Jeff Hardy
A pro-wrestler with a history of run-ins with the law was arrested on Monday for an alleged DUI in Florida.
Jeffrey Nero Hardy, 44, faces charges including DUI of “alcohol/drugs” with a third offense within 10 years, driving under a suspended or revoked license, and violating restrictions placed on a driver’s license.
The Florida Highway Patrol administered a breath test with samples returning at 0.294 and 0.291, according to the arrest report obtained by ESPN. That is well above Florida’s limit of .08.
Once he left his car, Hardy was unsteady and smelled of alcohol, per the report. Officers, through conversation, learned Hardy had been drinking. Hardy could not complete any portion of sobriety exercises successfully “or without risk of falling,” the officer wrote in the report.
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) June 13, 2022
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Jeff Hardy and his brother Matt Hardy made names for themselves in the WWE’s tag team division in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were among the more influential and memorable wrestlers as the industry in the United States moved toward more fast paced, acrobatic in-ring competition. The brothers are now working with AEW.
But well publicized substance abuse issues long weighed on Jeff Hardy. For example, he once pleaded guilty after a 2009 arrest on drug charges in South Carolina. He was arrested in 2018 for a DWI (again in North Carolina) after police said he crashed into a guardrail and spun out with a .25 blood alcohol content. He pleaded guilty that same year, having to do community service, undergo alcohol counseling, and turn over his driver’s license.
That history spilled into his professional life. For example, he showed up visibly inebriated to the main event in TNA’s 2011 pay-per-view event Victory Road. Sting, his opponent in the match, had to pin him soon after the bell rung, turning a scripted fight into a real life debacle for everyone involved. WWE used Hardy’s real life substance abuse issues in a 2020 storyline, with heel wrestler Sheamus (in-character) taunting Hardy over it.
Online records show Hardy is locked up at the Volusia County Jail on a $3,500 bond.
[Booking photo via Volusia County Jail]
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