Jeff Hardy made his long-awaited debut on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, coming to the aid of his brother Matt during the explosive climax of the AFHO board meeting. Fans have been expecting Jeff to jump ship from the moment his controversial release was confirmed by WWE, and with Hardy’s various comments during interviews and on social media, there was no shock when the daredevil arrived on the day of his no-compete clause expiring.
Now that ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ is officially All Elite, it’s time to start thinking of all the wonderful dream matches he can start ticking off the list. With so much potential within the tag division and then some in the singles roster, there’s so much for Jeff to tap into to create some final lasting memories of Hardy in his prime.
With that being said, let’s run down 5 AEW dream matches we want to see following Jeff Hardy’s debut.
1. The Young Bucks
The first match on everyone’s minds is of course the revival of the tag feud between The Hardy Boyz and the Young Bucks, two sibling tag teams that have often been compared as complete generational parallels. In the past, the two teams have put on sensational matches as part of Ring of Honor, which was all taking place literally days prior to the Hardys’ return to WWE in 2018. Now that all four wrestlers are on the same playing field once more, it’s about time hostilities were renewed and why not throw in some sort of stipulation this time too?
Everyone knows the history that the Hardys have in TLC matches, and the Bucks have more than proven themselves as the best team going for those sort of extreme matches. Bringing the two together on a mainstream stage for a match of that magnitude would be a sure-fire draw on pay-per-view. The AEW Tag Team Championships don’t need to be involved in any way, this is one of the rare occasions that a tag match can be seen as a big deal without the titles being involved.
Considering AEW’s history of letting just about anyone dive off of sets and other high structures, this match could easily be one of the most dangerous and death-defying performances to date. They know we want it, so it’s only a matter of time.
2. Darby Allin
Darby Allin has often been spoken of as a young Jeff Hardy, a wrestler with that unique charisma that fans can’t help but be mystified by. His wrestling style lends itself to being the daredevil character, one that will put his body of the line for the sake of popping the crowd in a big way. Jeff Hardy can very much relate to this, and would probably see a thousand opportunities in Darby Allin to put together one heck of a match.
This might not be much in the way of a traditional wrestling match, but nevertheless, this is an attraction that we simply must see before Hardy hangs up the boots. Darby constantly feels like he’s on the edge of becoming a main-event deal, a match and subsequent win over a modern-day legend like Jeff Hardy could easily propel him back into championship competition, and give fans a long-lasting image to remember when they see him standing across the ring from his extreme counterpart.
I imagine the two would put together some ridiculous moments to make us scream, cringe and consider whether or not they managed to survive.
3. Malakai Black
The artist formerly known as Aleister Black has really leaned into his new Malakai character, turning all the spooky and supernatural elements of his new alter-ego up to 11. In the past, Jeff Hardy has also had the tendency to adopt stranger, more dangerous characters to help battle opponents that are seemingly getting the upper-edge on him. What if we were to see the return of the Willow character to face-down a dominant House of Black in the near future?
This is something I’d simply love to see just to watch how AEW let it play out. The potential for these strange, whimsical vignettes to be featured as part of the show, almost like an episodical David Lynch production, could become one of the most intriguing things about AEW Dynamite. Of course, this could also lead to the return of the Broken Universe, with ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy joining the fray to battle these otherworldly entities. That’s a selling point if I’ve ever heard one.
On top of all the macabre shenanigans, a wrestling match between Jeff Hardy and Malakai Black could be an absolute barn-burner, so whichever way you look at this, a match between these two is a must for future AEW shows.
4. MJF
There’s nothing the wrestling world loves more than a good babyface vs heel dynamic. MJF is easily the best villain in the business today, cutting the most scathing promos and legitimately working audiences into sometimes believing he’s the good guy in all this. Jeff Hardy has a knack for finding himself in situations where a heel can pull on real-life dramas to make their feuds feel more emotionally-driven, and if anyone’s going to be able to exploit certain aspects of Jeff’s career and the results of his final run with WWE, it’s Max.
Whether Jeff is able to provide MJF with the eventual comeuppance is another story entirely, seeing the veteran having to fight against a younger, more methodical opponent could make for a real fun, psychological match that helps remind audiences why Jeff Hardy is more than just a face-painted daredevil.
This has the potential to be a fantastic bout, and could easily run for well over a month or two leading to one of AEW’s bigger pay-per-views.
5. CM Punk
Everyone remembers the 2009 feud between Jeff Hardy and a newly-turned heel, CM Punk. In a way, this was Punk’s first major WWE feud, where the entire crowd were genuinely invested in his storylines. WWE struggled to really make CM Punk work on the main roster, even after putting the World Heavyweight Championship around his waist, but the Jeff Hardy feud and the incredible TLC main event at SummerSlam really helped in getting him over and making him one of the biggest stars of that era.
Now that both men find themselves in a new environment with renewed vigour and a passion to put together the best wrestling possible, a return match between the two is a must. Whether it ends up in being as personal as it did within WWE is up for debate, I personally would love to see these two just go for it in a half-hour long battle to determine who was the better wrestler. It almost felt like we never had that from these two phenomenal performers, as they were always thrown into some sort of stipulation match.
AEW is the perfect place for these little dream matches to be put together, even if it is for the sake of a cheap ratings boost on an episode of Rampage or Dynamite. Hardy/Punk has that mainstream potential to main-event either of those two shows, or even go as far as a PPV-level event.
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