It appears that the WWE Universe has seen the last of Matt Hardy as an active wrestler for the company. On Monday, the veteran grappler took to social media to bid his fans farewell, with reports suggesting that his segment with Randy Orton on that night’s episode of Monday Night Raw was designed to keep him off television until his contract expires.
On this week’s Raw , Hardy confronted Orton while the latter was cutting a promo, calling him out for his recent attack on Edge and asking why “The Viper” had done such a thing to the “Rated-R Superstar,” as recapped by Pro Wrestling Sheet . After mentioning many of Edge’s past accomplishments during his first run with WWE and referencing their real-life friendship, Orton then jumped Hardy with his RKO finisher, following up with a “con-chair-to” — the same chair attack popularized by Edge and Christian during their time as one of WWE’s top tag teams.
In its report, Pro Wrestling Sheet cited unnamed “WWE sources,” writing that this segment was done in order to write Hardy off TV and justify what could be an absence of a few weeks before his contract expires. The former “Woken” wrestler also appeared to hint at his impending departure from the company, going on Twitter and posting a photo of himself, simply captioning it with the word “goodbye.” He also included a link to the latest episode of his “Free the Delete” series on YouTube.
After demanding answers for the attack on @EdgeRatedR , @MATTHARDYBRAND fell victim to a vicious assault by @RandyOrton . pic.twitter.com/d2rFRO6za6
— WWE (@WWE) February 11, 2020
It is widely expected that Hardy will be signing with All Elite Wrestling soon after his deal with WWE expires, possibly at the very beginning of March. Meanwhile, his younger brother and longtime on-and-off tag team partner, Jeff Hardy, likely won’t be leaving WWE anytime soon, as reported by WrestlingNews.co . This is due to a clause in the brothers’ contracts that allows WWE to add more time to their deals to make up for any time missed due to injuries. As Jeff had last competed in April 2019, this could mean he won’t be able to enter free agency and possibly join forces again with Matt again until 2021.
In recent weeks, multiple reports have hinted at Matt Hardy’s dissatisfaction with how WWE has been booking him as a prime factor for his desire to leave the promotion. Most of his appearances on WWE television since late last year have seen him used as an enhancement talent whose main purpose is to make other wrestlers look good by taking a quick loss.
