Jeffrey Nero Hardy (born August 31, 1977) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former five-time TNA World Tag Team Champion with brother Matt. He is also known for his tenures with WWE and All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Together with his brother Matt Hardy, the tag team The Hardy Boyz are regarded as one of the major teams that revived tag team wrestling during the Attitude Era.
Born and raised in Cameron, North Carolina, Hardy started his career as a youth performing in the Trampoline Wrestling Federation, which he started alongside his brother Matt Hardy. Eventually, that would transition into the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) as they became older. As a tag team, the Hardy Boyz worked as enhancement talents for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1994, and were signed to full-time contracts in 1998. They gained notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches. With the addition of Lita, the team became known as Team Xtreme and continued to rise in popularity. After splitting up as a team in 2002, Jeff's popularity as a singles wrestler began to grow. However, the brothers still teamed up sporadically in the years afterward, and together they have held twenty-one world tag team championships between WWE, TNA, ROH and other promotions.
Hardy had great success in his singles career, capturing his first of six world championships, the WWE Championship, in 2008, and going on to hold WWE's World Heavyweight Championship twice and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship three times. Within WWF/WWE, he has also won the Intercontinental Championship five times, the Hardcore Championship three times and the European, Light Heavyweight, and United States Championships once each. Having won the required championships, he is the 18th Triple Crown Champion and 9th Grand Slam Champion in WWE history (one of five men to complete both WWE Grand Slam formats, and one of two to win all original Grand Slam titles). He has headlined numerous pay-per-view events for WWE and TNA, including TNA's flagship event, Bound for Glory, on two occasions. Readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him "Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" on two occasions.
Outside of professional wrestling, Hardy is involved in motocross, as well as artistic endeavors, particularly music and painting. He is currently a member of the band PeroxWhy?Gen, with whom he tours and has released three studio albums and four extended plays. In 2003, Hardy, along with his brother Matt, co-wrote an autobiographical book of memoirs titled The Hardy Boyz. Their book was a New York Times Best Seller.
Early life Jeff Nero Hardy is the son of Gilbert and Ruby Moore Hardy, and the younger brother of Matt Hardy. Their mother died of brain cancer in 1987, when Jeff Hardy was ten. Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 7. He developed an interest in motocross at age 12 and got his first bike, a Yamaha YZ-80.Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 11. He had his first race when he was in the ninth grade.Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 12. Hardy played baseball when he was young, but had to stop after he crashed during a motocross race, injuring his arm. He also played football during high school as a fullback and linebacker. He briefly competed in amateur wrestling in high school.Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 45. He had to stop playing football in high school, after he was ordered to pick between professional wrestling and football, and he chose wrestling.Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 46. Hardy's favorite subjects in school were U.S. history and art, which he did for extra credit.Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 9.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1993–1998) Hardy, along with his brother Matt and friends, started their own federation, the Trampoline Wrestling Federation (TWF) and mimicked the moves they saw on television. Later on, the TWF went under several names, eventually being integrated into a county fair in North Carolina. The brothers and their friends then began to work for other independent companies. They drove all over the East Coast of the United States, working for companies such as ACW and other small promotions.
Before arriving in the WWF, Jeff and Matt formed their own wrestling promotion, the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) with Thomas Simpson. The promotion was a more successful version of the original TWF and included talent such as both Hardy brothers, Shannon Moore, Gregory Helms, Joey Matthews, and Steve Corino, among others. In OMEGA, each of the brothers portrayed several characters; Hardy portrayed such characters as Willow the Wisp, Iceman, Mean Jimmy Jack Tomkins, and The Masked Mountain. While there, Hardy held the New Frontier Championship (NFC) as a singles competitor and the Tag Team Championship with Matt. The promotion folded in April 1998 when they signed contracts with the WWF.
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (1994–2003) Early years (1994–1998)
Hardy cites Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Sting, and Shawn Michaels as his childhood inspirations to wrestle. He started on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) television as a jobber. His first WWF match was against Razor Ramon on May 23, 1994, in Youngstown, Ohio,RAW results, May 23, 1994. Profightdb.com (May 23, 1994). Retrieved on August 3, 2015. with Randy Savage mentioning on commentary, "Welcome to the big time". His ringname that night, Keith Davis, was the name of Razor's scheduled jobber, who backed out on short notice. Gary Sabaugh, who had brought Hardy in a group along with Davis, suggested him to agent Tony Garea, who agreed after Hardy claimed he was 18 (he was in fact, only 16).Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 43. The next day, he wrestled under his real name against The 1–2–3 Kid, and the match aired on the June 25, 1994, episode of Superstars. Later on faced against King Kong Bundy and Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart and Triple H. Hardy defeated Razor Ramon by countout on WWF Superstars January 13, 1996 (taped December 19, 1995) when Goldust's handler distracted Razor and Razor chased after him. In 1996, he would be teamed with his brother, Matt and occasionally wrestled as a jobber as late as May 1998 (including a match against Rob Van Dam during the ECW "invasion" storyline that had Hardy billed as being from Virginia instead of Cameron, North Carolina)May 12, 1997 on Raw Is War.
The Hardy Boyz (1998–2002)
The Hardy brothers eventually caught the eyes of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). After being signed to a contract in 1998,Hardy, Hardy, and Krugman: p. 75. they were trained by Dory Funk Jr. in his Funkin' Dojo with other notable wrestlers such as Kurt Angle, Christian, Test, and A-Train. When the team was finally brought up to WWF television, after months of "jobbing" and live events, they then formed the acrobatic tag team called the Hardy Boyz. While feuding with The Brood in mid-1999, they added Michael Hayes as their manager. On July 5, they won their first WWF Tag Team Championship by defeating the Acolytes, but lost it back to them a month later. After the dissolution of the Brood, the Hardys joined forces with Gangrel as The New Brood and feuded with Edge and Christian. This stable did not last long, however, and on October 17 at No Mercy, the Hardy Boyz won the managerial services of Terri Runnels in the finals of the Terri Invitational Tournament in the WWF's first ever tag team ladder match against Edge and Christian. They competed in the first ever tag team triple threat ladder match against The Dudley Boyz, and Edge & Christian at WrestleMania 2000 on April 2, 2000, in which Edge & Christian won. During the match, Hardy performed a Swanton Bomb to Bubba Ray Dudley off a 20-foot ladder.
In 2000, the Hardy Boyz found a new manager in their real-life friend Lita. Together, the three became known as "Team Xtreme". They continued their feud with Edge and Christian throughout 2000, defeating them for the WWF Tag Team Championship on two occasions. At SummerSlam on August 27, the Hardy Boyz competed in perhaps the most physically demanding type of match they had competed in thus far- the first ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match (TLC match)- in their hometown of Raleigh, for the Tag Team Championship against the Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian, but were unsuccessful. The second TLC match at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, in Houston, which is regarded as one of the greatest matches in WWE history they faced off once again against Edge & Christian and the Dudley Boyz but lost to Edge & Christian.
Jeff gained attention for his high risk stunts in the TLC matches, such as doing the Swanton Bomb off of the top steps of 10 and 20 foot high steel ladders, making a name for himself as one of the most seemingly reckless and unorthodox WWF performers of his time. In 2001, Hardy received a push as a singles competitor, and he held the Intercontinental (defeating Triple H), Light Heavyweight (defeating Jerry Lynn) and Hardcore Championships (defeating Mike Awesome and Van Dam on two occasions). At the end of 2001, the Hardys began a storyline in which they began to fight, which led to Matt demanding a match at Vengeance on December 9, with Lita as the special guest referee. After Jeff beat Matt by pinfall at Vengeance, while Matt's foot was on the ropes, Jeff and Lita began feuding against Matt. In the middle of the feud, however, Jeff faced The Undertaker in a Hardcore Championship match on the December 17 episode of Raw and lost. After the match, The Undertaker attacked both Jeff and Lita, injuring them. On the next episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker attacked Matt as well, also injuring him, in storyline. The Hardys and Lita were not seen again until the Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002, because WWF did not have another storyline for their characters. The Hardys later came back as a team, and there was never any mention of their previous storyline split.
In early April, the Hardy Boyz began a feud with Brock Lesnar after Lesnar gave Matt an F-5 on the steel entrance ramp, which led to an angered Jeff seeking revenge on Lesnar. At Backlash on April 21, Jeff faced-off against Lesnar in Lesnar's first televised match. Lesnar dominated Jeff and won the match by knockout. Lesnar and the Hardys continued to feud over the next few weeks, with the Hardys coming out victorious only once by disqualification. At Judgment Day on May 19, Lesnar gained the upper hand on the Hardy Boyz before tagging his partner, Paul Heyman, in to claim the win for the team. In July 2002, Jeff won his third Hardcore Championship by defeating Bradshaw.
Singles championship reigns and departure (2002–2003)
After years in the tag team division, Hardy took on The Undertaker in a ladder match for the WWE Undisputed Championship on the July 1 episode of Raw. Hardy came up short in the intense match, but earned The Undertaker's respect when he displayed courage by attempting to rise to his feet after the bout and challenge The Undertaker to continue. Hardy competed for singles titles on several occasions and defeated William Regal for the European Championship on the July 8 episode of Raw. Hardy was defeated a few weeks later by Rob Van Dam on the July 22 episode of Raw in a ladder match to unify the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship, and the European Championship was retired. Finally, the Hardy Boyz split apart, as Hardy continued to pursue his singles ambitions on Raw and his brother, Matt left Raw for his own singles pursuits signing with Stephanie McMahon's SmackDown! brand. On Raw, Hardy would compete in WWE's Hardcore division until the title's unification with the Intercontinental Championship.