The BROKEN Saga

Jeff did an interview and had this to say about the whole TNA lawsuit thing:

“It’s heartbreaking. I’m so passionate about any character I portray whether it’s Willow, the Anti-Christ, the Charismatic Enigma, Itchweed… I’m so passionate about that. Nero is my legit middle name. Me not being able to be called Brother Nero is very offensive and heartbreaking. The highest rated show last year was The Final Deletion and that’s a fact. The majority vote wins and people dug that. And then they kind of (pooped) on it. That’s not cool.

“And now with this lawsuit, we did this Ring of Honor pay-per-view out in Las Vegas and we got these cease and desist letters. I couldn’t believe it. In the print it said TNA developed these characters specifically for Matt and Jeff Hardy and that is so untrue. Matt developed himself and Brother Nero started to flow. I developed Brother Nero with the eyes and how I act. It’s all ours and it is very sad and disappointing. It’s almost surreal like, ‘Is this really happening?'”

Seems like it. I'm noticing more BROKEN things again.

-- Impact Wrestling has officially filed paperwork with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for multiple trademarks related to the "broken" characters and gimmicks previously portrayed by Matt and Jeff Hardy.

-- They appear to have filed the trademarks on April 28 for the terms "Broken Matt", "Brother Nero", "Vanguard1" and "Broken Brilliance" and the owners are actually listed as TNA Entertainment LLC.

-- This follows Matt Hardy filing his own similar trademark "Broken Matt Hardy" on March 1.

So it's not over yet it seems.

So Reby needs to learn to shut up. So glad WWE didn't sign her to a contract. So bloody annoying and needs to DELETE her Twitter account.

So some dude started it by saying "If Matt knew he had a case he'd be trying to get this in front of a judge ASAP. If Anthem was avoiding court, Reby would let us know."

Impact Wrestling Creative Consultant Dutch Mantell, fka Zeb Colter in WWE, replied to it which then started Reby off to no ones surprise. Zeb actually comes off quite well in it I think. If anything, Reby is doing more damage than good with fans.

" So they may be getting the gimmick pretty soon, they’re very close to getting that gimmick.”

He says two different things in the same sentence. That's why I can't take Meltzer seriously sometimes.

As noted earlier this week, Matt Hardy has been continuing to tease the emergence of his “Broken” character, and even noted him and Jeff “are days away from winning.”

While there were reports that Anthem/GFW and the Hardys are getting close to a settlement that would result in the Hardys getting the gimmick back, PWInsider is now reporting that 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.”

Bah all I want to see are the Broken Hardyz in the WWE. Wish these two sides could come to some sort of agreement. I'm bored of plain ole Team Extreme.

Matt Hardy’s wife, Reby Hardy, recently spoke with Sports Illustrated and below are some interview highlights:

Are the Hardys willing to go to court to pursue the IP? Are you optimistic of a judge or jury ruling in your favor?

"Going to the court is not like going to the grocery store. There is a lot of money involved in a legal case, which is another reason why Anthem is dragging this out as long as they can. Jeff Jarrett said, “Just keep dragging it out, they’ll get tired of spending money.” We would rather settle this like civil human beings, which is what we have tried to do for months and months.

“There are so many things that, if we choose to go to court, we can also add into the case. Senor Benjamin, who is my father, never signed a release to have his image be marketed. Technically, they should not have been able to air his footage. They do not have a release for my son, Maxel, who had no written documents saying he could be on set at Universal Studios, which could jeopardize their relationship with the place where they film on a monthly basis. There is also the fact that I created—shot, directed, and edited—so much footage that I never gave them a release to use, either.”

Anthem also denies that it ever asked for a significant percent of Hardy merchandise, including Jeff Hardy’s art work and music, as well as stated that the contracts offered to Matt and Jeff were almost close to equal in terms of pay. Is the company being truthful, and where do we go from here?

“We literally have those documents in email form from Ed Nordholm.

“In one of the contracts, Anthem snuck in a percentage the company would be owed from any income from ShopMattHardy.com and JeffHardyBrand.com. The fact that they would feel entitled to that is a joke. Jeff Hardy’s site is literally his paintings and music; it has nothing to do with wrestling and is an artistic venture. Why are they entitled to any of that? To slide that into the contract was a real shady move, and we have the documents to prove it.

“Jeff Jarrett’s plan was to give Jeff Hardy all the money, and he actually said to pay Matt as little as possible because he believed Matt could not go anywhere without Jeff Hardy. I had reservations about WWE for a long time, but I forgot all of my reservations and our loyalty to the TNA brand after I learned that.

“F— these guys, to put it bluntly. After Matt financed his own shoots and put hours and hours of his own time writing the shows? F— these guys. We didn’t have any scripts. They’re claiming IP, they’re claiming this is their character and development, but we never had one script or one shoot sheet. That was all Matt pouring himself into the character and dedicating himself to it.

“The amount of time and effort he put into this made it his brainchild, which is why this is more of a personal matter than business. It was all our creation, and we can easily prove that it was all us, and it’s nothing but ego on their end. Matt refused to re-sign, they really believed that he could not go anywhere else, and we called them out on their bluff. Ed Nordholm actually told Jeff Hardy’s attorney, “Tell them to go to WWE.” Is that the way you negotiate? To try to get someone to sign a s— contract to work at your s— company for s— money? When it comes down to it, this comes down to their ego versus all of the time, effort, and passion we have put into this project and gimmick.

“This is a personal investment vs. ego. I feel like there will never be an agreement without going to court.”

-- In a somewhat surprising development, Impact Wrestling / Anthem Sports has decided that they will not contest the "Broken Universe" trademarks, pretty much clearing all obstacles for Matt Hardy to use that gimmick/persona in WWE or anywhere he wants. The trademarks were up for objection in December and then any parties would have 30 days to step up.

-- An article in Sports Illustrated indicated that WWE is creating its own new character for Hardy, which will not be called or referred to as "broken" but whose mannerisms will be very similar.

-- Anthem's Ed Nordholm released the following statement on the matter:

“We have seen the character development and will be interested to see where they take the concept. Our new talent agreements all incorporate language that allow talent to continue to use their IMPACT persona after they leave the company. We are working with our legal team to amend our existing agreements to extend this to all of our current and former talent.”

I love some reporting. It's possible... AKA, you have no idea. But clearly people are thinking it already *cough*Ninjak*cough*

-- The story behind Anthem Sports making a complete turn on their stance regarding the intellectual property dispute with the Hardys is that is that it is believed that the brothers were able to show "financial and contractual digressions" which portrayed Anthem in a negative light.

-- It's possible that their chance in position was basically a way of publicly saving face for the company as coming across as the "good guys" who let not only Matt and Jeff Hardy keep their gimmicks but all their other talents as well moving forward.