
The saga of the Hardy’s “Broken” gimmick continues as TNA released a statement this week where they declared WWE has no interest in it. It seems like TNA can back up their claims too, or so it would seem at first glance!
TNA Releases Proof of Their Claims
To back up their claims that Impact Wrestling still owns the rights to the broken gimmick, and that the WWE has no interest in it whatsoever, Impact Wrestling has released a series of emails. The emails contain conversations between Impact Wrestling and WWE officials, with a WWE official stating there is no interest for the gimmick.
The Hardy Boyz Claims
The Hardy Boyz are claiming that Impact Wrestling is holding the Broken gimmick hostage. They also claim that the company is unwilling to meet with their lawyers to release the gimmick. However, the emails and correspondence between Impact Wrestling and the Hardy Boyz seem to disprove that.
Still, there is only so much you can deduct from a couple of emails and correspondence, so we will never get the full picture of the situation. The response email has also been blacked out in the statement, which means we have no idea who sent the email stating that the WWE has no interest in the gimmick.
Matt & Reby Hardy Vs. Impact Wrestling
Over the past couple of weeks, Matt and Reby Hardy have been quite vocal about Impact Wrestling. Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm threw some more fuel on the fire last week, by claiming in in interview that it was “unquestionable” they owned the gimmick. Here is the full statement:
“I don’t think even the Hardys would dispute that. They’ve all signed contracts. Their contracts are standard contracts. Not only in the wrestling industry, but in the entertainment industry, generally, the producer of the show owns the content and it doesn’t really matter who in the creative team came up with the idea of what the character should be.”
“The person that owns the storyline and the character is the person who invested to take that idea and put it on TV. That’s what we did. Impact put those characters on TV, and the contracts with those people are indisputably contracts that provide their IP to Impact.”
Twitter Wars
The dispute between Matt, Reby and Impact Wrestling has continued on Twitter, with both parties taking some serious jabs at each other. Reby also fired some shots at the release of the communication logs we mentioned earlier. Here are the tweets:
NEWS: Thanks @EdNordholm for clearing it up on @LAWradio. @IMPACTWRESTLING owns BrokenBrilliance IP 100%. No dispute.@RealJeffJarrett
— 𝔻𝕣. 𝔻𝕦𝕥𝕔𝕙 (@DirtyDMantell) May 22, 2017
Inaccurate. Our attorney bills say otherwise & can act as a cute little "log" too. What are they trying to prove & to whom ? https://t.co/QTz88aRMS4
— Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) May 23, 2017
YALL ARE A JOKE & in that aspect alone, YOU ALREADY LOST. But we can – and will – make the L official, my dude.@EdNordholm #NoCredEd
— Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) May 23, 2017
Long story short: TNA tried a literal sales pitch on WWE re: #BROKEN gimmick (which isn't legally theirs) & they said "LOLZ yeah no, thanks"
— Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) May 23, 2017
Should we release the phonecalls ? I kinda wanna release the phonecalls now… since we playin petty, apparently.
— Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) May 24, 2017
My Take on This
I can honestly say I believe Reby and Matt. If you are treated unfairly, you will have a major reaction, which can certainly be seen with Matt and Reby. Impact Wrestling is coming from a corporate standpoint, but they are not releasing all the information in my opinion.
What is your opinion on this situation? Do you believe that TNA is holding the broken gimmick hostage? Whose side are you on?
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