This week marked the end of Broken Matt and Jeff “Brother Nero” Hardy’s contracts with TNA Wrestling. Information has been coming fast and furiously about the breakdown of negotiations between them and TNA’s new parent company, Anthem Sports. Pro Wrestling Sheet noted that the Hardys were a bit upset that Anthem has allegedly stalled on getting the new contracts to Matt and Jeff and the Hardys were pretty much disrespected throughout the entire process. The brothers decided to not re-up their contracts and are looking to move on from TNA. Many have speculated that the Hardys may go back to the WWE for one final run. While there are some benefits to this, I have several reasons why the Hardys should abstain from returning to World Wrestling Entertainment.
WWE wrestlers are typically on the road from 200-300 days per year. This road schedule is tough to maintain for healthy younger athletes. Jeff is about to be 40 years old and Matt is 42. Both men have endured their share of bumps and bruises throughout the years, some lasting to this day. Though WWE has been inclined to allow part time schedules for some of their top draws, it remains to be seen if they’d be willing to cut the Hardys that type of deal.
Jeff Hardy and his wife have a young child. Matt and his wife Reby Sky have one son who is about to be two years old and another child on the way. Neither Hardy seems like the type that would want to be away from their families for such a lengthy time at such an early stage in their children’s development, nor at this late a stage of their careers.
The elephant in the room is the Broken Universe storyline surrounding the Broken Hardys. It can be argued that the Broken Matt gimmick breathed new life into Impact Wrestling and made the promotion relevant with casual fans for the first time in years. There could be some dispute over the ownership of the Broken gimmick in that TNA may claim since it debuted on their programming, that they own it. But even if they didn’t and the Hardys retained ownership, would this concept be something that Vince McMahon would go for? And if so, can we really trust WWE’s creative team to handle it well, (especially if they’re not going to hire Jeremy Borash, one of the chief creative forces that made the segments of the Broken Universe work so well in TNA)?
No one wants to see the Hardys make a ton of money and get maximum exposure more than I do. I truly feel that a run in New Japan or Ring of Honor, or possibly even Lucha Underground, might enable the Broken Universe to continue and allow a more flexible schedule for the Hardys and their families. We shall know their decision soon enough.
