10 Impact Wrestling decisions that they still regret

#5 The public feud over the Broken universe

The Broken Universe went from the hottest act in Impact, to a reason to hate the company.

2016 saw Matt Hardy engage in one of the most dramatic career reinventions pro wresting has ever seen. He launched the Broken Universe, through which he claimed to be possessed by a much older soul. The angle gave way to a wildly imaginative series of vignettes and oddball matches staged at the Hardy Compound (Hardy’s real-life home).

For a brief period, the gimmick was so compelling that it overtook Impact Wrestling, leading to a full special TV episode being filmed at the compound, with so much of the active roster sucked into that oddball world.

However, hings took a turn after a change in management. The company’s new leadership was neither as invested in Hardy’s creative vision, nor willing to broker a deal for a new contract in what Hardy considered a reasonable timeframe. While not everyone loved the 'Broken' gimmick, it had a ton of buzz around it and allowed Matt and his brother Jeff to become the hottest free agents in independent wrestling en route to a WWE return.

Impact Wrestling management, however, claimed intellectual property rights over the Broken Universe. While the Hardys could tease bits of their old gimmick, they couldn’t refer to themselves as Broken outright while the matter was tied up in legal proceedings. The issue gave way to a bitter war of words over social media that largely made Impact look bad, both for letting the Hardys go to cut off the fun angle and for keeping it from continuing elsewhere.

Impact more recently let the matter go, giving the Hardys their blessing to take back the gimmick, and ensuring more liberties for wrestlers to take their gimmicks with them in the future. It’s a nice gesture but doesn’t erase a half year of publicly looking like obstructionist bullies, effectively chasing away fans the Broken Universe had won them.