AEW reportedly didn’t plan for Hardys to compete in advertised ladder match

AEW removed The Hardys from the Tag title ladder match they were advertised for on the June 15 Dynamite. The decision was an obvious one after Jeff Hardy was arrested for DUI earlier in the week, then suspended by the company as a result.

According to Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez on the Bryan & Vinny & Jonathan Show, even before his latest arrest, AEW wasn’t going to have Jeff compete in the match.

“The idea was the Hardys were going to win the tag titles in this ladder match, that was the plan for awhile. Apparently, at the pay-per-view when the Hardys and the Bucks had their match, Jeff was not looking good. Apparently, they examined him afterwards and he was all beat up and he didn’t remember the match.

“Remember when Jeff got pulled over and said he was on his way to a brain scan? He was on his way to a brain scan. So, his idea was to drink whatever he drank and then drive to his brain scan.

“They had advertised the ladder match. He was never actually going to be in the ladder match. They were going to do the angle where he and Matt were going to be coming out for the ladder match, they were going to be jumped on the ramp and they were going to be carted off and they weren’t actually going to do the match. So, whether he had his DUI or not, Jeff was never going to do that ladder match. It was always going to be Jurassic Express vs. the Young Bucks for the tag team titles with the Young Bucks winning.

“The Hardys were going to be in the ladder match but then after they scheduled him for the brain scan, he wasn’t going to be in the ladder match.”

Much of this lines up with Fightful’s report from Wednesday, but clarifies that it was the head injury Jeff’s believed to have suffered at Double or Nothing that led to Tony Khan changing his plans rather than reports of the 44 year’s addictions getting the better of him again even prior to his latest arrest.

Alvarez contradicts himself a couple times here — the Hardys were going to win the belts, but the Bucks were always going to win the belts; the Hardys were never going to be in the ladder match, but they were until Jeff needed the brain scan — but we can probably chalk that this being conversational and not a written report.

Either way though, it seems there was at roughly about a week where AEW was promoting a match they didn’t plan to deliver. That’s a promotional tactic some fans have taken exception to in the past.

Given what we now know about Jeff’s overall condition, everyone is glad we didn’t see him try to work a ladder match. Are you upset they advertised one anyway?