Matt Hardy Announces Death of His Father

Matt Hardy went to social media this week to announce his father, Gilbert Hardy, died at the age of 87 last week. He thanked everyone that has shown support to him and his brother, Jeff Hardy, during a very difficult time. Matt Hardy currently competes in AEW while Jeff is currently under contract with WWE.

“Our Dad started out as our biggest critic when we first wanted to chase the dream of being pro wrestlers,” Matt wrote in an Instagram post. “After a few years of struggling & then finding success in the WWE, our Dad became our biggest fan. He was so proud to be ‘The Hardy Boyz Daddy’ & recorded every match of ours on his VCR. Our Dad was a favorite of Hardy fans, even earning the nickname of ‘The Legend.’” Matt went on to write that he and Jeff “feel so blessed to have had our Dad live to be 87 years old. He got to see his children live out their dreams & give him many grandchildren to continue the Hardy name & bloodline.”

Matt then revealed that Gilbert died on April 6. “Jeff & I were with him at home & by his bedside when he took his final breath,” Matt wrote. “My brother Jeff was our Dad’s guardian angel the last couple of years. I was [fortunate] to spend lots of time & have many conversations with my Dad the last few months. I felt at peace with everything. Just like our Dad stated when our Mom passed, he’d want Jeff & I to go on. Today we laid him to rest beside our Mother & hope they’ve been reunited after being apart for almost 35 years.”

Jeff Hardy didn’t make an appearance at WrestleMania 37 and hasn’t competed in a match since the March 22 Raw show when he lost to The Miz. Fans also noticed that Jeff didn’t compete in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal during WrestleMania SmackDown last Friday. Matt signed with AEW in 2020 after returning to WWE in 2017 with Jeff. The duo is known for the work they did in WWE during the late 1990s and 2000s at the Hardy Boyz.