On a recent episode of his weekly ‘Grilling JR’ podcast, legendary play-by-play commentator Jim Ross revealed that back in 2003, then-RAW Superstar Jeff Hardy was given an ultimatum by him in WWE to either check into rehab or be fired.
The Charismatic Enigma was burnt out and dealing with substance abuse, but he didn’t feel like going to rehab, so he left WWE in April 2003 and ended up in TNA by June 2004.
Here’s what J.R. had to say:
“I think he was burned out, quite frankly, I think you hit the nail on the head there. He just wasn’t ready to settle down and to play by the rules.
I remember I had, look Connie, I had several sit downs with Jeff, and probably more than I normally would have. I liked him. I still like him.
I’m glad he’s with AEW, he’s a big addition to what we’re doing. So, but it was hard, it was hard for him.
He wasn’t sure what he wanted. But I knew what I wanted. I wanted a guy that was not getting high before he wrestled. I mean, that’s just insanity, suicide, can’t do it.
So I think he’s a little bit burned out, you know, and some guys handled pressure and their ascension to the top of the card in different ways.
It’s not an automatic fit. And I don’t know that he was ready for his ascension.
Again, I had a great interest in Jeff’s success, but the main thing, my interest was health. And then he took that down one notch.
And then you got there… you got Jeff, you know, trying to wrestle impaired. And that’s just insanity. We can’t do it.
And I remember telling him that I said, you know, you got to go to rehab again, or we can’t use you. And it wasn’t a, there wasn’t a debatable topic.
You know, it wasn’t a debatable topic, we’re not going to discuss, or what if we did this? What if, what if we do this, you get help.
And if you get help, we will do business with you. And you’ll make a lot of money. You’re just, you’re getting over. But he didn’t, he didn’t see it that way.”
Jeff Hardy wrestled for several promotions during his long career, including the World Wrestling Federation / WWE (1994-2003, 2006-2009, 2017-2021), Total Nonstop Action! / IMPACT Wrestling (2004-2006 & 2010-2017), Ring of Honor (2003 & 2017), and is currently working for Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling since February 2022.
He’s a former 6-time World Champion, including 1 run as WWE Champion, 2 runs as World Heavyweight Champion (in WWE) and 3 runs as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
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