Matt and Jeff Hardy are home. Their return at WrestleMania 33 will go down as one of the greatest moments in WWE history and the Hardyz are still Raw tag team champions to this day. They’re unquestionably one of, if not the best tag team of all time, and their latest run proves they’re more than just a nostalgia act.
However, Matt and Jeff can do more than what they’re doing right now. Having an impressive reign as tag team champions is nothing to scoff at, but these two have bigger and better things in their future. And all of those things would be set in motion by their separation.
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Both men have proved they can be huge singles stars. Matt proved it recently during his run as Broken Matt in TNA, a character which may or may not return to the WWE at some point.
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On the other hand, Jeff, in addition to being a success in TNA aside from some setbacks, was a huge star in WWE before his departure. He moved more merchandise than almost anyone in the company and had a brief yet fun WWE Championship reign.
With Matt and Jeff obviously being more than just tag team specialists, WWE should break them up sooner rather than later. Here’s why.
#5 The Raw tag team division is in good hands without them
The Hardy Boyz have made the Raw tag team division better, there’s no question about that. When one of the most iconic teams of all times makes a return, it’s obviously going to add some star power and intrigue.
But when you think about it, Raw really doesn’t need the Hardy Boyz as a team to have a strong tag team division. They have plenty of teams at a high enough level to keep things entertaining with or without the Hardyz.
Sheamus and Cesaro seem to be really hitting their stride now that they’ve turned heel. Maybe it’s just the jackets, but things seem to work better between them now.
Then there’s Enzo and Cass who still haven’t sniffed tag team gold in the WWE despite their popularity. And, of course, there’s the soon-to-be-returning, possible attackers of Enzo and Cass, the Revival. They haven’t been truly let loose yet because of an ill-timed injury, but they’re gonna be a hit when they make it back on TV.
And finally, there’s Gallows and Anderson who still haven’t reached the potential we all know they have thanks to their NJPW run. If they’re ever treated like legitimate threats, that’s yet another big-time tag team on Raw.
The Hardyz are great, but they are not vital to the success of Raw’s tag team division.
#4 We need Broken Matt (or at least a version of it)
People have been asking for Broken Matt Hardy in WWE since he walked down the ramp at WrestleMania. And it seemed like we may get it. Matt was still sporting the white patch in his hair, occasionally speaking with his strange accent, and starting delete chants.
So far, we haven’t gotten it. But WWE is supposedly still in talks to acquire the rights to the gimmick from TNA. If they do finally acquire them, Broken Matt could be one of the hottest acts in wrestling again. And separating him from Jeff would be a logical next step.
It could be a semi-heel turn by Matt, or they could respectfully agree to go their separate ways like the Lucha Dragons did before the WWE draft. Either way, having Broken Matt as a solo act able to feud with whoever he wants, would be...wonderful.
Just imagine Broken Matt in a feud with Bray Wyatt. The supernatural, convoluted stuff they could pull out of their insane yet brilliants minds would be a sight to behold. If WWE has the ability to acquire the rights to the Broken gimmick, it would be a disservice to the fans not to do so.
We may just get Broken Matt in the future, but it would likely require a Hardyz separation for it to reach its full potential.
#3 Jeff Hardy is meant to be a huge star
Jeff Hardy has been a world champion in the past and has what it takes to get there again. He’s still an enigmatic Superstar that connect with kids even though his last championship run was 8 years ago. And much like Matt, Jeff would have to separate from his brother to reach his full potential.
Also read: How Broken Hardys' popularity derailed Jeff's Main Event singles push
This is fairly likely to happen in the future considering WWE wanted to sign Jeff by himself a few months ago. When the Broken Matt hype started to build, WWE realized Matt was a valuable commodity too. But before that, they were happy to sign Jeff and Jeff alone.
Why? Because they know he’s a main event star just waiting for his moment. With Matt coming to WWE alongside Jeff, obviously, they have to do the whole tag team schtick for a little while. It would be weird if they didn’t.
But Jeff is the kind of guy who could put together a believable program with anyone. He could have an underdog story against Brock Lesnar (who he last faced in 2002 and rumors also suggest WWE’s plans on revisiting the feud) or a more fair feud against someone like Samoa Joe. There’s so much potential for Jeff as a solo act that keeping him with Matt for too long would just be a waste.
#2 There would be a lot of first-time feuds
This has been touched on a bit already with the suggestion of Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt and Jeff Hardy vs. Brock Lesnar, but it’s an important point. Breaking the Hardy Boyz up would allow each of them to not only have lucrative singles careers but also provide plenty of feuds we’ve never seen before.
These two have been out of WWE for nearly a decade. Lots of Superstars have come and gone since then, meaning we haven’t seen either Hardy face off against a majority of the WWE roster.
So far we’ve really only seen them face Sheamus and Cesaro, and while they’ll face more teams in the coming weeks/months, their separation would make things far more interesting.
There are a lot more possibilities for them as solo acts. Either one of them could square off against the likes of Roman Reigns, Finn Balor or the Miz. And they could both create extremely entertaining feuds no matter who they face off against.
In WWE, repeating feuds and matches too many times is one of the most annoying things to see. So when the opportunity to create fresh feuds arises, WWE would be smart to capitalise on it. We all remember when Randy Orton faced Sheamus about 50 times, right? Let’s do what we can to prevent that from happening again.
#1 They shouldn’t go the way of the Dudley Boyz
The Dudley Boyz’ return was one of the most disappointing runs ever. They returned to one of the biggest pops of the modern era when they confronted the New Day after SummerSlam 2015, but they did absolutely nothing afterwards.
They didn’t even capture the tag team titles once in what ended up being about a year in the company, and that was supposedly their main goal. They eventually went out by having Gallows and Anderson viciously attack him during what was supposed to be a farewell ceremony.
If the Hardy Boyz stay together for too long, they run the risk of this happening to them. Make no mistake, the Hardyz are and always have been more popular than the Dudley Boyz, so it may not happen as quickly. But a “nostalgia” act only lasts for so long before it runs its course.
WWE keeping the Hardyz together for too long would be a monumental mistake. Yes, they should run their course as a team right now, but they need to know when to break them up. And it’s better to break them up sooner rather than later.
Matt and Jeff will be huge singles stars if/when WWE allows them to be. Letting them waste away in the tag team division for the entirety of their WWE run a la the Dudley Boyz would be inexcusable.
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