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Matt And Jeff Hardy Update: ROH Tag Team Champions Not WWE Bound ‘Anytime Soon’

By Mark Suleymanov
Published on: 10:19 PST, Mar 5, 2017

After defeating the Young Bucks to capture the Ring of Honor Tag Team titles at Manhattan Mayhem VI last night, the future of Matt and Jeff Hardy became the hot topic in professional wrestling.

The surprise appearance by the legendary tag team made headlines when Matt Hardy announced to the Hammerstein Ballroom crowd that he and his brother had signed with Ring of Honor. With reports linking the former longtime WWE superstars with their former employer, the Broken One and Brother Nero have other ideas.

According to Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline, the Hardys are set to remain with ROH for the foreseeable future, but the terms of their new contracts are still unknown, via Wrestling Inc.

“They’re not going to WWE anytime soon. I do not know the length of the [ROH] deal, but it’s not a two-month deal,” Meltzer said. “They’re there [in ROH].”

The timing of the duo joining seemed off as just days earlier, their return to the WWE seemed like all but a formality.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported on Friday that the Hardys began preliminary talks to re-sign with WWE. No formal offer had been extended as of Saturday night, but Satin wrote that it was “looking good” in terms of the former seven-time WWE Tag Team Champions rejoining the organization.

After their return, Mike Johnson of PWInsider said ROH was keeping the terms of the Hardy’s contracts secret. The Wrestling Observer noted that Matt Hardy mentioned a series of dates that he and his brother would work for ROH — all of which are before WrestleMania 33.

The one certain appearance The Hardys were scheduled for was a tag team match against the Young Bucks at Supercard of Honor XI on April 1, the night before WrestleMania 33. Now, it appears the duo capturing tag team gold was just the beginning of an extended run with the company.

While WWE would have given Matt and Jeff Hardy pro wrestling’s top platform, several insiders have stated how much freedom in their schedules meant.

Wade Keller of PWTorch gave his take on the Hardys signing ROH contracts, noting their desire to have as much control of their wrestling schedule as possible.

“The Hardys value their independent contractor status and ability to work their own schedule on their own terms. While they could conceivably give up some of that by signing a big ROH contract, they have more autonomy than they would have in WWE. That said, this doesn’t preclude the Hardys from eventually going back to WWE, but in the immediate future, it’s not in the cards.”

Meltzer added that the Hardys are also allowed to work independent promotions while under contract to ROH, something the hectic schedule and general provision of joining WWE doesn’t allow. They had stopped taking bookings past May because they were uncertain of honoring those dates if a deal with WWE was signed.

With their championship win on Saturday, the Hardys became the first team to win the WCW, WWE, TNA, and ROH Tag Team titles. Having departed from Impact Wrestling earlier this week, Matt Hardy addressed his future in a tweet on Sunday.

“A note about SUPPLY & DEMAND,” Hardy wrote. “Fans DEMAND for pro wrestling to be unpredictable in 2017. My SUPPLIES that.”

Making an Impact

The Hardys were not the only former Impact stars to appear at ROH’s show in New York City last night. Former Impact Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray also made his ROH debut.

ROH will boast a stacked roster as the tag team and singles legends are ready to make an impact.

[Featured Image by Impact Wrestling]

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