What’s the story?
‘Broken’ Matt Hardy’s online store ShopMattHardy.com is set to close shop in the coming days and have announced a clearance sale according to wrestlingnews.co. The store took to Twitter to thank the thousands of fans who visited the site and purchased merchandise over the last 5 years. They will close their virtual doors after the sale is complete and fulfil all their orders by next week.
In case you didn’t know
The reunited Hardy’s, Jeff and especially Matt in his ‘Broken’ persona became a huge hit in 2016 with wrestling fans across the board. Despite their unexpected success, the duo’s contract with TNA is set to run out in a few days. The lack of news about a contract extension coupled with the shutdown of the store has strengthened rumours of a return to the WWE with Wrestlemania 33 just around the corner.
Since every WWE Superstar’s merchandise is exclusively sold through WWE’s own online store, it would be a conflict of interest for Matt Hardy to have his own store if he signs with WWE.
Heart of the matter
The expiration of their contract with TNA, however, isn’t the reason behind the decision. Reby Hardy, Matt’s wife, said she was finding it tough to be a good mother while pregnant with her second child and managing the store. She tweeted:
What’s next?
While there is no official word about the status of a contract extension with TNA, there is no concrete information about the WWE’s interest in the Hardy’s either.
If they are indeed on the verge of severing ties with their current promotion, fans will be hoping to see them in some capacity at the biggest show of them all, Wrestlemania 33. Although, it is unlikely Vince McMahon will allow the brothers the kind of creative licence they have become used to at TNA.
Sportskeeda’s take
The Hardy brothers were on the downturn until Matt’s resurgence in his ‘Broken’ persona last year which rejuvenated them. If moving to the WWE means putting to bed a great gimmick, they might want to hold off on that considering its popularity among wrestling fans.
It’s hard to imagine that Vince would let the Hardy brothers have anywhere near this level of creative control, especially since we know Vince’s feelings about gimmicks and characters he didn’t create himself.
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