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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.
Matt Hardy Gives Positive Update on Jeff Hardy After WWE Release
AEW star Matt Hardy discussed the status of his younger brother after Jeff Hardy was released from his WWE contract last week.
Appearing Monday on his Twitch stream (h/t Jon Alba of AdFreeShows.com), Matt said Jeff is “happy and healthy” and “the best version of himself” he has ever seen. Matt also said there is “no reason to be concerned.”
Prior to his release, PWInsider.com (h/t WrestlingInc’s Marc Middleton) reported that Jeff was sent home from a WWE live-event loop in Texas. That occurred after he teamed with Drew McIntyre and King Xavier Woods against Roman Reigns and The Usos in Edinburg, Texas.
Hardy reportedly looked “sluggish” during the match and exited through the crowd before it was over.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp later reported that Jeff was released by WWE after refusing to go to rehab.
The 44-year-old has a history of drug and alcohol misuse, and he was arrested twice in 2019 for alcohol-related offenses.
Matt confirmed Monday that Jeff declined rehab and expressed his belief that Jeff was right in not thinking that he needed to go to rehab.
Prior to his release, Jeff was in a desirable spot in WWE, as he was one of the top babyfaces on SmackDown and was seemingly in line to challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship eventually.
Now, the former WWE and world heavyweight champion is a free agent, and it is unclear when or where he will resume his pro wrestling career.
Injury Update on Street Profits, Mysterios
An injury suffered by Montez Ford reportedly led to Monday’s scheduled match between The Street Profits and The Mysterios getting postponed.
Prior to Raw, WWE announced that the finals of the RK-Bro-nament would not be held this week because of injury issues on both teams:
WWE @WWE
BREAKING: Due to injuries suffered by both The <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/StreetProfits?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#StreetProfits</a> and The Mysterios, <a href=”https://twitter.com/sarahschreib?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@sarahschreib</a> reveals that the RK-Bro-nament Finals have been pushed back. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWERaw?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WWERaw</a> <a href=”https://t.co/TrLykayxug”>pic.twitter.com/TrLykayxug</a>
WWE did not expand upon the nature of the injuries or who suffered them, but Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News) reported there was “something up” with Ford.
Meltzer provided no additional information on whether Ford’s issue was injury-related or something else, and he also couldn’t confirm if Rey or Dominik Mysterio were injured as well.
Last week, Riddle and Randy Orton set up a tournament to determine which team would be the next to challenge them for the Raw Tag Team Championships.
The Street Profits defeated AJ Styles and Omos in the first round, while Rey and Dominik got past The Alpha Academy to set up the final clash.
WWE advertised Ford and Angelo Dawkins against The Mysterios throughout the week, but the decision was made to pull the match from Raw just hours before.
Instead, Riddle faced Otis in a singles match and lost, thus potentially putting The Alpha Academy back in the title mix.
The absence of The Street Profits and The Mysterios from the show may have also played a role in WWE having Bobby Lashley work triple duty against Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and WWE champion Big E.
Adam Cole in Favor of O’Reilly Joining AEW
AEW star Adam Cole is open to a reunion with former Undisputed Era stablemate Kyle O’Reilly.
After spending more than four years in NXT, O’Reilly’s WWE contract officially expired last week, making him a free agent, per PWInsider.com.
The same happened to Cole in August, and he went on to sign with AEW rather than remaining in WWE, making his AEW debut at All Out in September.
During a panel at C2E2 over the weekend, Cole was asked about the possibility of O’Reilly joining him in AEW. According to Mukherjee, Cole responded by saying: “This is the honest to god truth, I have no idea what Kyle is going to do. I really don’t. I’m not sure he even knows what he’s going to do. But the idea of getting to reunite with Kyle as well as Bobby [Fish], hell yeah I would love that. Hell yeah I would, absolutely.”
Cole and O’Reilly have a friendship dating back years to their time together in Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerilla. That led to them making the move to WWE at essentially the same time and forming the stable known as Undisputed Era with Fish.
Fish has already joined Cole in AEW, as he signed with the company after getting released by WWE. While Cole is aligned with The Young Bucks, he has done some things on screen with Fish already.
Undisputed Era is one of the most successful stables in wrestling history. After Roderick Strong joined the original group of three, all four members held titles at one point with Cole as NXT champion, Strong as North American champion and O’Reilly and Fish as NXT tag team champions.
Half of the group is already in AEW, and it would undoubtedly make sense for O’Reilly to make the move as well, especially because of the possibility of a rivalry between Undisputed Era and The Elite, which is composed of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.
It is possible no decisions have been made, but O’Reilly is now free and clear to appear for any wrestling promotion at any time.
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