5 Times Jeff Hardy's personal life was featured as part of a WWE storyline

With a career spanning more than 25 years, Jeff Hardy has recently returned to SmackDown, launching his latest run as a singles competitor.

Jeff Hardy, now 42-years-old, remains one of WWE's most popular Superstars. However, his time with the company has been broken up into several stints. Throughout his professional wrestling career, the Charismatic Enigma has had multiple spells away from the ring due to issues in his personal life.

On several of these occasions, Hardy has also experienced legal trouble as a result of his personal choices. Often when a performer has an issue in their day-to-day real life, wrestling promotions will not address the situation on television, preferring instead to focus on continuing their own storylines.

For Jeff Hardy, though, this has not been the case. Hardy's struggles have been referenced on television several times over the years.

In some instances, this has helped enhance the angle Hardy is involved in. Others, however, have not been so successful and would have been better off having not happened.

Thankfully, as we have seen over the last few weeks on SmackDown, Jeff Hardy insists that he is healthy and ready to make one last run at a world championship.

Here are five times where Jeff Hardy's personal life has been brought up on television.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.

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#5 Sheamus (2020)

Sheamus is currently feuding with Jeff Hardy.

The inspiration behind this article is Jeff Hardy's current feud with Sheamus. The pair will clash in the first round of the ongoing tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion.

It seems likely, though, that their issue will extend beyond the tournament. In the weeks leading up to Hardy's return, Sheamus was angered by the amount of focus placed on the comeback - especially compared to the attention he himself had received.

Sheamus insists that Jeff Hardy has already had too many chances to fulfill his potential and has mocked the idea of his latest comeback. Speaking when the two faced off on a recent edition of SmackDown, Sheamus vowed to finally "put out Hardy's flame."

Jeff Hardy ended the segment by delivering a Swanton Bomb to the Irishman. It is too early in the angle to judge its quality, but Hardy's personal journey seems sure to be referenced many times before this feud is over.

#4 Samoa Joe (2018)

Samoa Joe got extremely personal with Jeff Hardy during their 2018 feud.

The year 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of Jeff Hardy signing his first full-time contract with WWE.

The promotion decided to celebrate Hardy's landmark with a special segment in his honor on the November 27 edition of SmackDown. One man who was not in a celebratory mood, though, was Samoa Joe.

Following an emotional speech where Hardy thanked fans for their support during his career, Joe came out and took a shot at Jeff over his past issues with alcohol.

"Forgive my tardiness, I was in the back popping some bottles getting ready to come out here and have a toast, but I think we can all agree having a bottle of champagne around you isn't the best idea."

Joe then continued to blast Hardy, suggesting that his substance abuse problems over the years might have affected his memory.

"Thank you to WWE for that wonderful anthology of all your greatest moments. It must have been a special treat for you considering at the time you probably weren't coherent enough to remember any of it."

Joe's comments instantly set up a very personal rivalry with Jeff Hardy. WWE had previously referred to Hardy's personal struggles, but never this directly.

Coming off a long feud with AJ Styles, where he frequently lost, Samoa Joe needed to regain some steam as a heel. His vicious verbal assaults on Jeff Hardy helped Joe re-establish himself as a significant figure on SmackDown once again.

#3 Matt Hardy (2009)

Jeff Hardy faced his brother, Matt Hardy, at WrestleMania 25.

WWE has tried several times to book a successful feud between Jeff and his brother, Matt Hardy.

These attempts failed because fans love The Hardy Boyz - as proven by the incredible reaction the team received when they returned at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. The audience loves Matt and Jeff as a tag team - and does not buy into a "Brother Vs. Brother feud" featuring the pair.

The two brother's most high profile encounter took place at WrestleMania 25 in 2009. Leading into the match, Matt took storyline credit for the real-life fire which had destroyed Jeff's home (and also tragically took the life of his dog) in March 2008.

The angle was distasteful. Jeff Hardy's personal misfortune was not something that fans wanted to see as part of a storyline. The WrestleMania match did not live up to expectations, either.

On such a long card, featuring several other big matches, the clash of the Hardys got lost in the shuffle.

The duo met again on pay-per-view later the same month, this time in an "I Quit" match at Backlash. The match was received far better than their WrestleMania effort, with Jeff emerging with the win.

#2 CM Punk (2009)

Jeff Hardy and CM Punk feuded over the World Heavyweight Championship in the summer of 2009.

Jeff Hardy's rivalry with CM Punk over the World Heavyweight Championship in 2009 cemented the "Straight Edge Superstar" as a main event player.

Punk would cash in the Money In The Bank briefcase to take the championship from Jeff Hardy at Extreme Rules 2009. This move set the scene for a Punk heel turn in the weeks that followed.

Insisting that he was justified in cashing in his title shot, Punk refused to apologize for the move. Punk then deliberately got disqualified in his rematch with Hardy, denying Jeff the chance to regain his belt.

Punk then began to act superior to Jeff Hardy, pushing his famously clean lifestyle in the faces of fans, while constantly bashing the Charismatic Enigma for some of his life choices.

Jeff Hardy, though, got his revenge at Night of Champions, defeating Punk to win back the title. Hardy's championship reign did not last long, however.

Having already decided to leave WWE to heal from some injuries, Hardy faced Punk for the last time on pay-pay-view at SummerSlam 2009 in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.

CM Punk took the victory - with Jeff Hardy indeed leaving WWE shortly after. The feud was Hardy's last in the company for nearly eight years, but helping establish Punk as a top-tier player was a fabulous way to bow out.

#1 First World Championship win (2008)

Jeff Hardy won the WWE Championship for the first time in 2008.

Heading into his WWE Championship match with Triple H and Edge at Armageddon 2008, much was made of Jeff Hardy's past difficulties - both personal and professional.

Before the pay-pay-view, Jeff Hardy had never held a major version of a world championship. This was something that was continuously mentioned in the storyline building up the Triple Threat main event of the show.

2008 had been a challenging year for Hardy personally, too, having seen his home destroyed by fire in March.

The wrestling world was delighted, then, when Jeff Hardy finally claimed the WWE Championship - pinning Edge with a Swanton Bomb.

His title reign would last only a month, but Jeff Hardy's first major championship win is a moment that fans still remember fondly.

Speaking to Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast, Jeff Hardy revealed he still has ambitions of being a world champion. Time will tell as to whether Hardy's recent return to Smackdown sees him taste championship gold again.