Matt Hardy’s future in WWE is in question regarding a behavioral issue that is being kept quiet that took place in Europe.
Hardy, who turns 36 this week, was taken off the WWE’s house show on 9/12 in Skegness, U.K., for reasons that have not been released. He had also been taken off a 9/5 house show in White Plains, NY, where he arrived at the arena, and wasn’t used. He did work at the 9/7 TV tapings in Baltimore, went on the Smackdown European tour, and worked the first three nights.
WWE officials reported to us on 9/12 that Hardy had been sent home without giving a reason why, although actually he remained in the U.K. and flew home the next day with the rest of the crew. Company policy if it was a drug test failure, would be to announce it publicly, so the test aspect wouldn’t be an issue. Plus, company policy if such a thing were the case would be to have Hardy work television, do an angle to explain his absence, and then announce his suspension after the television show aired.
The only thing we’ve been able to confirm is creative was told Hardy would not be booked for the foreseeable future. He missed the 9/14 tapings in Detroit. There were those in the company expecting Hardy to be released this week, but as of press time, he has not been officially suspended or released and nobody in the company has officially commented on his situation past that he was sent home.
What we can confirm is that WWE has been concerned about Hardy for at least a few weeks. They had Cody Rhodes on Smackdown deliver a heel promo making fun of Hardy’s weight gain (ironically coming after Hardy had lost weight), which was said to be a message like the ones Mickie James and Serena didn’t get and were eventually let go.
Shortly after the stories broke about Hardy being pulled from the active roster and being sent home, he posted a video from his U.K. hotel room, attempting to insinuate the rumors weren’t true, given he was still in the U.K., but didn’t address being taken off shows. He insisted he was “A-okay,” told fans not to worry about him and said there would be “probably some changes coming,” and said if they didn’t, he’d probably make them happen. He tried to claim the stories going around were false.
The video was concerning, and people within WWE were worried about Hardy for doing it. Others were unhappy, given Hardy, a WWE wrestler, showed the Pro Wrestling Torch web site on his computer during the video, and talked about his being sent home being a headline, and questioned why it was more of a headline then the main event on a house show, the death of a wrestler (Mike Shaw) and read that “Cena’s movie bombs,” the latter of which infuriated those in the company because it was a talent exposing Cena’s movie as bombing as being a story. There was also the question as to why he went on and claimed stories weren’t true that were true, given that in the long run it not only made him look bad, but would make the web sites he was critical of look like they were the honest ones.
Hardy also said that things were going to change, that last year was horrible, citing that his intestines exploded (I’m not sure if he was referring to when his appendix ruptured a few years ago) and blamed intestinal issues on his recent weight gain. He claimed he had found out his problem is he was having a hard time digesting red meat, and that he gave up all red meat two or three weeks ago, and had lost 13 pounds. In the next sentence, he said his weight had gone from 245 pounds to 224 pounds, and then said he had lost 21 pounds. He also blamed the story getting out on a “stooging Punk,” in reference presumably to C.M. Punk, who was on the tour.
On 9/14, Hardy didn’t give any answers, but did at least acknowledge something was amiss.
“When the time is right, I’ll put everything out there as far as what `really’ went down,” he wrote. “I know I have to protect me and my brand, and I will. I appreciate my fans so much that I’ll always be honest with them, and the whole story certainly isn’t out there now. I appreciate all the things the WWE has gone for me in the past, they have been gracious to me–but now, it’s decision time for me.”
What was interesting is that a few days earlier on Bubba the Love Sponge, Hulk Hogan actually brought up the name Matt Hardy as someone he’d like because he understands the business and knows how to get it done. But then Hogan tried to change the subject and said it was hypothetical when the subject of contract tampering came up.
There was a time a few months back where WWE made numerous calls to Jeff Hardy, both before and after his first Impact appearance and before he had signed the contract with TNA, offering him a sweet deal which would have included only working limited dates. But after Jeff Hardy, who many considered WWE’s most popular wrestler of 2009, failed to gain any real traction in TNA, WWE has almost given up monitoring or worrying about TNA.