Update on the possibility of Jeff Hardy joining his brother in AEW; real reason Matt Hardy left WWE

Jeff Hardy is the current Intercontinental Champion on WWE SmackDown. While his brother Matt Hardy joined AEW earlier this year after his contract expired with WWE, the younger Hardy brother is still part of WWE.

Dave Meltzer of WON has reported that Jeff Hardy is not in WWE by choice and would have wanted to leave along with his brother. However, due to Jeff Hardy missing time due to injury, WWE decided to add 20 months to his contract thus preventing him from leaving.

Initially it seemed like Jeff Hardy was being buried by the company for his plans to leave by using his real-life addiction problems in a storyline. However, it looks as though the company is pushing Jeff Hardy now in the hope that he does not leave WWE to join AEW.

More details on Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy

Dave Meltzer reported that it is unlikely that Jeff Hardy will be seen in AEW anytime soon and also talked about why Matt Hardy chose to leave WWE:

Regarding Matt & Jeff Hardy and them splitting up, they likely would have stayed together in the same company, or at least there was a good chance of it, but the contract situation played a part. Both signed on the same day, but Jeff had shoulder and knee surgery and other issues and WWE decreed that he owed them 20 more months and tacked that on. So he couldn't leave. If Matt didn't leave when he did, he likely would have been asked to sign for five years and while he did entertain the thought of staying, he opted for more creative control.

Matt Hardy made a major splash when he debuted for AEW but has settled into the mid-card as of now. It was believed that Matt Hardy would get a major push in AEW as Broken Matt Hardy, but the character seems to have been put on hold for the time being.