Big Broken Hardys Update, Why They Won’t Be Dropping The TNA Tag Team Titles

It has been reported numerous times that The Broken Hardys are no longer with Impact Wrestling and they are totally free to work wherever they see fit at this point. According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Hardys were set to stay in Impact until the new regime consisting of Jeff Jarrett as Chief Creative Officer and Dutch Mantell as head of creative came into power.

This new backstage authority planned to restrict the Hardys from taking independent bookings which is a big money situation for them and they didn’t want to have to limit themselves.

The Hardys didn’t want to lose their creative power over their characters which would have happened under this new creative team. Matt and Jeff agreed to new contracts in December, but they didn’t sign anything with Impact and only verbally agreed without making anything official to keep them on television as long as they have been.

Dave Meltzer notes that his inside source said Jarrett was trying to negotiate like they were WWE, which they weren’t.

Matt Hardy was pushing to not only gain more creative control over his own character, but for the company as a whole, but when Jarrett was brought back into the fold all that changed. The Hardys wanted creative control over their characters, but that part of the negotiations fell through and Impact didn’t agree to let the Hardys be the deciders of their own destinies on-screen.

Meltzer quotes an unnamed inside source from Impact Wrestling as saying, “The company transition has been a bit rocky and from what I’ve heard, they weren’t in a position to be finalizing big money deals until two or three weeks ago […] that’s settled now and the company has a firm talent budget in place that will allow for a few high dollar talents. Verbal agreements were in place a few months [ago] but the delay spooked them, and at that point, discussions with WWE began. I think they both eventually planned on going back [to WWE], and they aren’t getting any younger, so the feeling was to strike while the iron is hot. There are a lot of factors, though, that would prevent them from going, mainly the physical and both have infants and wives who don’t want them on the road [full-time].”

The Broken Hardys aren’t coming back for a “farewell angle” because Impact insisted on them signing new short-term contracts which they refused. With the way Impact tapes their television, it could be a month or longer until a taped segment is aired therefore Impact didn’t want to run the risk of them appearing on any other product while they still had Hardy footage yet to be aired. This is why the Hardys are likely to never officially drop the TNA Tag Team Titles.

The Hardys vs. Young Bucks at ROH Supercard Of Honor XI is likely to be a one-off match and not stretch to anything long term between the two teams. Although the initial plan was for this match to start a longer program, the Hardys have said they can’t commit to anything past April but they do still plan to honor all of their indie dates they currently have booked.

It’s also believed by some that Impact did offer Matt creative control but WWE offered the Hardys a deal, therefore they backed out of their verbal agreement. It’s uncertain what the Broken Hardys are going to do with the belts they have accumulated during their Expedition of Gold storyline, but when Jeff Jarrett came into power at Impact his plan was to turn the company into “a more serious wrestling product” which would probably have spelled the end of the Hardys as a unit and pushing Jeff as a main event singles star once more.

Pulling the Broken Hardys away from the independent circuits will mean a terrible loss to many companies who were able to pack their smaller venues using the Hardys as their main draw.

The question of whether or not the Hardys will be permitted to keep their Broken gimmick is still very much in the air at this point because both sides lay claim to it, although Meltzer says WWE would be foolish to not use it if they were legally allowed to and they would probably be a better fit for NXT due to the lighter work schedule among other things.