Tag: Broken Universe

Hardys Not Close To Acquiring Broken Gimmick?

Matt Hardy has been continuing his “Broken” teases online, and wrote earlier this week that they “are days away from winning.” While there were reports that Anthem Media and the Hardys are getting close to a settlement that would result in the Hardys getting the gimmick back, PWInsider reports that the word backstage at the Impact tapings this week is that “it’s actually much closer to the opposite with the two sides remaining very much at odds.”

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

Reby Hardy Contacts Lawyer Regarding Impact Drama, Matt Hardy On TNA Never Paying Senor Benjamin

Image result for Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Reby Hardy & Senor Benjamin

Matt and Reby Hardy continue to battle publicly with Impact Wrestling regarding the ownership of the “Broken” gimmick. In an interview with the LAW earlier this week, which is owned by Anthem, the parent company of Impact Wrestling, Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm said that it was “unquestionable” that they owned the gimmick.

“I think it’s unquestionable that the ownership of the characters in the storyline resides in Impact Wrestling,” Nordholm said. “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.”

Impact Wrestling Creative Consultant to Head of Creative Dutch Mantel, who has been bickering with the Hardys on Twitter lately, responded to Nordholm’s comments and thanked him for “clearing it up.”

Matt Hardy’s wife, Reby, responded to the former Zeb Colter (Dutch Mantel) and shared a text message that she sent to her attorney, as seen below:

Matt chimed in, noting that Senor Benjamin was never paid by the company despite being promised, and he never signed a release to allow the company to air footage with his likeness:

Source: WrestlingINC

Details On What’s Really Happening With The Broken Universe Trademark

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Ed Nordholm may have publicly said he’s not keeping the Broken Universe from The Hardy Brothers, but the family confirms that’s not the case — he dodged Matt Hardy‘s legal team for over a month as they attempted to come to an agreement over the trademarks.

Sources tell Pro Wrestling Sheet the Hardys hired counsel at the beginning of April with the intention of locking down the trademarks/characters and their lawyers were ignored by Anthem for weeks.

PWS was told Matt wants Impact to sign over any claim they may have to the Broken Universe because The Hardys believe they have ownership rights after creating and funding the inception of it all — long before Anthem purchased the company. In return, his entire family will agree to hold off on suing the company over a litany of alleged claims they have stemming from their time there.

PWS sources say the two sides finally met last week and it had appeared like they’d be resolving the contentious situation — but then Nordholm did an interview with Live Audio Wrestling last night saying they haven’t been in contact and nobody at WWE would even want the characters/trademarks.

PWS reached out to the Hardy Family, who verified that the facts in this story are accurate.

PWS also reached out to Nordholm, who said: “I do not think you have drawn the correct conclusion from what I said in the interview about prior contacts on this; there have been proposals back and forth on this, and WWE has advised me directly that they have no interest in this. As per the interview, we are now and always have been amenable to negotiating an arrangement with the Hardys that respects our investment in this IP.

I have no comment on the Hardy’s legal posturing. Our position is clear.”

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet