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On May 29th, 2022, Matt and Jeff Hardy took the ring for their first major Pay-Per-View match together since 2017, where they took on The Young Bucks at AEW's Double or Nothing.
While the match wasn't perfect, and Jeff was reportedly knockdown out early in the match, leading to a performance that some considered strange, the bout delivered many of the hits fans expected to see from two of the top teams of the last 20 years, even if it didn't result in championship gold. To Tony Khan's credit, the success of the match did generate a title bout not too far down the line, as the Hardys were scheduled to wrestle the Bucks and then-AEW Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express in one of their signature matches, the ladder match, but alas it just wasn't meant to be; Jeff was arrested for a DUI the week of the show, and the Bucks ultimately wrestled Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus solo in what was ultimately a title-changing affair.
Had the Hardys been healthy and eligible to perform, who knows, maybe they would be the title holders right now, enjoying what could be their final run as champions before the duo grows too old to be realistic players for gold. Instead, it's the Bucks, the Millennial Hardy Boyz, as some will call them, who were afforded a chance to become the first two-time Tag Team Champions in AEW history as they inch towards what feels like the ultimate conclusion: Young Bucks-FTR 3 at a future Pay-Per-View.
A massive change of plans? Potentially so, but hey, just because the Hardys didn't win it all this time doesn't mean they couldn't at some point in the future, right? Potentially so, but if Matt's comments on the future of his tag team's final run together ring true, it doesn't sound particularly promising, especially if Jeff's substance abuse issues have followed him from WWE to AEW.
Matt Hardy may be preparing for life after tag team wrestling in AEW.
On a recent episode of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast with Jon Alba, Matt Hardy opened up about his immediate future in AEW, as transcribed by Fightful.
“As far as what I'm doing going forward, I'm sure I'll be doing something in some capacity on AEW. I'm going to change it up a little bit, tweak things a little bit and we'll try to make some magic happen,” he said. “I look at it as a challenge, as an artist where there's really no timetable on what is happening. I had a great conversation with Tony Khan, just talking with him a little bit. We'll see. We have a few weeks to work on stuff. I'm excited for it. I look at it as a challenge, as opposed to looking at everything as a setback. Obviously, it's disappointing and heartbreaking that I'm not going to be teaming with my brother and we won't have this last great run, but I am going to make the most out of whatever opportunity I'm given. I will be positive and optimistic as always.”
‘I'll be doing something in some capacity on AEW? I won't be teaming with my brother? We won't have this last great run?' – Goodness, that's… less than ideal.
While Matt is smart to look forward to life without his brother, as there's no telling how long his potential absence from the promotion could be, if he's even able to return at all, the tired-sounding acceptance of the reality that an extended run with Jeff in the immediate future is tough to hear, especially from a performer who is usually so committed to bending reality to fit the story he wants to tell. The only “Broken” aspect of Hardy's words are the dreams he had of joining the rare fraternity of tag team wrestlers who won gold in a major promotion in four separate decades and the palpable fear that not only are the best days of his wrestling career officially done but that his brother, who he desperately wanted to work in the same company as since his WWE release, still found a way to revert to his former vices despite having the entire wrestling world rooting for one final run of Swanton Bombs and Hardy Boyz dances.
Could Jeff Hardy finally take his sobriety seriously and become a committed performer in the best shape of his career? Could Matt Hardy undergo his own physical transformation and squeak a few more years of high-level wrestling out of his body before it finally betrays him? Both are possible, but for now, it sounds like that one final Hardy Boyz/Brothers run that fans want to see might not happen anytime soon, if at all.
