On Thursday’s Impact Wrestling, we saw Delete or Decay between the Broken Matt and Jeff Hardy and The Decay, consisting of Abyss and Crazy Steve. This was considered a sequel to the popular Final Deletion, which took place a couple of months ago and was considered a success for TNA Wrestling, a company in transition.
It was announced in August that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan would assume the position of TNA President. By becoming the day-to-day operator of TNA, it was assumed that the company would take on a different look, both visually and in storylines. What many people didn’t know was that Corgan, who ran his own wrestling promotion in Chicago, has been on the TNA creative team since April 2015 and was instrumental in a storyline that many are calling the best storyline of 2016.
In May, Matt Hardy took on a new character in the form of Broken Matt Hardy. Hardy had just lost the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and after his brother Jeff jumped from 20 feet in the air to “take him out”, Matt lost his mind. Broken Matt began tormenting Jeff, calling him “Brother Nero” and blaming him for his “broken” persona. This led to the infamous “Final Deletion” match, which took place on grounds of the Hardy estate in Cameron, NC.
The initial reception of Broken Matt Hardy was lukewarm at best. He had a weird accent from out of nowhere and haunting classical theme music was something that took time for fans to adjust to. As the character evolved and with the inclusion of his wife Reby Sky, fans began to take to the character and actually enjoy the oddness of it. It’s one of those characters that have a high risk, high reward quality to it. Either it clicks and you have something or TNA goes out of business over the character.
The match, which went viral, was a success. Impact Fans either thought it was completely genius or a total waste of time, but even the people who hated it watched it more than once. To date, Final Deletion has garnered over half a million views with thousands more coming from the longer Director’s Cut. When something is successful,why not retry it again? TNA took a chance and decided to up the ante again.
This brings us to Delete or Decay from this past Thursday. After months and months of fighting and mind games, Jeff Hardy has found himself broken. The Broken Hardy Brothers has been embroiled in a fight with The Decay, a team that has been focused on the child of Broken Matt, King Maxel. This may be the best thing TNA has going for them and this has been thanks to Corgan and his creative vision. Check out the full directors cut of Delete or Decay below and let us know what you think about it in the comments section.
