What’s The Story?
Impact Wrestling’s parent company ‘Anthem Sports and Entertainment’ and the Hardy family have been embroiled in a long, drawn-out court battle over the exclusivity rights of the ‘Broken’ gimmick – an idea that’s been conceptualised by Matt Hardy
After their contracts with Impact Wrestling expired, the Hardys moved on to greener pastures citing TNA’s unsatisfactory behaviour and lack of desire toward re-signing them; moving on to other pro-wrestling promotions the biggest of them being ROH.
Furthermore, the reason behind the Hardys bros not playing up their Broken personsas at their recent appearance in ROH (Ring Of Honor) is TNA’s legal notice sent to the Hardys, disallowing them from the usage of the aforementioned gimmick outside the TNA organisation.
In case you didn’t know...
On March 4th the Hardys won the ROH tag-team championship by beating The Young Bucks at the company’s 2017 Manhattan Mayhem event. They defended the aforementioned titles on March 10th against The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice at ROH’s 15th anniversary PPV show in a three-way tag team street fight matchup.
Prior to the March 10th event, Impact Wrestling’s parent organisation ‘Anthem Sports and Entertainment’ sent the prohibitory legal notice to the Hardys.
The heart of the matter
Granted that the Hardys have found a new home in ROH, however, with Impact Wrestling fighting tooth-and-nail in order to stop them from using their highly popular Broken gimmick, the Hardy family finds itself in a weird conundrum.
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 11, 2017
Now although nothing has been confirmed, if we are to believe the rumour mill, top-TNA executive Jeff Jarrett has nothing to do with the court orders sent to the Hardys. In fact, many long-time company execs are said to have nothing against the Hardy family. However, the same can’t be said about the new owners of the company who seem hell-bent on grabbing complete exclusivity over the Broken gimmick portrayed by Matt and Jeff Hardy.
What’s next?
The Hardys’ court battle with Impact Wrestling is far from over and with Reby Hardy hurling one accusation after another in her fiery posts on social media neither party is ready to back down.
Sportskeeda’s take
The Hardy family most definitely deserves better than this, especially considering their excellent work ethic and professionalism during their time with TNA. And truth be told, as far as stars having ugly departures from Impact Wrestling is concerned, this isn’t the first time nor will it be the last. The Broken gimmick is Matt Hardy’s brainchild and the very fact that the Impact head-honchos are trying to rob him off that credit is downright despicable.
Better watch out TNA, anyone who goes to war against The Broken Hardys is in danger to becoming Obsolete!
