Matt and Jeff Hardy's Return Poised to Redefine WWE Raw Tag Team Division

The WWE Raw tag team scene is set to undergo a transfusion of energy and creativity by way of Matt and Jeff Hardy's presence.

The Hardy brothers' arrival will be more than a WrestleMania moment; it will be a means to elevate a stagnant division. Raw won't descend into the bizarre as fully as Impact Wrestling did with the Hardys as its center, but the red brand will see some welcome experimentation.  

A Triple Threat ladder match suddenly morphed into a four-way battle at WrestleMania 33 when The New Day introduced the returning Hardys. 

Matt and Jeff had just come off competing for Ring of Honor on Saturday. The popular duo were free agents following a bitter divorce with Impact Wrestling. And now they are back home with WWE.

A wild ladder match saw the Hardys outlast Enzo Amore and Big Cass, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and Cesaro and Sheamus. They walked out of the mess of bent steel as the new Raw tag team champs.

It's now up to this generation's top squads to chase the veterans.

Impact Wrestling and the brothers have been in a legal battle over the Hardys' Broken gimmick, so we're not likely to see a complete transplant of the deranged, off-the-wall act they put on for the past year.

Still, the new champs showed glimpses of those characters.

Matt used some of his Broken gimmick in a backstage interview with the WWE following their victory. He described being in WWE again as "absolutely wonderful" and talked of deleting the competition:

That's a sign that at least traces of their personas from Impact Wrestling will make their way to Raw on Monday nights.

The division will benefit a big way if that's the case. The Hardys reinvented themselves and toyed with the pro wrestling medium—hosting nutty battles at their family compound, boxing a kangaroo and leading to the use of Matt's toddler son as an unexpected sidekick.  

Any amount of that kind of outside-the-box thinking will invigorate the tag team division.

Raw has featured numerous bouts between The Club and their foes with too little story, too little energy. The Hardys' arrival will change that. WWE suddenly has an intriguing puzzle piece to fit into the tag team picture.

The brothers battling The Club has potential, as does The Realest Guys in the Room venturing into the Hardys' world. And the prospect of The New Day's creativity juxtaposing what the Hardys have tucked in their sleeves is mighty exciting.

Kate Foray, who runs the Raw BreakDown Project, is among those psyched about that potential collision:

WWE has a multitude of directions to take that potential rivalry. And wherever the story heads, it will be marked by both a freshness and a familiarity. Matt and Jeff are big stars from the past, but they are also hot commodities in the now.

The Hardys are past their physical peak, but they are teeming with momentum. They have made themselves one of the most talked about duos on the planet. 

Adam Pacitti of What Culture believes they have quite the prominent place in the tag team hierarchy:

It's time now to use the buzz around the Hardy brothers to stimulate the red brand's other squads. Amore and Cass, The New Day and others have a marquee set of rivals now. There is an opportunity to veer off the beaten path and energize Raw with originality.

The Hardys will lead that charge, and it will be absolutely wonderful.