Ever since Jeff and Matt Hardy made their surprising WWE return at WrestleMania 33 , fans of the Hardy Boyz have wondered when and if the Broken Matt Hardy gimmick would end up seeing life in the WWE. That dream took a major blow last week when Anthem Sports and Entertainment, the new owners of Impact Wrestling, filed trademarks on a number of terms used in the Broken Matt Hardy world.
Matt Hardy, who has shown frustration with the actions of Impact Wrestling since he and Jeff Hardy chose to leave the company, has fired back on Twitter at one specific person who he says is responsible for what he considers to be theft of his personal creation.
Matt Hardy wrote that Anthem Sports and Entertainment have proven that they do not care about the fans. He then said that Ed Nordholm is who is responsible for trying to keep “my creation” and that Nordholm is holding the Broken Universe “hostage” and away from the fans who have voiced that they want to see it.
When Jeff and Matt Hardy made their huge return at WrestleMania 33 , fans all over the arena started chanting “Delete,” which Matt made popular when he portrayed the character of Broken Matt. Just last week on Monday Night Raw , Matt played into it and yelled “Delete” before he and his brother attacked Cesaro and Sheamus in the ring.
Right after Matt Hardy chose not to re-sign with Impact Wrestling, he trademarked “Broken Matt Hardy.” Despite that, Anthem Sports and Entertainment sent a cease and desist letter to Ring of Honor and PPV providers and actually got one provider to drop the Ring of Honor pay-per-view the Hardy’s were working.
Jeff and Matt Hardy finished their commitment to Ring of Honor the day before WrestleMania 33 and used a small portion of the “Broken Matt” gimmick to avoid any more problems with the now litigious Impact Wrestling.
Last week, there were reports that the WWE wanted to work out a deal with Impact Wrestling to use the “Broken Matt” gimmick, but the movements of Anthem Sports and Entertainment this week might hurt that. Anthem Sports trademarked the terms “Broken Brilliance,” “Broken Matt,” “Brother Nero,” and “Vanguard1.”
For WWE fans who don’t watch Impact Wrestling, Broken Matt was Matt Hardy, Brother Nero was Jeff Hardy, and Vanguard1 was the drone that the boys used to help them achieve their conquests.
Other things used that Anthem Sports possibly couldn’t trademark included Senior Benjamin, who was portrayed by the father of Matt Hardy’s wife, Reby Sky, who was not under contract to the company, and King Maxwell, which was the name given to Matt’s son, who is too young to work under a contract in Impact Wrestling.
In an interview with The Art of Wrestling Podcast , Jeff Hardy said that he and Matt financed almost everything that was accomplished in the Broken Matt saga, including the extremely popular Final Deletion , which saw the brothers pay $3,000 of their own money to build a giant volcano used as a prop in the angle.
Reby Sky even came out on Twitter and said that Anthem Sports and Entertainment have spent money to come after her legally after she continued to make comments about their treatment of her and her family. Reby Sky happens to be pregnant right now with her and Matt’s second child.
There is always a chance that trademarking the words was used so that Anthem Sports and Entertainment can create DVDs of the matches and promos from the Broken Matt gimmick, but it will also make it hard for the WWE to capitalize on it if they really try bringing it into the company.
[Featured Image by WWE]
