Jeff Hardy has had his fair share of ups and downs in the business but it was clear heading into 2008 that Jeff had momentum on his side and there seemed to be a number of fans who were hoping to see him win the WWE Championship.
Jeff went into 2008 as the Intercontinental Champion, but he ended up dropping the title to Chris Jericho in March. Shortly after it was revealed that Jeff Hardy had been suspended for 60 days due to a failed drug test.
It seems that the suspension did more than derail his Intercontinental Title reign as Matt Hardy recently noted on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast that his brother was supposed to win the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 24.
“I know Freddie Prinze had been given this edict to get Jeff ready for the championship. This was around the time too that he had started to paint his face again. I think they started to lean into some stuff that was very Jeff Hardy-ish.”
“Jeff was in Mexico on an international tour and its at some point there he ended up taking something, some sort of pill or substance — I don’t know if it was for his back or whatever it was — but he ended up getting popped in a drug test. One of the things I remember from the story is that Michael Hayes called him at home and was like, ‘what is going on here? I can’t believe you did all this. Vince is going to call you in a few minutes, so be ready to answer the phone.’ Vince called and was like, ‘what the fuck have you done?’ I guess they taiked it through and Jeff said they spoke for a while and they seemed to be kosher. Jeff just apologized and regretted taking it.”
Ultimately Jeff Hardy did end up capturing the belt as he won the WWE Championship at Armageddon in December of 2008. He also held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship twice during his time with the company.
H/T SEScoops.com
