Impact Wrestling Boss Says He Owns Matt Hardy’s Gimmick, Vince McMahon ‘Not Interested’ In Broken Universe


For weeks, we’ve mostly been hearing the side of the Hardy family with regard to the ongoing legal battle for Matt Hardy’s gimmick – that of a “broken” and eccentric individual with a penchant for using big words and “deleting” people he doesn’t like. But what about Impact Wrestling’s side?

The “Broken” gimmick helped Matt and his brother Jeff (aka “Brother Nero”) become among the hottest names in wrestling in 2016, and WWE fans largely expected The Hardy Boyz to bring the “Broken Universe” with them when they returned to WWE earlier this year. The Hardys’ former employer, Impact Wrestling, has mostly refrained from issuing official statements or cutting interviews discussing their side in the matter, but a new interview with Impact President Ed Nordholm now gives insights into the company’s position, while adding some claims that may hint WWE might not be as interested in the Broken Universe as once thought.

On Sunday night, Nordholm cut a rare interview with Live Audio Wrestling, discussing several hot topics regarding his company. Those topics included Jeff and Matt Hardy’s gimmicks, as well as the Broken Universe, which encompasses the “Broken” Matt and “Brother Nero” personas, several other characters (including those played by Matt’s wife and father-in-law), and certain terms and catchphrases.

Will Jeff and Matt Hardy ever get to expose WWE fans to the Broken Universe? [Image by WWE]

In quotes from the interview published by WrestlingNews.co, Ed Nordholm expressed confidence that Impact Wrestling will win the battle for the Broken Universe, and that his company is the only rightful owner of all the gimmicks, catchphrases, and characters within it. He also believes that Matt Hardy and his family, despite their best efforts and Matt’s own claims that he trademarked his gimmick, will be able to successfully dispute his claim.

“I don’t believe I have ownership of it, I KNOW I have ownership of it.”

Matt’s wife, Reby Hardy, has been especially vocal on Twitter about the Broken Universe controversy, oftentimes using strong language as she called out Nordholm, Impact executive producer Jeff Jarrett, and other high-ranking officials in the company for making it so hard for Matt Hardy to use his gimmick in WWE. Nordholm acknowledged this, saying that he expects Reby to react strongly to the interview, as she often has in the past.

What’s interesting, however, is Ed Nordholm’s claim that Impact has reached out to WWE and its owner/chairman Vince McMahon, trying to hammer out a deal which would allow The Hardy Boyz to use their Broken Universe characters in WWE. But he alleged that McMahon and the rest of WWE’s creative team don’t care much for the gimmicks and may not be willing to put up much of a fight for them after all.

“As far as I know, the WWE doesn’t want the gimmick, and indeed, from every conversation I’ve had with them…I’ve been told they have no interest in it.”

Nordholm added that if Jeff and Matt Hardy really want the gimmicks and want to use them that badly, they’ll have to conduct their own negotiations.

In the days prior to Nordholm’s interview, Impact Wrestling creative consultant Dutch Mantell took to Twitter, promising followers that they will soon learn the company’s side on the Matt Hardy gimmick issue and warning them that the company is “listening to your comments.” With Hardy Boyz fans still upset that Impact won’t let them take the Broken Universe to WWE, this resulted in Matt going slightly off-character on Twitter yesterday and referring to Mantell (aka Zeb Colter in his last WWE run) as a “puppet” of executive producer Jeff Jarrett, as Sportskeeda wrote.

Additionally, Mantell had an exchange of words on Twitter with Reby Hardy, with Mantell reacting to an angry Reby tweet by telling her to “be nice,” as he loves the Hardys.

Now that Ed Nordholm’s aired his side and alleged that WWE has no interest in Matt Hardy’s “Broken” gimmick or anything else Broken Universe-related, do you think there’s a chance The Hardy Boyz will ever have a chance to use the gimmicks that made them a surprise hit with fans in 2016?

[Featured Image by WWE]

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