It was hard for professional wrestling fans to hear about Jeff Hardy’s release from the WWE, a few weeks ago. Although WWE had never confirmed the release, the veteran superstar was never seen on WWE shows after the reports surfaced on the internet, proving that WWE indeed released the top superstar for the third time in his career.
Prior to the release that happened, last month Jeff Hardy was reportedly scheduled for a WWE NXT run. WWE reportedly had a lot of main roster plans in the works for Hardy through January 2022 as Fightful Select provided updates that he was also planned to compete in a match and thereby take part in an NXT angle.
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Original plans for MSK’s “The Shaman” character on NXT had Jeff Hardy in the role. With the veteran name getting released, RAW Tag Team Champion Riddle ended up being disclosed as that Shaman character. Moving on, he ended up being the partner for MSK to take on Imperium’s WALTER and NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner at this week’s bygone NXT New Year’s Evil 2022 special.
“Jeff Hardy was originally planned to be the ‘Shaman’ for MSK. Just days before the reveal was to happen, Hardy was released by the company, and Matt Riddle had to rush to film content with MSK to make it work,” the source stated.
Riddle replaced Jeff Hardy in an NXT storyline
Riddle was revealed as The Shaman on the Wednesday, December 7 episode of NXT while Jeff Hardy was released from the company on Friday, December 9, following a sudden departure in a match at a WWE live event in Texas on Saturday, December 4. Then the younger Hardy reportedly turned down an offer of rehab. This reportedly led WWE to take the decision to release him who was already pulled from the road the previous weekend.
The other Hardy, Matt Hardy left WWE in 2020 to join All Elite Wrestling, recently expressed interest in having one final Tag Team run with his brother and thereby recreate the Hardy Boyz tag team. Chances are very low that it will happen in WWE.
The popular belief is that Jeff Hardy would eventually move to All Elite Wrestling promotion to make that reunion happen. As of now, he is reportedly under a 90-day non-compete clause and will become a free agent from WWE on Wednesday, March 9.
