TNA has quietly added another major piece to its Slammiversary card, but instead of creating excitement, the announcement has exposed even more problems with the company’s lack of urgency, direction and coherent creative heading into one of its biggest pay-per-views of the year.
During an appearance on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast with Jon Alba, Matt Hardy revealed that The Hardys will be involved in the previously announced ladder match at TNA Slammiversary on Sunday, June 28. The match will also include The System’s Bear Bronson and Brian Myers, who are the reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions.
That detail effectively confirms what the ladder match is for. Unless TNA introduces another unexpected wrinkle, the TNA World Tag Team Championships will be hanging above the ring at Slammiversary.
The bigger question is why viewers had to find that out through a podcast instead of watching the story unfold on TNA iMPACT!.
Why Was This Not Announced On iMPACT?
TNA had every opportunity to begin establishing the ladder match during last night’s episode of iMPACT!.
Bronson and Myers were already involved in the show as members of The System. Myers interfered during Eddie Edwards’ match against BDE, while Bronson joined the post-match attack before Fabian Aichner and Leon Slater made the save. The tag team champions were present, active and available.
Yet the championships they hold were treated as an afterthought.
There was no major Slammiversary announcement. There was no confrontation with the next challengers. There was no explanation for why The Hardys had earned a place in the match. There was no attempt to make the ladder match feel like an important part of the pay-per-view.
Instead, one of Slammiversary’s most obvious spectacle matches was partially confirmed outside of TNA television.
That is not a minor promotional mistake. It reflects the larger issue with TNA’s creative direction heading into Slammiversary. Matches are being announced, competitors are being added and stipulations are being attached, but the weekly television is not consistently doing enough to make those matches feel necessary.
How Did The Hardys Earn Another Tag Team Title Opportunity?
The Hardys being involved in a ladder match is an easy sell on paper.
Matt and Jeff Hardy are synonymous with ladder matches. Their history alone gives the match credibility, and their involvement immediately makes it more marketable. They also regained the TNA World Tag Team Championships in a four-way ladder match at last year’s Slammiversary, giving TNA an obvious callback to promote.
The problem is not that The Hardys are in the match.
The problem is that TNA has not explained why they are in the match.
The Hardys lost the TNA World Tag Team Championships to Bronson and Myers at Rebellion on April 11. Since then, their attention has remained focused on The Righteous. Vincent and Dutch have been tied to The Hardys since their arrival in TNA, dragging them into a long-running rivalry built around mind games, violence and the continued transformation of Matt and Jeff into their Broken personas.
That feud reached its most extreme point last night in the first-ever Wicked Garden Match.
The Righteous wrapped the ring in barbed wire, brutalized both brothers and poisoned Jeff Hardy with a flower before Dutch and Vincent defeated The Hardys. When the lights came back on after the match, Matt and Jeff had vanished.
That ending should have created a clear next chapter in the Broken Hardys storyline.
Instead, less than a day later, the conversation has shifted toward Matt and Jeff entering a ladder match for the tag team titles.
How did losing to The Righteous lead to another championship opportunity?
Why should the team that won the Wicked Garden Match not be ahead of them in line?
If The Righteous are eventually added to the ladder match, there is at least an obvious explanation. They defeated The Hardys and have spent months intertwined with the tag title picture. If they are not added, their victory immediately becomes harder to justify.
Who Else Will Join The Match?
As of now, TNA has only confirmed The System and The Hardys.
That means the rest of the ladder match remains unclear.
A two-team ladder match is possible, but TNA’s wording and the company’s recent history strongly suggest that additional teams could be added. Last year’s Slammiversary ladder match featured four teams, allowing TNA to showcase several acts while placing the division inside one of the most memorable matches of the night.
The Righteous are the most logical next addition because they just defeated The Hardys.
Beyond that, TNA has work to do.
The company needs to establish which teams actually matter, why they deserve the opportunity and what each team is chasing beyond simply being inserted into a multi-team match. A ladder match can hide a thin build once the bell rings, but it cannot replace the build entirely.
TNA’s Tag Team Division Has Become An Afterthought
This is where the larger frustration begins.
TNA should have a strong tag team division. The company has historically treated tag team wrestling as an important part of its identity. Some of the promotion’s best eras were strengthened by teams that felt distinct, credible and capable of carrying meaningful stories.
Right now, the division feels scattered.
Bronson and Myers won the championships from The Hardys at Rebellion, but their title reign has largely existed inside the broader System storyline instead of receiving its own focused creative direction. The Hardys have been occupied by The Righteous. The Righteous have been occupied by trying to break The Hardys. Other teams have not been positioned strongly enough to feel like obvious contenders.
Now TNA is moving toward a ladder match without first making the division feel alive.
The match will probably deliver physically. Matt and Jeff Hardy in a ladder match will always attract attention. Bronson brings size. Myers brings experience. Additional teams can add speed and chaos.
But a good ladder match should be the payoff to a division that feels competitive, not a shortcut used because the company has not developed enough individual stories.
Slammiversary Needs More Urgency
This problem extends beyond the tag team titles.
Slammiversary is one of TNA’s biggest events of the year, and the company is only weeks away from the pay-per-view. The weekly television should feel increasingly urgent. Every segment should create movement. Every title should feel important. Every match announcement should answer a question raised on television or raise a new one worth following.
Instead, too much of the build feels disconnected.
The Wicked Garden Match received weeks of atmosphere, unusual visuals and a committed performance from everyone involved. The Righteous defeated The Hardys in the biggest win of their TNA run. The ending created an opening for the Broken Universe to evolve again.
That should matter.
The tag team title ladder match should also matter.
TNA now has to connect those ideas instead of asking viewers to accept another major match because The Hardys are famous, ladders are exciting and Slammiversary needs attractions.
The company still has time to make the match feel important. The Righteous can demand entry after defeating The Hardys. Bronson and Myers can argue that the challengers are being handed opportunities they have not earned. Other teams can fight their way into the match through qualifiers or direct confrontations.
But the creative work has to happen on iMPACT!.
Fans should not have to discover one of Slammiversary’s most important championship matches through an outside interview and then fill in the missing logic themselves.
The Hardys being part of another Slammiversary ladder match is not the problem.
The problem is that TNA has once again announced the destination before giving viewers a compelling reason to care about the journey.
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I’m the quiet one until the bell rings then I’ve got takes. I live for WWE NXT and TNA, I want every promotion to succeed, and I will absolutely roast the bad decisions on sight (because someone has to). Anime taught me to respect long-term storytelling; wrestling taught me that sometimes the plan is “we panicked” and called it “unpredictable.” The Miz got me into all of this, so yeah I appreciate confidence, commitment, and the art of talking like you’re already the main event. Now I bring that same energy to the page as the main writer for Late Night Crew Wrestling because if you’re not here to be must-see and tell the truth, why are you here?!