Tag: Broken Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy Teases “Broken” Change

Matt Hardy continues to tease reverting to his “Broken” ways. He tweeted this video and wrote, “The CELESTIAL VOICES have told me that change is coming.”

Jeff Jarrett Says There’s No Question Who Owns ‘Broken Hardy’ Gimmick

Impact Wrestling has been locked in a legal battle with Matt and Jeff Hardy for the majority of this year over the rights to the Broken Matt and Brother Nero gimmicks.

Impact’s argument is the gimmicks were created while they were working in TNA but both Hardy brothers claim they created the idea behind the gimmicks that were of their own doing. Matt Hardy’s wife, Reby, has been very vocal in her criticism towards Impact over the legal issues and even tweeted that Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions President Ed Nordholm and Jeff Jarrett are the “scum of the earth.”

What complicates matters even more is Jeff Jarrett’s personal friendship with Jeff Hardy. Jarrett recently spoke to Wrestle:List about the ongoing legal battle, where he gave his thoughts on the squabble.

“I always take the high road because there is legal squabbles or potential legal squabbles but I have said this to a couple of outlets, and I say this with very broad strokes – I am from Nashville so I am around music which is intellectual property and I have been in the business 30 years,” Jarrett told Wrestle:List. “Intellectual property laws are very simple, there are two sides to it; there are publishers and the writers, then there are the performers as well.”

“Jeff Hardy has been one of my best friends for 20 years, you can look on my social media and their social media, and we take family vacations together but business is business,” Jarrett continued. “So when it relates to IP it’s real simple, there is a publisher who owns the property, there is a writer who gets credit and can monetize it, then there is the performers. There is no question that Broken Matt and Brother Nero’s performances were off the charts good. But when it comes to ownership to me it’s almost a silly squabble, it’s never been in question. Impact are the owners.”

Impact attempted to re-sign both Matt and Jeff Hardy when their contracts expired earlier this year but negotiations were unsuccessful. The Hardys worked for Ring of Honor in March before returning to WWE together at WrestleMania 33 in April.

Source: WrestlingINC

Matt Hardy Trademark Refused

Matt Hardy’s trademark application for ‘Broken Matt Hardy’ was reportedly refused by the U.S. Patent & Trademark office. Hardy has six months to respond before the application is abandoned. The reason for the refusal read in part:

“Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, as used on the specimen of record, identifies only the name of a particular character/personal name; it does not function as a service mark to identify and distinguish applicant’s services from those of others and to indicate the source of applicant’s services.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Matt Hardy Responds To Impact Wrestling President Leaking His Contract Details

Image result for Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy commented on Impact Wrestling President Ed Nordholm sending PWInsider a log of the communications between the company and Hardy over the ownership of the “Broken” gimmick. Nordholm included an alleged four-page excerpt from Hardy’s contract with highlighted passages which stated that the company owned all intellectual property after their relationship ended.

Nordholm also posted an email exchange with a WWE employee who stated that WWE had “no interest” in getting involved with acquiring the gimmick.

Hardy responded on Twitter:

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling President Releases Portion Of Matt Hardy’s Contract, Reby Hardy Sends Threats

The issues between the Hardys and Impact Wrestling got even uglier tonight. Impact Wrestling President Ed Nordholm sent PWInsider a log of the communications between the company and Matt Hardy over the ownership of the “Broken” gimmick. Nordholm included an alleged four-page excerpt from Hardy’s contract and highlighted passages which stated that the company owns all intellectual property after their relationship ended.

Nordholm also posted an email exchange with a WWE employee who stated that WWE had “no interest” in getting involved with acquiring the gimmick.

Below is the email that Nordholm sent to PWInsider:

Good afternoon,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 Lagano (sic), Matt Conway and Billy Corgan, and is totally at odds with the terms of their contracts.

The Hardys would have you believe that Anthem is somehow avoiding their lawyers to address this. This is the log of our communications with the Hardys and/or their lawyers. It is clear that we have not been avoiding them.

* March 10 – EBN speaks with executives at ROH about “Broken Brilliance” being used in ROH shows. I indicated willingness to provide an arrangement that would allow the creative to be used in ROH shows and encouraged ROH to have Matt speak with me if he wanted to pursue that discussion
* March 11 – EBN spoke at length with Matt by telephone about the structure of an amicable arrangement for use of the Broken Brilliance creative
* March 14 – Matt sent text message to Ed Nordholm at 4:05pm:

“Tried giving you a call, it rang & went busy. I’m open to working things out amicably as we spoke about. The lawyer who represent me is interested in seeing your offer. My lawyer’s email is {redacted} which you could send the offer to for review. Thanks.”

And I responded by text at 6:41 pm

“Thank you Matt. I was supposed to be [flying] into NYC today and am a little twisted. I will pull something together with [our] lawyers and try to get it over to your lawyer tomorrow or Thursday at latest”

* March 16 – At 8:25 pm I sent an update text to Matt:

“Hi Matt. My lawyer got me a draft too late to get reviewed for today. I will look at it in the morning. Sorry for the delay”

And he responded at 9:16 pm

“Ok, he’s ready for it. Thanks for the update.”

* March 17 – counsel for Anthem Wrestling delivered draft proposal to counsel for Matt Hardy
* March 24 – counsel for Anthem Wresting followed up with Matt Hardy counsel requesting comments on the proposal
* March 27 – counsel for Matt Hardy responds that they have been away and have not reviewed the proposal but will be back “in the next few days”

After which no further communication until

* April 18 – counsel for Matt Hardy leaves a voice mail message for counsel for Anthem Wrestling asking to arrange a meeting
* April 20 – EBN contacts WWE by email to determine veracity of internet rumours concerning WWE interest in Broken Brilliance
* April 21 — WWE respond by email that there “is no interest on our end” {redacted email exchange attached}
* April 21 – counsel for Matt Hardy sends a follow up message requesting a meeting
* April 27 – lawyers speak to arrange a meeting
* May 16 – lawyers meet but no agreement reached

Finally, I am attaching a copy of the relevant provisions of Matt’s contract with Impact. The clause is virtually identical to the corresponding provisions of every wrestler under contract with Impact.

The facts are that we tried to accommodate the Hardys for their Ring of Honour engagements, and have tried to elicit an indication from WWE whether they have an interest in using the Broken Brilliance creative in WWE. We are not hoarding it from WWE; WWE is not interested in it.

We fully respect the decision of Matt and Jeff to return to WWE and appreciate all of their contributions to Impact Wrestling. We wish them every success.

Our focus is on the future and we will not have any further public comment on this matter.

Ed Nordholm

Reby Hardy responded to Nordholm’s leaks and timeline of events, and threatened to release some of their phone calls, as seen below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: WrestlingINC

‘Broken’ Hardys – Impact Wrestling Trademark Note

New trademark applications were filed on April 28th for “Brother Nero”, “Broken Brilliance” and “Broken Matt” by Impact Wrestling. It should be noted that Matt Hardy had applied for a trademark for “Broken Matt Hardy” on March 1st. A source for Impact Wrestling told PWInsider that while the trademarks are listed as being filed in April, they were actually filed back in January. It was also noted that while the Hardys and Impact are going back and forth with legal letters, there has been no lawsuit filed yet and no agreement or settlement regarding the gimmick has been made.

Source: WrestlingINC

Matt Hardy Says ‘DELETION Is Coming’, Offers Some ‘Broken Brilliance’

As we mentioned this morning, Reby Sky denied reports that WWE had purchased the rights to the Hardys “Broken” gimmick from Impact Wrestling. It should be noted that Jeff Hardy denied days before WrestleMania that they were headed to WWE anytime soon.

Matt Hardy has been tweeting nearly all of his messages lately in his “Broken” character. As of this writing, Impact Wrestling still has a Trademark logo on their YouTube channel next to any phrases pertaining to the gimmick, including “Broken Matt,” “Brother Nero” and “Broken Brilliance.”

Nonetheless, Hardy wrote on Twitter that “DELETION is coming,” as seen below:

Source: WrestlingINC

Reby Hardy Denies Reports Of WWE Buying Matt Hardy’s ‘Broken’ Gimmick, Comments On Him Not Using It

Image result for Matt & Reby Hardy

Reby Hardy denied recent reports regarding WWE working out a deal with Impact Wrestling to use the “Broken” character for Matt Hardy on television. She noted that it was “absolutely” not true, and she thinks it was leaked by Impact Wrestling “in an attempt to make TNA look like it’s in a position of power,” as seen below:

As for Matt currently not using the “Broken” character on WWE television, Reby wrote:

Source: WrestlingINC

WWE Reportedly Planning On Using Matt Hardy’s ‘Broken’ Gimmick

WWE is reportedly planning on using the “Broken” character for Matt Hardy. Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE is working on a deal with Impact Wrestling to use the character on television, which has yet to be finalized.

As noted, there have been legal issues with Matt Hardy using the “Broken” character with Impact Wrestling claiming ownership of the gimmick. Impact Wrestling recently added a trademark symbol (™) to videos on their YouTube channel containing references to the ‘Broken’ gimmick, including ‘Broken Matt’, ‘Brother Nero’ and ‘Broken Brilliance’. They also sent a cease and desist letter last month to pay-per-view providers airing the ROH 15th Anniversary pay-per-view regarding the intellectual property of the gimmick, which resulted in the Hardys not using most of the mannerisms associated with those characters on the show.

Hardy has been using some of the mannerisms of the “Broken” character on television since returning to WWE at WrestleMania 33 earlier this month. He has also been switching his Twitter description, using “#BROKEN”, “#Version1” and “#Mattitude.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Matt Hardy ‘Broken’ Again On Twitter

Matt Hardy yesterday removed “#BROKEN” from his Twitter profile and added “#DELETE.” He changed it back to “#BROKEN” and wrote the following regarding patience:

Source: WrestlingINC