Jeffrey Nero Hardy is an American professional wrestler, singer-songwriter, painter, and musician. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand.
Hardy is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Entertainment. He also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH) and several companies on the independent circuit. Before gaining prominence in the WWE, Jeff along with his real life brother Matt Hardy ran and performed for the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA).
The Hardy brothers worked as enhancement talents for the WWF from 1994, and were signed to full-time contracts in 1998. They gained notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches. With the addition of Lita, the team became known as "Team Xtreme" and continued to rise in popularity. Alongside Matt, Jeff won eleven world tag team championships between WWE, TNA and ROH.
Hardy has had success as a singles wrestler, capturing his first of six world championships, the WWE Championship, in 2008 and going on to hold WWE's World Heavyweight Championship twice and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also won the Intercontinental Championship four times, the Hardcore Championship three times and the European Championship, Light Heavyweight Championship and United States Championship once each. He is the 18th Triple Crown Champion and 9th Grand Slam Champion in WWE history (one of five men to complete both WWE Grand Slam formats, and one of two to win all original Grand Slam titles).
Hardy is involved in motocross, music, painting and other artistic endeavors. He is currently a member of the band PeroxWhy?Gen, with whom he has released two studio albums and one extended play.
Jeff Hardy is the son of Gilbert and Ruby Moore Hardy, and the younger brother of Matt Hardy. Their mother died of brain cancer in 1986, when Hardy was nine. He developed an interest in motocross aged 12 and got his first bike, a Yamaha YZ-80, at age 13. He had his first race when he was in ninth grade. Hardy played baseball when he was young, but had to stop after he crashed during a motocross race, injuring his arm. He also played football during high school as a fullback and linebacker. He briefly competed in amateur wrestling in high school. He had to stop playing football in high school, after he was ordered to pick between professional wrestling and football, and he chose wrestling. Hardy's favorite subjects in school were U.S. history and art, which he did for extra credit.
Hardy, along with his brother Matt and friends, started their own federation, the Trampoline Wrestling Federation (TWF) and mimicked the moves they saw on television. Later on, the TWF went under several different names, eventually being integrated into a county fair in North Carolina. The brothers and their friends then began to work for other independent companies. They drove all over the East Coast of the United States, working for companies such as ACW and other small promotions.
Before arriving in the WWF, Jeff and Matt formed their own wrestling promotion, the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) with Thomas Simpson. The promotion was a more successful version of the original TWF and included talent such as both Hardy brothers, Shannon Moore, Gregory Helms, Joey Matthews, and Steve Corino, among others. In OMEGA, each of the brothers portrayed several different characters; Hardy portrayed such characters as Willow the Wisp, Iceman, Mean Jimmy Jack Tomkins, and The Masked Mountain. While there, Hardy held the New Frontier Championship as a singles competitor and the Tag Team Championship with Matt. The promotion folded in April 1998 when they signed contracts with the WWF.
Hardy cites Sting, The Ultimate Warrior, and Shawn Michaels as his childhood inspirations to wrestle. He started on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) television as a jobber—a wrestler who consistently loses to make his opponents look stronger. His first WWF match was against Razor Ramon on May 23, 1994 in Youngstown, Ohio, with Randy Savage mentioning on commentary, "Welcome to the big time". His ringname that night, Keith Davis, was the name of Razor's scheduled jobber, who backed out on short notice. Gary Sabaugh, who had brought Hardy in a group along with Davis, suggested him to agent Tony Garea, who agreed after Hardy claimed he was 18 (he was in fact, only 16). The next day, he wrestled under his real name against The 1-2-3 Kid, and the match aired on the June 25 episode of Superstars. He occasionally wrestled as a jobber as late as 1997 (including a match against Rob Van Dam during the ECW "invasion" storyline that had Hardy billed as being from Virginia instead of Cameron, North Carolina) before beginning his first major run in 1998.

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