On the March 13, 2020 episode of "SmackDown", Hardy returned from injury, defeating King Corbin. He began a feud with Sheamus over comments that the latter made, defeating him in the first round of the Intercontinental Championship tournament on the May 22 episode of "SmackDown". The following week on "SmackDown", Hardy was "arrested" (kayfabe) after crashing his car into Elias, however later in the episode, Hardy would cause a distraction for Sheamus, costing him a match against Daniel Bryan, and attacked Sheamus after the match.