Matt Hardy on Jeff: “he is so remorseful, so embarrassed”
Jeff Hardy was suspended without pay from AEW following a DUI arrest over the weekend. It was noted by AEW CEO Tony Khan that Jeff could only return to the company on the condition he maintain sobriety. In the latest episode of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy (via Fightful), Matt Hardy gave an update on how Jeff is feeling following his arrest, claiming his brother is ’embarrassed’. Here are highlights:
On how Jeff is doing after his arrest:
“After speaking to Jeff, the last couple of days, he is so remorseful, so embarrassed, he like hates himself. That’s a part of it, too. He has to know, obviously what he did was atrocious and terrible, terrible decision making, but he has to know that people love him. It’s very important. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the individual. You have to keep yourself in check and be on top of yourself. You are the only person that can really ensure that you’re not going to go array or in a bad direction, whether it’s because of mental or addiction issues. If you don’t decide to do it on your own, you’re going to kind of half-ass it and you don’t get any positivity or productivity out of it.”
On accusations that Jeff was enabled:
“No alcohol comes here. No fans bring alcohol. That’s one of the scariest things about this, especially if you feel like someone is vulnerable, ‘Oh my God, you’re my guy, let me buy you this alcohol.’ She was on that shit. She gets very offended if she hears that because she would be the last person you could label as an enabler. She’s a super bitch and would do whatever it takes to shut these instances down.”
On the pressure to not let fans down:
“I go out of my way now to try and avoid those setbacks. I try to be as smart as I can, I think every decision through, put myself in situations to succeed and situations to be the best version of me that I can possibly be. In the past, when there were times like that and something happened and I didn’t do it because I made poor decisions, you feel awful and usually regretful and remorseful. I know Jeff felt that way about everything, especially [at AEW Dynamite] with the ladder match. I felt bad, I was backstage feeling, ‘Man, I should be out there doing this too, it’s part of the advertised gig.’ When it’s all said and done, this is bigger than pro wrestling, it’s just pro wrestling. It’s big time pro wrestling, it’s a big TV show and everything, but it’s just pro wrestling. I just need my brother to be healthy and I need him to be well and be the best he can possibly be. That’s what takes priority over everything else.”
