Ed Nordholmmay 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.”
Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm was a guest on The LAW: Live Audio Wrestling this week to discuss Anthem’s purchase of the company last fall, the departure of Dixie Carter, the Hardy’s situation and many more topics.
A segment from the interview discussing the ongoing issues with the Hardys is in the video below. Here are some highlights from the interview:
A lot of people will want to know about the relationship with the Hardys.
“I think it’s unquestionable that the ownership of the characters in the storyline resides in Impact Wrestling. 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.”
Are you open to speaking and sitting down with the Hardys?
“Oh, of course. I was open to speaking before and I’m open now. We’ve offered many times to find an arrangement with the Hardys that would allow them to continue to use the gimmick within reasonable parameters as to what’s important to us and what would be important to them. I understand with the dynamic of their move to the WWE and drama with which they created that launch – I understand their plan to create maximum “heat” in that period from when they announced to us that they weren’t going to sign the contracts, to the date that they revealed their new location. But I kinda half-expected that once that had been achieved, the thing would die its own natural death because 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.”
So they’re not actively pursuing it from you.
“Oh god, no. We’ve been in communication because there’s all this chatter about how we’re keeping it from them. [Laughs] I’m taking heat because I’m keeping something from you. If you want it, why don’t you call me? And their answer to me has been, ‘No, not interested.'”
Back in March, the Hardys appeared on a Ring of Honor event in Manhattan announcing they would be appearing on the following Friday’s pay-per-view. What had come out was that on Friday, ROH was notified a few hours before the pay-per-view to stop utilizing these characters on their broadcast.
“We had conversations with the Ring of Honor people before the Manhattan event as to what I was gonna be good with and what they were good with. I thought we had an understanding as to where the line was going to be, and they communicated to me that they understood our position and would honour it. It became apparent in the day before the pay-per-view event that whatever Ring of Honor was putting forward as to who was showing up, who was being teased, and actually who they intended to appear was going to be the [Broken Hardy] characters. We did what people who own intellectual property do. You can’t do that. We had an understanding. You’re not living by that understanding.”
How would you characterize the relationship now with Ring of Honor?
“Fine. I think the Ring of Honor people would have preferred had we not interfered with that show. I don’t think they hold any ill will toward me for doing what I did. I’ve had discussions with Joe [Koff, Ring of Honor COO] from time to time. There’s still opportunities for us to be working with Ring of Honor much in the same way we intended to do before the Hardy Brothers left. They’ve got lots of other wrestlers within their organization that would be fun to see against our wrestlers and vice-versa, I’m sure. So hopefully as the heat from all of this dies down at some point, we can start working with them in much the same way as we intend to work with AAA or NOAH or anybody else. It doesn’t have to be an international partner for us to be wanting to bring the fans opportunities to see match-ups they want to see.”
Impact Wrestling sent cease and desist letters to PPV providers in regards to Broken Matt and Jeff Hardy ahead of ROH‘s event Friday night … but we’re told the company doesn’t want to permanently stop the brothers from using the characters.
Sources with direct knowledge says the call to send legal letters came from the top brass at Anthem and wasn’t a decision that Jeff Jarrett had anything to do with.
Pro Wrestling Sheet was told the cease and desists included direct verbiage from the contracts both brothers signed. According to reportsthat was enough to scare Dish Network, who pulled the show.
Impact Wrestling sources say Anthem isn’t trying to recreate the characters without the brothers and they don’t want to force Matt and Jeff to no longer use them either — they want to work out an agreement for the Broken Universe IP. One that gives Anthem a cut of future proceeds.
Nordholm also tweeted saying Jeremy Borash, Dave Lagana and Billy Corgan created the characters, which should give further insight into why he’s standing firm.
As noted, the Hardys appeared at ROH Manhattan Mayhem VI last night and defeated The Young Bucks to win the ROH tag team titles. They cut a promo after the match and said that they have signed with the company.
During their promo they listed several ROH dates which are all before WrestleMania 33, which led many to believe that they signed a short-term deal with ROH until WrestleMania. Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that word is that it is a long-term deal and they are signed with ROH for the near future, although the exact length of the deal is not known.
“They’re not going to WWE anytime soon. I do not know the length of the [ROH] deal, but it’s not a two month deal,” Meltzer said. “They’re there [in ROH].”
It was noted that a big part of the Hardys signing with ROH was creative control, and that they can work independent dates. The Hardys are also once again taking independent dates. They had recently stopped taking any indie dates because they felt that they might have not been able to fulfill them if they signed with WWE.
The Hardys appeared at last night’s ROH show and defeated The Young Bucks to win the ROH tag team championship.
After the match the Hardys said that although people are wondering if they signed with Meekmahan, they “exist in the plane known as ROH.” They are with ROH until at least Supercard of Honor
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 6, 2017
ROH Tag Champs TNA Tag Champs OMEGA Tag Champs South America Tag Champs Mid-Atlantic Tag Champs Mexican Tag Champs National Tag Champs pic.twitter.com/66uDvqpvSn
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 5, 2017
As noted, Reby Hardy appeared on Busted Open with Dave LaGreca today and discussed the Hardys leaving Impact Wrestling (highlights are here). Busted Open sent word that after the interview Reby contacted Dave LaGreca to say that the Hardys wanted to do right by the fans, the company and the TNA tag titles by giving up the titles on television, however Anthem denied it.
Broken Matt and Jeff Hardy will NOT be signing new deals with Impact Wrestling … and it’s because they felt disrespected during contract talks.
Sources with direct knowledge say the Hardy Boyz agreed to terms on a new deal back in December, but needed a few minor changes, and were simply waiting for the finalized offer.
The deal was supposed to be for 1-year in length. Weeks and weeks passed, with Matt constantly checking in, but they were consistently given the run around.
Eventually Matt and Jeff’s lawyer told Impact Wrestling officials that they wanted a creative control clause in their new deals … which was shot down immediately. One source says their lawyer told Ed Nordholm there was interest from other companies and he responded by saying, “Well, tell them to go to WWE then.”
This set Jeff Hardy off, who at that point said he was no longer interested in re-signing. Matt continued talks, but when they sent a new contract last week it was now a 2-year deal and terms had been snuck in which stated they’d receive 10% of all his profits outside of Impact.
Matt’s lawyer said he’d be a fool to sign, so he informed the company he wasn’t interested in doing so — but would still come to the tapings to write off his characters. However, he was told he was crazy to think they’d want him on TV without a contact.
Impact officials are currently trying to get their tag titles back.
The Hardy’s TNA contracts expire this week, so they will be free agents by this Wednesday.
Dave Meltzer noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that as far as WWE signing the Hardy’s, WWE is “certainly in the ballgame, if not likely.” The Hardys are currently not taking any independent dates after May as they have told promoters that they might not be able to fulfill those dates, although they noted that it could change.
It was noted that the backstage changes in TNA, including Jeff Jarrett’s new role with TNA, have made it more likely that The Hardy’s could leave, although it’s not a done deal and they are still in talks with company.
The next set of Impact Wrestling tapings starts this Thursday, March 2nd, and runs through Sunday, March 5th. The television has been built around the Hardy’s, so it will be interesting to see how it will be handled if the Hardy’s decide to pursue other options.
ROH officially announced today that Matt and Jeff Hardy will be facing ROH World Tag Team Champions the Young Bucks at Supercard of Honor XI on Saturday, April 1st at The Lakeland Center in Lakeland, FL. The event will not be televised, so the only way to see it is in-person.
Below is the announcement from ROH:
IT’S OFFICIAL! THE YOUNG BUCKS WILL FACE MATT AND JEFF HARDY AT SUPERCARD OF HONORThe eyes of the wrestling world will be on the Lakeland Center on Saturday April 1 stars from around the globe converge in Central Florida for SUPERCARD OF HONOR XI. Stars from Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and CMLL will do battle throughout one of the biggest nights of hard-hitting, fast-paced, in-your-face action in Ring of Honor history!
The ROH Executive Committee has promised championships to be contended, first-time appearances from New Japan and CMLL, and is excited to announce the first round of ROH stars that have been signed to participate in the biggest Supercard of Honor, ever! Check back throughout each day next week as ROHWrestling.com celebrates Supercard of Honor Announcement Week with international participants revealed, championship matches signed, and information on how to meet all of your favorite ROH, NJPW, and CMLL stars!
Tag team wrestling has never been hotter in Ring of Honor, boasting one of the deepest rosters of teams in company history. At the top of the mountain sit the Young Bucks. The two-time ROH World Tag Team Champions have blazed a trail never before seen in wrestling, breaking rules and records along the way. Matt and Nick Jackson have used their athleticism and their vast array of influences to capture the attention of the wrestling world.
Perhaps, to their surprise, their reach crossed previously unbreached borders. Indeed, the Bucks of Youth had made their impression and their message spread far across the Hardy Compound, straight to the ears of #Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero!
One of the most decorated teams of all-time, Jeff and Matt Hardy have held world tag team championships in every organization in which they have been a part. The brothers used death-defying high flying and athleticism to become stars around the globe. Some even say their successes have laid the ground work for the Bucks to be able to have the success they have.
Appearing via satellite at Final Battle, Matt Hardy declared that the Hardys have been “mandated to prove they are the greatest tag team in all of time and all of space”, issuing an official challenge to “the Bucks of Youth”. In their mission to render the Bucks obsolete, the Hardys have promised to DELETE the Young Bucks!
After a recent appearance by Vanguard-1 on Ring of Honor television, the ROH World Tag Team Champions the Young Bucks have officially signed to face the Hardys at the BIGGEST Supercard of Honor ever! This dream tag team match will happen LIVE in Lakeland and will not be broadcast. The only way to see this one is to be there LIVE!
The new ROH Executive Board has been working around the clock to sign a match that few thought could happen. As ROH continues to break barriers and sign matches only dreamed of in 2017, there is only one question heading into the BIGGEST night in ROH history: Too Sweet or Delete?
As seen at the end of last night’s Hardy New Year special edition of TNA Impact Wrestling, it was revealed that Matt Hardy and Reby Sky are expecting their second baby boy in the summer. Below is video from their gender reveal.
It appears the Brother Nero character for Jeff Hardy is no more. On last night’s show there was a segment where Matt took Jeff back to the Dome of Deletion and announced that he had repaid his debt by helping Matt reclaim the TNA Tag Team Titles. Matt then “restored” everything he had taken from Jeff. Matt also tweeted on Jeff’s gimmick:
#BrotherNero struggled with losing his mortal identity.
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