What’s Next For The Broken Hardys?

It should be no surprise by now that the best thing going in Impact Wrestling was undoubtedly ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy and ‘Brother Nero’ Jeff Hardy, with 2016 giving us absolute gems such as Total Nonstop Deletion and the greatest tag team tournament in all of Time and Space, resulting in actual murders and a volcano exploding.

The current Impact tag champs have been on a mission recently to claim every tag title from every possible promotion they can, but it would appear now that their journey will no longer see them remain in Orlando.

Broken Matt Hardy yesterday confirmed on his Twitter (@MATTHARDYBRAND) that he had parted ways with the oft troubled company. His wife Reby Hardy added the group felt disrespected during recent contract negotiations, leading to them turning down/deleting a week’s contract extension in which they would drop the Impact tag titles. As it stands, they will not be dropping the titles on TV, but handing them back to the company in the very near future, leaving it to Impact as what to do with the effectively vacant belts next.

As the Hardys also have no non-compete clauses in their previous contracts (which often can keep wrestlers from working with other companies from 60 to 90 days) they are now easily the hottest free agents in pro wrestling, and we can only guess they’ll have no issues in finding work for the foreseeable future.

However, with their own merch shop shopmatthardy.com now having a closing sale too, rumours of the Broken Universe arriving back in WWE are sure to run rampant. And with them able to appear in any company at any time, it wouldn’t be too wild to place a small bet on them returning at either the post-Wrestlemania RAW or Smackdown Live.

But it’s not only the acclaimed tag team making news. Word has unfolded of many other notable Impact personalities, including former Impact Champion Drew Galloway, Knockout Champion Jade (who had been a focal point for the company, especially after receiving mainstream attention when she spoke out against domestic abuse), and both Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis also leaving the brand.

It has been suggested (although not confirmed) that a change in the hierarchy  since Dixie Carter stepped down, and issues during renegotiating contracts, is the primary reason. Although leaving the signing of new contracts with their top talents so close to new TV tapings may well have been a factor, it’s a damn shame for the company to lose such top talents so soon after new management has stepped in.

As stated by Jeff Jarrett (who recently returned to a senior role within Impact) on his Twitter, neither himself nor Impact will be making any formal statement on the contractual matters of talents, citing it as corporate policy. He does, however, have the Global Force Wrestling roster at his disposal, so it won’t be a huge surprise if the next set of tapings features some new faces and feels like a different show.

PWInsider reports that Bobby Lashley, EC3, Eli Drake, Moose, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards are all currently locked in to contracts, so we won’t be seeing those head anywhere soon.

It remains unclear as to the contract status of Vanguard 1 and Senior Benjamin.

Drew Galloway is current the WCPW Heavyweight Champion, and will be defending the belt at their Exit Wounds PPV against the 2016 New Japan Best of the Super Juniors, Will Ospreay, on March 6th.

The Hardys next big match will see them face The Young Bucks at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor XI PPV on April 1st, when not only the ROH tag titles will be defended, but the ultimate question will finally be answered:

Too Sweet or Delete?

In their post-Impact schedules, The Hardys may well be New Japan Pro Wrestling bound soon, after Matt Hardy teased on his Twitter today that himself and Brother Nero have their eyes on The Elite (The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega), who operate as a top level faction within Bullet Club.