Exclusive: The Hardy Boys Re-Sign With TNA Wrestling
The Takedown on SI can exclusively report TNA World Tag Team Champions, The Hardy Boys, have re-signed with the organization. Terms weren't disclosed.
Matt and Jeff are regarded as one of the greatest tag teams in the history of professional wrestling. They have been wrestling professionally since 1993, holding countless championships spanning four decades. The Hardy's are the only team to have held the WWE/World, WCW, TNA, ROH, Raw and SmackDown Tag Team championships.
The duo won their third TNA World Tag Team titles in October, defeating previous champions The System, and ABC at Bound for Glory in a Full Metal Mayhem match.
But is what next for The Hardy Boys? Matt talks with The Takedown about why him and Jeff decided to remain in TNA, Joe Hendry and who he'd like to see them wrestle in 2025.
(Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
The Takedown: TNA Wrestling is letting us announce they have re-signed Matt and Jeff Hardy and will be around for the foreseeable future. Congratulations to you and your brother.
Matt Hardy: It's exciting. It's exciting for us. We really believe in the direction that TNA is going. They've got a lot of big plans for 2025. They've taken great care of us. They have put myself and Jeff in positions to succeed, which we're very grateful for. We love the crew there, from the boys and the girls in the locker room to the management. Everyone and everything is really clicking right now. It feels like the unity is strong. The brand is growing again. I see a lot of upward mobility for TNA over the course of the next year. Jeff and I will be part of that for the next year.
The Takedown: Was all of that the biggest determining factor, or was there a specific moment where you're where you and Jeff are, like, ‘All right, this feels right’?
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MH: It does. We worked on a handshake deal all the way through to winning the titles and having the titles for a month. So it's been a great relationship with trust between us and TNA management. Everything they've said they were going to do, they followed through with. Everything we said we were going to do, we followed through with. It just feels right. Jeff was very adamant about it. Jeff is really enjoying this run in TNA. He's feeling confident. Last week, we were in Fayetteville, NC, where we first won our first major set of World Tag Team Titles, which was in July 1999.
Jeff and I were in the ring as we had a couple matches. One match we were with Jake Something, Trent Seven and Hammerstone. And the next night, we worked with The System. And we said, ‘Man, both nights the crowd was so hot, and we both feel very good physically. I said it felt like we were wrestling in the year 2000, 2001’.
It's like we turned back time. Everything's clicking. We're very happy with what we're doing there, and we want to do what we can to help build TNA back into one of the top brands in pro wrestling.
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The Takedown: I know you can't speak too much for Jeff, but in terms of yourself, all the times you've been in TNA, do you feel so far that this has been the best run of them all?
MH: I think so. It's really hard to compare runs. Whenever we did, The Broken Universe and Broken Matt Hardy happened, that was the most fun I've ever had in my career. That was in a lot of ways, I kind of look at that with fond memories, and think that is the greatest year of my career. So that was an amazing run. But towards the end, once management changed, there were a lot of things that just, there's no hatred, there's no resentment towards anything, but just the right people weren't put in the right places. It was a new business taking over wrestling that really didn't know wrestling as much.
Now Anthem is doing a great job because they have people in the role of the bosses that know wrestling and they understand what they're doing. It has been great. And really this this run has been the most fun I've had in a very, very long time. Probably the most fun I've had since my run as Broken Matt Hardy, and the year that I did The Broken Universe.
The Takedown: You guys won the Tag Team Titles at Bound For Glory. The two big matches of the show were thinking it was going to be Joe (Hendry) and Nic (Nemeth) as the headliner. Then when it wasn't, people were like, ‘Oh, what's going on’? When you're told you're going to headline this show, the biggest event of the year, do you even question it, even for a second, because you know you guys are doing great things, but you know where Joe is at this point and where the fans are viewing him? Or you go with the flow and be like, ‘We're here? Cool’.
MH: I was given a heads-up ahead of time. They explained the scenario and the breakdown of the show. Obviously, you want your show, especially a big show of the year, to go off on a high note if possible. The order in which they put things made the most sense, as far as sending the crowd home happy at the very end. Speaking of Joe Hendry, someone who I'm a massive fan of. We’ve become friends over our time together in TNA. I think you will see a lot more collaboration between the Hardy’s and Joe Hendry going forward. I think it would be pretty amazing if we ended up being a little bit of a faction in TNA, especially with us as the tag champions and him as the world champion. I think that would be a hot combo.
The Takedown: Who are one or two guys that you really want to sink your teeth into in TNA in 2025?
MH: That's a good question. Jake Something is somebody that I think stands out. I'm a big fan of what Leon Slater does. He's deceivingly big. The way he does that Swanton into the 450 is just absolutely incredible. There's a bunch of guys I would love to do something with. Eric Young, he’s just such a great talent. We've never really worked like a program together, or anything else like that. I think it's going to be interesting. There's some interesting stuff coming up on the horizon, which is going to be a lot of fun. I want to do everything that I can to be the TNA Tag Team Champions, but bring all of the tag teams up, using our star power and just the TV time that we've had over the last 25 years. If we can continue to bring everyone up and still remain relevant as being the Tag Team Champions and look like a good quality team, then that's what I'm all about.
The Takedown: What can fans expect from Matt and Jeff Hardy in the remainder of 2024 and 2025 in TNA?
MH: In 2024, I think you're going to get to see one badass Tables match before it's all said and done. (It’s) something we've got lined up, and that is against The System.
I got to put over The System. Even though we don't always see eye to eye, Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards are excellent in what they do. They kill it. Moose is an incredible athlete. I enjoyed working with him. That was my first time really working a program with him. And anytime Dango’s around, it's fun to work with him.
In 2025, I think you will see The Hardy Boys go in hot as the champs, fighting champions. Then I think you're going to see our characters evolve some. Jeff and I, we have several different ideas. I think it's going to be something fun, and I think it's going to be something that is going to freshen our whole act up again, which hopefully turns into something pretty big.