Childhood & Early Life
Jeffrey Nero Hardy was born on August 31, 1977, in Cameron, North Carolina, USA, to Gilbert and Ruby Moore Hardy. His elder brother is Matt Hardy. When Hardy was nine, his mother died due to brain cancer.
At the age of 12, he developed an interest in motocross, and in his ninth grade, he participated in his first race. He also played baseball, but had to stop as he injured his arm in a motocross race.
He attended Union Pines High School and his favorite subjects were US history and art. During high school, he also played football as a fullback and linebacker. He competed in amateur wrestling as well.
While still in high school, when asked to make a choice, he chose to sacrifice other sports for professional wrestling.
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Career
In 1998, Jeff Hardy and Matt signed a contract with WWE (then known as WWF), and were placed under Raw, a section of the WWE. They formed a tag team called The Hardy Boyz.
In 2001, Jeff took up a challenge from 'The Undertaker' for the 'Undisputed Championship' title in a ladder match, which he lost. He competed on various occasions to achieve many singles titles, but was unsuccessful.
In 2002, when the brothers decided to part ways, Jeff Hardy continued with Raw. But as he failed a drug test, WWE management fired him in April 2003.
In 2004, he entered into a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). After he fought with A.J. Styles for the X-Division title, he started scaling new heights in wrestling. He fought against Jeff Jarrett in a ladder match, which he lost.
In TNA's Lockdown April 2005 PPV event, he won a match against Raven. While with TNA, he won many matches, defeating many renowned wrestlers.
On August 4, 2006, he rejoined WWE, and in the first fight, he defeated 'Edge', who was the then WWE champion. He also vied with Johnny Nitro for the Intercontinental title, but lost.
On October 2, 2006 he defeated Nitro and gained back the Intercontinental title. However, the Intercontinental title kept going back and forth between Jeff and Nitro, which he managed to regain on November 13, 2006.
In November 2006, Jeff once again teamed up with his brother after almost five years, and defeated the 'Full Blood Italians'. At Survivor Series, they won over Team Rated-RKO with a clean sweep.
In April 2007, they won a 10-team match for the 'World Tag Team Championship'. In June, they gave away their titles to Cade and Murdoch. Jeff also lost the 'WWE championship scramble' match.
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The Hardy Boyz began a feud with Cade and Murdoch, and retained the Championship at Backlash and Judgment Day. However, they dropped the titles on June 4, 2007.
When Umaga defeated Hardy at The Great American Bash to retain the Intercontinental Championship in July 2007, Hardy was abruptly taken off the WWE programing. Thus he found enough time to recover and heal, as he was injured from a bad fall in a match.
He returned on August 27, 2007 on a Raw edition beating Kennedy by disqualification after Umaga interfered. On September 3, he won his fourth Intercontinental Championship by defeating Umaga.
At Survivor Series in 2008, he faced Triple H to win the traditional elimination match. The feud continued at Armageddon, wherein he defeated Triple H to become the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship.
In a triple threat match in December 2008, Hardy defeated 'Edge' and 'Triple H', and won the WWE Champion title, but in Royal Rumble 2009, he lost his title to Edge. However, he was named as one of the six men to compete in an elimination match at No Way Out, where he survived till only two were left, and was eventually defeated by Triple H.
On January 4, 2010, he returned to TNA on the first live episode of Impact! with Shannon Moore. At Lockdown, he defeated Anderson. Later he formed a tag team with him and defeated Robert Roode and James Storm in a match.
He became TNA World Heavyweight Champion in November 2010. On January 4, 2011, he made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
In December 2011, at Final Resolution, he defeated Jarrett in a match to become the No. 1 contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
In January 2012, at Genesis, he defeated TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode via disqualification, so as a result, the title remained with Roode. On February 12, at Against All Odds, he was unable to capture the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Roode.
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In April 2012, at Lockdown, Hardy defeated Kurt Angle in a rematch. In May at Sacrifice, Anderson defeated him in a singles match. On the May 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, he won a voting to become the No. 1 contender to TNA Television Championship.
In November 2013, he entered the World Title Tournament. He reached the finals, but was defeated by Magnus. A frustrated Hardy quit TNA. In February 2014, he returned to TNA at Lockdown.
From December 2014 to March 2015, several employees re-signed with TNA Impact Wrestling, including Hardy. In March 2017, he left TNA to return to WWE with Matt in April 2017 for WWE WrestleMania 33. The Hardy Boyz became tag team champions for the seventh time.
Personal Life
Jeff Hardy met Beth Britt in 1999 and started dating. On October 19, 2010, their first daughter was born. Hardy and Britt got married on March 9, 2011. Their second daughter was born on December 31, 2015.
In March 2008, his house was burned in a fire, and his dog was killed in the accident.
He is artistic, and has constructed a 30-ft statue, which is found outside his recording studio.
His body is full of tattoos; the largest one starts on his head and finishes at his hand.
In October 2011, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 30 months of probation on charges of possessing anabolic steroids. He also had to pay a fine of $100,000.
In 2003, he formed a band, PeroxWhy?Gen, and released two albums and a few EPs.