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What’s the story?
According to Cage Side Seats, WWE might start using “Broken” instead of “Woken” for the gimmick of Matt Hardy. This is apparently due to the recent developments that went down between Matt and Impact Wrestling regarding the Broken gimmick.
In case you did not know…
Matt Hardy, alongside his brother Jeff, returned to WWE back in 2017. The duo showed up at WrestleMania as surprise participants for the Raw Tag Team championship ladder match and ended up winning the gold. They later dropped the title to Sheamus and Cesaro in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules.
Back in November, Matt introduced his ‘Woken’ gimmick in WWE and has been involved in a feud with Bray Wyatt ever since.
The heart of the matter
The rumor suggests that WWE will replace the “Woken” gimmick of Matt Hardy with the “Broken” gimmick in the coming weeks. The legal tug of war between Matt and Impact Wrestling was solved a couple of months back and subsequently, Matt had won the rights to use the Broken gimmick.
Impact had earlier mentioned that they are interested to see how WWE will take forward the concept.
What’s next?
Matt Hardy wrestled Bray Wyatt at the 25th-anniversary episode of Monday Night Raw. He is now expected to appear at the Royal Rumble which takes place this Sunday night. The show will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Apart from the Men’s Royal Rumble match, the show will also host a historic Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Author’s take
Matt’s “woken” gimmick has only managed to develop a lukewarm response from the WWE Universe. Though there was an initial hype surrounding the character, it soon died off. The storyline against Bray Wyatt did no good as well.
Changing “Woken” to “Broken” is not going to solve all the problems but at the same time, it’s a good start. WWE should think about giving more creative freedom to Hardy so that he can produce the magic he produced back in Impact Wrestling.
