Chaos All Around: Negotiations Break Down Between Hardys and TNA

This one gets a little complicated. TNA is currently in a period of transition as they move from the Dixie Carter Era to the Anthem Era, meaning a lot of the people in charge are changing. Unfortunately this means that some talent will be moving around as well, which in this case means a pair of reigning champions.

According to PWInsider.com by way of 411mania.com, the Hardys are likely done with TNA, despite still being the Tag Team Champions. While the two sides had agreed to terms back in December, it seems that there were some issues with the actual contracts the Hardys receives. First of all, the contracts were late getting to them due to the change in management. On top of that, the deal is now calling for a 10% booking fee for all bookings outside of TNA, which the Hardys never agreed to.

In an update, Prowrestlingsheet.com is reporting that the deal was originally supposed to be for a year but was then extended to two years without the Hardys agreeing. When the brothers threatened to go to WWE, Ed Nordholm of Anthem reportedly said “Well, tell them to go to WWE then.” When that happened, Jeff Hardy said he was done with TNA. Matt Hardy wanted to show up and write himself off TV but was told that it wasn’t going to happen without a contract. As a result, TNA is currently trying to retrieve the Tag Team Titles, which will likely be vacated to switched to a new team.

Finally, the Fight Network’s John Pollock (which is owned by Anthem, which also owns TNA), sent out a Tweet saying that the Hardys will not be re-signing and aren’t expected to be at Thursday’s TV tapings.

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

Opinion: I really, really hope this isn’t how business is going to be done in TNA going forward because this is the kind of nonsense that made them the laughingstock of professional wrestling for so many years. While it’s very possible that Anthem was letting them go for the sake of saving costs, it would have been a bit more tactful to just say that’s why they’re going instead of “just let them go to WWE.” I’m not the biggest Hardys fan but at least find a way to wrap them up. Sign a three day contract or fly a team and a camera crew down to North Carolina to film a quick title change. Just do something better than this.