10 Wrestlers That Lost Titles Due To Serious Contract Disputes

3. The Hardy Boyz (TNA World Tag Team Championship)

Matt and Jeff Hardy had the most creatively stimulating run of their careers in 2016 as Broken Matt and Brother Nero in the Broken universe. They helped TNA become relevant for the first time in years with their outlandish gimmick and angles, and they were the highlight of weekly Impacts. They beat Decay at Bound For Glory to become two-time TNA World Tag Team Champions and their futures in the company looked promising and for sure entertaining.

But then the brothers fell out with Anthem Sports & Entertainment, who had recently acquired a majority stake in TNA. The Hardys creative control clause in a potential new deal was shot down and Matt/Jeff felt disrespected with the way Anthem were treating them in negotiations.

This resulted in the Hardys announcing their departure at the end of February 2017 as champions. They offered to come in for one more set of TV tapings and do the honours and drop the titles the right way but Anthem refused, making the titles vacant and booking Ortiz and Santana to win them in a four-way tag team match on Impact. This contract dispute would just be the start of a gigantic legal battle over the Broken characters between Matt and Anthem.