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Matt Hardy has been released from TNA.

According to celebrity gossip site TMZ, and supposedly confirmed by both independent sources and TNA management, Matt Hardy no longer works for TNA. The decision reportedly came down this afternoon from Dixie Carter herself, though that is also uncertain. Hardy was arrested for drunk driving after he crashed his 2009 Corvette into a tree. He was alone, and no one else was injured.

TNA’s source made a point of mentioning that Hardy had been suspended from the company for some time. Hardy claimed that he was taking time off, and that he and brother Jeff were doing well and ready for a fresh start. All of the obvious jokes aside, this issue raises several serious and significant points.

Why hasn’t Jeff Hardy been released as well? Multiple federal drug charges pending against a former World Heavyweight Champion is a major black eye to the company, though this has been said many times by others, and TNA doesn’t seem to care. Jeff Hardy’s list of “issues” during both of his runs in TNA seem to outweigh Matt’s in severity. Perhaps the recent deaths of “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn and a passenger in a horrific car crash caused by Dunn’s own drunkenness and speeding had something to do with the decision to release Matt Hardy. Dunn had a blood alcohol level of .196, and was driving between 130 and 140 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone. While Hardy thankfully did not meet the same end, perhaps TNA feared that at some future point, he might. That would require TNA management to suddenly become possessed of both a conscience and foresight, but miracles can happen.

Matt and Jeff are both clearly in need of serious help, as their frequent YouTube videos attest. Both have supposedly refused rehab more than once. Does TNA have a responsibility to its talent to force them to get treatment? Perhaps. Is it up to the Hardys to WANT to make those changes? Absolutely. The point is that cutting Matt Hardy loose without any mandatory treatment will only encourage him to keep doing what he has been doing for years, and that can’t end well.

Finally, what does it say about a wrestling company when someone has to crash his car into a tree and get arrested for drunk driving in order to garner any sort of reaction from the powers that be? As pathetic as it sounds, the reaction may have only come because this particular indiscretion happened in public, and was completely inarguable. Matt can’t say that he wasn’t driving, he didn’t crash the car, or that he wasn’t drunk. Jeff can still claim that he was set up in some way regarding his drug charges. It’s a classic case of permitting anything and everything in private, and washing one’s hands of it in public.

Does TNA have to be completely destroyed before those in power are willing to take a good hard look at both the wrestling talent and themselves?

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