Roughly (2006) WWE announced Hardy's re-signing with the organization on August 4, 2006. In the weeks that followed, vignettes promoting his comeback on the August 21 broadcast of Raw aired. On September 23 at The Great American Bash, Jeff Hardy made his return to WWE television by helping Shawn Michaels defeat Triple H in a dark match before 25,000 fans at the Ford Center in Detroit.
Hardy went on to win the match after Michaels was attacked by Vince McMahon during his entrance; as a result, Hardy received another shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out 2006. He was defeated by Michaels again after a Piledriver from him.
Jeff returned one more time on the January 10, 2007 episode of Raw when he and Michaels faced each other in a Last Man Standing Match for the championship. This time around, however, it was not at all a handicapped match, but rather a normal match with no disqualifications or countouts. Jeff managed to get himself into the title picture yet again when he delivered a Twist of Fate onto Shawn during their match. However, just like their first encounter at The Great American Bash 2005, Michaels would once again defeat Hardy after interference from Vince McMahon who wanted Hardy to lose. After the match, McMahon pulled Hardy out of the ring through the curtain and replaced him with Matt Morgan who had just arrived on the scene.
WWE had plans to make Hardy their WWE champion, but he was so engrossed in his substance abuse that he refused to go to treatment when the organization offered to send him there. As a result, Hardy was freed in 2003, at the age of 25, as one of the sport's top stars.
Hardy first entered drug court in February 2004. He admitted to smoking marijuana and using cocaine. He said that he wanted to get help for his addiction and not just pay a fine or serve a sentence. Judge James Johnston ordered Hardy to complete a 90-day in-patient program at a facility in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The WWE legend served his sentence at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Resort in Las Vegas, where he received counseling and fitness programs. Upon completion of his stay, he was given a clean bill of health and released back into the community with instructions to attend weekly drug counseling sessions and submit to random drug tests. If he failed to do so, he would be sent back to prison.
In April 2005, it was reported that Hardy was back in jail after testing positive for cocaine during a routine drug test. It is unclear what sentence, if any, he might have received for this latest offense. However, it does indicate that he has not yet found long-term success in beating his habit through rehabilitation programs.
Matt Hardy is presently signed to AEW after leaving WWE and not re-signing a new contract when the old one expired. He has been working independent shows across the country.
He recently worked an event for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on January 8, 2019 at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. This was just over a week after they launched their own streaming service called AEW Dynamite. During this show, he reunited with his former partner Cody Rhodes who was also working for AEW at the time. They both performed two matches on the card with Matt being involved in both of them. After the show, it was announced that AEW had signed him up long term.
Hardy's first televised match for the company took place three months later on March 31st at WrestleCon in San Antonio where he lost to Chris Jericho. Their main event was scheduled to be Jeff Jarrett vs. Matt Hardy for the AEW World Championship but during the match, Jericho attacked Hardy with a lead pipe causing him to bleed heavily from the head. As a result, AEW decided to make the match a No DQ match which meant anyone could have stopped it at any point during its duration.
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