Tony Khan Says Treatment Is Jeff Hardy's 'Last Chance'
The wrestling world is still coming to grips with Jeff Hardy's DUI arrest and subsequent suspension by AEW President Tony Khan. In a statement, Khan said that Hardy could only return to AEW once he completed treatment and maintained his sobriety for an undisclosed amount of time.
Today, at a media call for AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door this Sunday, Khan further addressed Hardy's situation and provided an update on the AEW star.
"Jeff is doing much better," Khan said. "As I understand, Jeff's in treatment. I don't want to say too much about what's going on, because it's his business, but I'm here for him, whatever he needs."
While Khan is willing to help Hardy, he also doesn't condone Hardy's actions last Monday, nor does he see it in the same light as the struggles AEW star Jon Moxley went through in 2021, when he went into treatment for alcoholism.
"I'm really glad nobody got hurt," Khan said. "But what Jeff did going out and driving is different from the other thing. And I just don't like hearing them the two compared, if that makes sense. I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't give Jeff a lot of credit for now doing the right thing. And this is what we said — Jeff's got to do the right thing if he wants to stay with AEW. Because it's his last chance.
"It's totally different. Jon didn't put anybody at risk like that, he wasn't out drinking and driving ... So that's why I didn't like hearing it compared. But I will say Jeff is in treatment and doing better. I talked to Matt about it the other day, and we'll be here and we'll support him for what he needs. This is what he had to do; he had to go to treatment to get us to keep supporting him at this time. And we are."
Khan also discussed AEW's approach to helping any talent that needs it, as well as what the company has in place in terms of a wellness policy.
"We're here for anybody that steps up and wants to get help, and hopefully they'll come to us instead of it being under circumstances where they get themselves in trouble," Khan said. "But the most important thing is they get the help, and I'm here to stand by anybody who that needs help and will get it. It's available to anybody here. Anybody who needs time off, if they have an issue, they can take it, no matter how big of a star they are.
"They can be the most important person in the company in terms of drawing revenue, or somebody who isn't on TV as much and isn't drawing as much revenue, it doesn't matter. It's the same quality of first-class treatment if they need it. As far as everything else, we do have a policy in place about making sure people come in and show up to work in the condition to work. That's the most important thing. There's a testing policy."