The WWE's high-flying superstar Jeff Hardy made a splash on the first Monday Night Raw with a fully live and in-house audience since the pandemic started, but it already looks like fans may not be seeing him for a while. Reports have emerged that the wrestler has tested positive for COVID-19, which will obviously shake things up quite a bit.
While the WWE has not officially announced anything about Jeff Hardy or his health, the COVID diagnosis claim was shared by the music venue recordBar, where Hardy was slated to make an appearance. The Kansas City, Missouri establishment posted the following message:
We regret to inform you that the event with Jeff Hardy to take place on Monday July 26, 2021 at recordBar in Kansas City, MO will have to be postponed to a later date. Jeff Hardy just tested positive for COVID this morning, and will have to quarantine for the next two weeks, and will not be participating in any live events for the next two weeks.
Provided the news is true, it's obviously important for Jeff Hardy to step away to quarantine and focus on following up on his health. It's not clear how Hardy is feeling at the time of this writing, so it's not clear how serious the diagnosis may be.
On the wrestling side of the coin, Jeff Hardy's absence could be a problem for the WWE given what transpired on the latest Monday Night Raw. Hardy took on NXT champion Karrion Kross in the latter's main roster debut, and he ended up pinning Kross for the win. The rather quick match seemed to be inciting a feud between the two brawlers that would help develop Kross into becoming a full-time talent on Monday Night Raw. So if Hardy is out of commission, those feud-related plans may have to change.
The WWE may have to find Karrion Kross a new opponent to bump heads with ahead of SummerSlam 2021 to keep the heat going. Either as a temporary fix ahead of Jeff Hardy's return, or as an all-out shift in rivalry gears. Or they could choose to just wait out the clock. After all, if Hardy is able to make a healthy return after two weeks, he would presumably have time to spare ahead of SummerSlam. It's hard to tell at this point, of course.
Another question is how Jeff Hardy's reported diagnosis may impact the rest of the WWE, considering he's been a performer on Monday Night Raw and touring with other members of the roster. At the moment, it's not clear whether or not any other wrestlers have been affected or whether or not Hardy is vaccinated. It's possible this was an isolated incident and the WWE managed to catch and quarantine Hardy before it could spread any further, but we won't really know anything for certain until a statement is released by the WWE.
In the meantime, the WWE is prepping for the biggest SummerSlam it has ever done and already lined up the card with lots of promising matches. Here's hoping any and all of those plans can remain unaffected by COVID-19 delays, and that Jeff Hardy is right there along with them.
Monday Night Raw airs on USA Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. For more on the WWE, read up more on how the organization is planning for SummerSlam, and how viewers will get a chance to see it in a way they never could've before.
