It has been a whirlwind weekend for Jeff and Matt Hardy and Impact Wrestling. Now under new ownership, the company had two quick decisions to make concerning their top talents. First, the company chose not to resign Drew Galloway and now they have broken off discussions with Jeff and Matt Hardy, who might be heading back to the WWE.
Matt Hardy came out on Twitter and let the fans know what the dirt sheets already knew. Matt Hardy said that he and his brother were leaving Impact Wrestling .
“My stint with IMPACT WRESTLING was DELIGHTFUL. EXCEPTIONAL talent & locker room. A great, respectful team that worked hard in tough times… I wish @IMPACT WRESTLING all the best going forward, especially the INDUSTRIOUS talent. I hope they’re all treated with respect & fairness.”
This has ended an interesting day when it comes to news concerning Jeff and Matt Hardy. The first news came when it was revealed that a contract that the Hardys and Impact Wrestling agreed upon in December fell through.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that the deal was for one year but Impact Wrestling was allegedly giving them the runaround. While Jeff Hardy was getting frustrated, Matt Hardy kept in contact with Impact Wrestling. Their lawyer told Impact Wrestling that the brothers had other offers.
This allegedly caused Impact Wrestling to tell Jeff and Matt Hardy to just sign with the WWE if that was true. That statement caused Jeff Hardy to back completely out of signing with Impact Wrestling. Matt Hardy kept trying to work with the company and then a new contract showed up.
John Pollock of the Fight Network then took to Twitter to say that the Hardy brothers would not be at this weekend’s Impact Wrestling tapings. The reason is that the contracts of Matt and Jeff expired.
I can confirm the reports from Mike Johnson & Ryan Satin – The Hardys are not going to re-sign w/ TNA and not expected at tapings this week
— John Pollock (@iamjohnpollock) February 27, 2017
The problem is that the new contracts had new wording that said the Hardy brothers could not take outside bookings without Impact Wrestling’s approval and would have to pay a percent of all their indie pay. The attorney for Jeff and Matt told them there was no way they should take the offer, especially with the WWE as an option.
It turns out that this kind of deal will be typical for Impact Wrestling talent. According to PWInsider , the company will force all talents to clear any indie dates and then have to pay Impact Wrestling 10 percent of those earnings. Not only that, but they will no longer pay talents for each TV episode and only pay per day, meaning if multiple shows are shot at once, the wrestlers will only get paid for one day’s work.
According to WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross, it looks like there will be more wrestlers leaving Impact Wrestling in the near future. He said this always happens when there are new creative changes and new management. Dutch Mantell is the new creative director and Jeff Jarrett is running the company again.
The next question is where Jeff and Matt Hardy will end up, with the WWE at the top of the list. The best news for the Hardy brothers is that they do not have non-compete clauses which mean Matt and Jeff could show up on WWE television immediately if they sign with the company.
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However, Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Impact Wrestling claims that they own all IP creations from the company, and that includes the Broken Matt Hardy gimmick which is something that could be important based on where they sign. Matt Hardy says he has ownership over his name and characters and all Impact Wrestling owns is footage taped, which means he could take it to the WWE if he chose to.
[Featured Image by Impact Wrestling]