else simply due to his very public history with drugs.
On top of all of this, he doesn’t want to work a full-time schedule. In reality, fans can obviously understand why he wouldn’t want to do so. WWE Superstars travel all the time and are on the road most of the year. They work 200 to 300 shows per year all around the world. This is obviously not easy on the human body, and Jeff Hardy would be coming in at age 39 with about 20 years of experience.
While saying experience sounds great, as if we’re talking about how good a person is at their craft, in the case of the pro wrestler, that’s 20 years of beating up your body almost every single night for that amount of time. Jeff Hardy likely turned to drugs for multiple reasons, and one of them was possibly due to pain. Could WWE work out a part-time deal for Hardy where he works three days a week instead of five to six? That’s possible. However, we’ll have to wait and see if they even try to bring him back next year.
[image via WWE]
