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WWE News: Matt Hardy Continues To Stay ‘Broken’ While Competing For Indy Shows

By Chris Featherstone
Published on: 14:05 PST, Mar 25, 2017

For the past few weeks, the controversy surrounding Matt and Jeff Hardy has been one of the most popular topics in all of professional wrestling. While they brought in more viewers to the Impact Wrestling brand as a result of their infectiously popular gimmicks, shockingly, negotiations took a sharp turn for the worst to keep the Hardys, and the team abruptly left the company. Matt’s wife, Reby, made sure to expose Impact Wrestling, Jeff Jarrett, and the parent company, Anthem, through a long series of fiery tweets.

However, the Hardys were not finished with their gimmick, as they took it to Ring of Honor and became champions by beating the Young Bucks for the ROH Tag Team Championships. However, during the ROH 15th Anniversary Show pay-per-view, viewers could tell that something was going on behind the scenes, as the Hardys heavily reduced the exhibition of their normal gestures that come with the Broken characters. They resumed them during post-show interviews and photos.

It was soon revealed that executives from Anthem sent a cease and desist regarding the Hardy’s gimmick, preventing them from showing features of their characters that appeal to the crowd the most.

Although there are legal struggles currently going on with Anthem and the Hardys, “Broken” Matt recently competed for Northeast Wrestling in Port Jervis, New York, on March 18. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he fully exhibited his gimmick in front of the 1,200 fans in attendance.

“Matt Hardy pinned Vinny Marseglia with a twist of fate. Hardy did his complete gimmick here and the Obsolete song. I think the feeling is that his TNA contract allowed him to do indies so he feels he can do the character on the [indys]. Cody Rhodes pinned Mike Bennett to win the NEW title.”

Before returning to Impact Wrestling in 2014, Matt made it very known that competing on the independent circuit gave him abundant income. With his Broken gimmick, he has become an even hotter commodity for indy promoters to seek. As a result, this leaves many to wonder if he and Jeff will remain on the independent circuit. However, numerous reports speculate that a WWE appearance could happen as early as WrestleMania.

One thing is for certain: the Hardys will not be returning to Impact Wrestling anytime soon, if at all. Recently, Jeff Jarrett sent out a tweet congratulating Christopher Daniels on winning the Ring of Honor World Championship. Matt responded to the tweet, “If this was sincere, you wouldn’t have sent legal letters to all PPV providers in an attempt to destroy [Ring of Honor’s] PPV. #BurningBridges”

There are various theories as to where Matt and Jeff Hardy will end up in the new few weeks. While they are the current ROH World Tag Team Champions, many feel that their stint for ROH will be very short-lived. Until the speculation of returning to WWE becomes a reality, the gimmick appears to remain while they are competing for independent promotions.

One unfortunate factor about the Hardys returning to the WWE is that the Broken gimmick will most likely be done. Arguably the best gimmick of at least Matt Hardy’s career, the Hardys will seemingly be the next nostalgia team to make younger teams look good, similar to what the Dudley Boyz did during their recent WWE stint that lasted just one year. Seeing how their current gimmick is what heavily increased their stock over the past year, and the fact that they most likely do not have many years left in their in-ring careers, a return to the WWE may not be the best option for the Hardys from a creative standpoint.

[Featured Image By Mike Kalasnik | Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and resized | CC BY-SA 2.0]

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