What’s the story?
Impact Wrestling President Ed Nordholm leaked a log of communication between Matt Hardy and himself to Pro Wrestling Sheet, indicating that WWE had no interest in the 'Broken' universe and its characters. Additionally, he also leaked details of Matt Hardy’s contract, and the latter responded on Twitter.
In case you didn’t know...
Matt and Jeff Hardy underwent a complete character transformation during their final months in Impact Wrestling, adopting a gimmick that received much fanfare and adulation from the wrestling world.
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The ownership of the ‘Broken’ personas of the Hardy Boyz was the subject of much controversy after their subsequent departure from the company. Many presume that Impact Wrestling has stopped the Hardyz from using their gimmick in WWE. However, Nordholm tried to indicate that it was not so.
The heart of the matter
Follow the link to find a glimpse of the contract, as posted by PWInsider, where the terms of ownership of the gimmick have been marked in blue. Nordholm clarifies that the contract specifies that Impact Wrestling owns the rights to the Broken gimmick, and not Matt and Jeff.
At the outset, this is what Nordholm wrote in his email to Pro Wrestling Sheet, specifying that The Hardyz are undermining the role of the remaining creative team that helped create the Broken Universe alongside Matt and Jeff:
“In response to on-going speculation concerning our position with respect to the “Broken Brilliance” creative, I am providing this detailed log of our communications on the subject and the contractual structure of our relationship with Matt Hardy with respect to intellectual property matters (which is standard to our roster and in the industry).
There has never been any argument from Impact Wrestling that the Hardy’s were key contributors to the development of the characters and story line, or that Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy executed on their roles in spectacular fashion.
But the position taken by the Hardys is a massive disservice to the contributions of the rest of the creative team at Impact Wrestling, including Jeremy Borash, Dave Lagana, Matt Conway and Billy Corgan, and is totally at odds with the terms of their contracts.”
The complete log of their private conversation can be glimpsed here. What is notable is the section that indicates that WWE lacked interest in the 'Broken’ universe, towards the bottom.
Matt Hardy responded on Twitter, with the following words:
What’s next?
Things have turned ugly and only time will tell, who eventually secures the rights to the Broken Universe gimmick.
Author’s take
This may be an unpopular opinion, but Ed Nordholm may be right about WWE not wanting to use The Broken Hardy gimmick. There have been many rumblings on the internet, about how Vince McMahon is not a fan of the Broken universe.
At this juncture, let's cross our fingers and hope that the Hardyz are allowed to use the gimmick. Their charm may wear off soon if they are not ‘broken’.
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