WWE News: WWE Officially Offers Matt And Jeff Hardy Contracts To Return To WWE

Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions Matt and Jeff Hardy have been away from WWE for years now, but it appears that the Hardy’s could return to the company very very soon. The Hardy brothers left TNA Wrestling earlier this year after contract talks broke down with Anthem Sports and Entertainment, the new owners of TNA or now simply Impact Wrestling. They felt disrespected in the contract talks and were offered less money with a contract that tried to add in stuff last minute.

Jeff Hardy was out early on, despite giving TNA 7 years of his life after departing from WWE in 2009 and returning to TNA in 2010. Matt Hardy tried to work out a deal but was disrespected at every turn, with the catalyst coming from a deal that forced Hardy to pay 10% royalties to TNA from his time on the independent scene. It was added to other deals before and after this, but Hardy refused to sign and thus, both Hardy brothers, as well as the entire family, left the company.

It seemed pretty obvious a WWE return was on the horizon, as both had interest from the WWE and they felt a return would be a good idea. They then pulled a swerve, ending up in Ring of Honor one night. They would challenge the Young Bucks for the ROH Tag Titles and even beat them for it. It was then reported that they signed with ROH, where many assumed they were staying over a return to WWE. However, no one came out regarding the length of the deal at the time.

Jeff Hardy would end up confirming the deal was short-term. It appears that they will work the Supercard of Honor the night before WrestleMania 33 where they will most likely drop the ROH Tag Titles back to the Young Bucks. It appears after this, they will be done with the company and can go where they please. It seems pretty obvious by now that they will either show up on the WWE RAW or SmackDown Live following WrestleMania. However, some speculate they’ll make a Mania appearance, which is unlikely but not impossible.

Pro Wrestling Sheet recently reported Matt and Jeff Hardy were offered contracts by the WWE officially. The two sides had been in contract talks for a while now, which seems to have worked out. The brothers did medical testing for WWE a few weeks ago, which led many to rightly assume a return was likely if they passed everything. It looks like they clearly did so if WWE is willing to offer them contracts.

As of now, there is no word on which brand they will go to or even if it’ll be the same one. Most believe the Hardy brothers won’t be split up early on, especially when they are very valuable as a tag team right now. However, Jeff Hardy was known for his impressive singles career in the WWE as well as Matt Hardy who both won numerous singles titles while with the company. Meanwhile, both won World Championships in TNA.

It is also unknown if WWE will allow the brothers to use the “broken gimmick” when they return. Many believe it will be unlikely, at least for now, because Matt Hardy is going through a lawsuit of sorts with TNA over the gimmick he created. Unlike TNA, Hardy actually decided to copyright the gimmick and name right when he left the company. TNA has yet to attempt a claim, and many believe this could actually help Hardy long-term.

It is being reported by Cageside Seats that the fight over the broken gimmick is not even close to being over, which means we will at least go through the summer on this. Of course, that means WWE will not allow Matt Hardy to use his gimmick in the company until the lawsuit is settled between him and Anthem over the entire broken universe. Many feel that WWE could make tweaks to the gimmick by calling them “damaged” rather than broken, which would not interfere with much.

Gimmicks have been copied before with only small changes to them in other companies. WCW and WWE often did parodies of the characters from each company, such as Gillberg in the WWE to make fun of Goldberg in WCW. Small tweaks with the same idea behind the gimmick could allow WWE license to use the characters without having to use the same name. Since Matt and Jeff Hardy own their real names, they would not need even to call them broken or anything other than their names. A man with a crazy fake English accent and a dark presence cannot be owned by anyone on top of that.

[Featured Image By ROH Wrestling]