Early Wrestling Career
Jeff Hardy was born on August 31, 1977, in Cameron, North Carolina. He is the younger brother of Matt Hardy. The two of them are lifelong wrestling fans, and began wrestling together in their own backyard promotion.
Jeff first wrestled for WWE in 1994 as a jobber. He made a few appearances for the company before he and his brother caught the eye of Vince McMahon and higher-ups in WWE. They were offered contracts in 1998.
The Hardy Boyz Take Over
The Hardy Boyz made their WWE television debut in 1999 and immediately entered into a feud with The Brood, who later went by Edge and Christian. They won their first WWE Tag Team Championship on July 5, 1999. This would just be the beginning of their rise to stardom.
Jeff and Matt helped revolutionize tag team wrestling in the US. At WrestleMania 2000, The Hardy Boyz competed against The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian in the first-ever tag team triple threat ladder match.
After several years in the tag division, Jeff began competing as a singles star. He fought stars like The Undertaker, William Regal, and Rob Van Dam. However, things soon went downhill for Jeff as he began struggling with drug use and burnout. He was released from WWE on April 22, 2003.
WWE Hiatus And Return
After his WWE release, Jeff Hardy competed in Ring of Honor under the ring name “Willow the Wisp.” Unfortunately, he was not very well received by the audience.
Jeff then made his TNA debut on June 23, 2004. It was during this run that Jeff first debuted the moniker, “The Charismatic Enigma.” In December 2005, Hardy was suspended after no-showing an event. He was released in June 2006.
Hardy re-signed with WWE on August 4, 2006. During this run, Jeff mostly competed as a singles star and occasionally reunited with his brother. At Armageddon 2008, Hardy defeated Edge and Triple H to win the WWE Championship, marking his first world championship win in his career.
TNA Tenure
On January 4, 2010, Jeff made his return to TNA . He won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time at that year’s Bound for Glory PPV. A few months later at Genesis 2011, Matt Hardy joined his brother in TNA. The two of them would go on to become two-time TNA World Tag Team Champions.
On February 27, 2017, the Hardys departed from TNA together due to a contract dispute and a change in TNA’s management.
Second Return To WWE (2017)
At WrestleMania 33, Jeff and Matt Hardy made their surprise return to WWE and won the Raw Tag Team Championship. Jeff would go on to win the United States Championship and later recapture the Intercontinental Championship.
While Matt Hardy departed WWE for AEW in 2020, Jeff remained with WWE for another year. His final departure from WWE came after he walked out during a house show and was consequently released from the company.
All Elite Wrestling
On the March 9 episode of Dynamite, Jeff made his AEW debut by coming to his brother’s aid in the ring. He and his brother then began to compete as a tag team once again. However, on June 14 AEW announced that they had suspended Jeff following another DUI arrest. He made his return to the company on April 12, 2023.
