Ever since the Hardys' return to WWE, they've been acting kinda different, right? Matt looks different and does very weird gestures. The crowd is always chanting "Broken Matt" and "Brother Nero" when they appear. And there are these "Delete" and "Obsolete" chants being heard in every arena. All these beg the question, "What were the Hardy Boys up to during their time away from WWE?
After an excellent feud with CM Punk over the World Heavyweight Title, Jeff Hardy left WWE in 2009. He would later join TNA in 2010, winning the TNA World Heavyweight Title three times. Meanwhile, Matt also left WWE in 2010 and had a very unsuccessful 6-month stint in TNA before going back to the independent scene. After a brief hiatus in late 2013, Jeff returned under his OMEGA character, Willow. The character failed to hit the mark and was dropped. He teamed up with his Brother Matt to capture the TNA World Tag Team Championships. They vacated the titles after Jeff suffered a broken leg injury.
Matt Hardy wins his first ever TNA Wrld Heavyweight Championship
Jeff returned two months later and helped Matt to win his first TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He had to vacate the title but eventually won it back in a match against EC3. A double turn took place during that match, with Matt turning heel. Jeff confronted and challenged Matt for his title but was taken out by Eric Young and Bram. Matt would eventually lose his title to Drew Galloway.
The Hardys underwent a career renaissance last year with the invention of the broken universe. During their lengthy feud in the first half of 2016, Matt and Jeff faced off in an I Quit Match. After a devastating swanton bomb to Matt through a table, both men were down and out, resulting in a no contest.
Matt returned some weeks later claiming to be "broken" after their brutal I Quit match. He spotted a white streak in the middle of his hair, developed a weird accent and referred to himself as "Broken Matt." He promised to "delete" his brother and take the Hardy name for himself. Matt's craziness went overboard when he suggested a battle at the Hardy compound in North Carolina dubbed "The Final Deletion" (the full video can be seen here). The weird antics and the case of "so bad it's good" that went on during the match captured the attention of the wrestling world. Broken Matt came out victorious and won himslef full ownership of the Hardy brand.
Now referred to as "Brother Nero," Jeff joined Matt and the two became known as the Broken Brothers. After having a series of battles, similar to the Final deletion, with Decay, they eventually captured the TNA World Tag Team Titles. They came out on top in their subsequent feud with DCC. The Broken Brothers then went on an "Expedition of Gold" and captured tag team titles from other wrestling promotions. Their contracts with Impact Wrestling expired in February 2017 (they however didn't lose the TNA Tag Team Championships on their way so the titles were given to Decay) and they joined Ring of Honor or as Broken Matt refers to it, "The Honourable Ring." They captured the ROH Tag Titles from the Young Bucks and held on to it for a few weeks, eventually dropping it back to them.
Hardy Boys win Raw Tag Team Championships in their first WWE match in seven years.
They made a surprise return at Wrestlemania 33, joining the Triple Threat Tag Team Ladder Match for the Raw Tag Team Titles, coming out victorious. The Hardys are unable to use the Broken gimmick outside of TNA since Anthem Sports (current owners of Impact Wrestling) claim to have ownership of the rights to the gimmick. They're currently in a legal battle with Anthem and all wrestling fans hope the Hardys are able to revert to the gimmick that breathed new life into their careers.
Writer:Kwaku Osafo