Why The Hardy Boyz Teased Their Broken Gimmick So Heavily On Raw

A lot of people thought The Hardy Boyz were close to securing the rights to their beloved Broken gimmick. They made some pretty heavy teases on Raw a couple of weeks ago and even dropped some key lingo from the Broken Universe.

But things recently fell apart and they seem to keep unraveling more each day. Anthem Sports, who ultimately owns GFW and the Broken Universe is saying a deal is not in place and Ed Nordholm said he’s not interested in dealing with The Hardys. As much as Reby Hardy might want to fight it and no matter how much evidence they have on their side Anthem isn’t letting go.

Dave Meltzer recently went into this subject in a little detail on Wrestling Observer Radio to clarify some aspects of the situation.

Meltzer said the reason why The Hardys teased the Broken Universe on Raw so heavily a couple of weeks ago was that they thought a deal was in place. The Hardys had been working through Billy Corgan and were under the assumption that the only thing they needed from Anthem was a couple of signatures. Unfortunately, that assumption soon turned sour for them.

“Billy Corgan had been doing — like they tried to use him to be the intermediary to make the deal. Ed Nordholm saying ‘we’re not interested in a deal, we’re moving on’ is obviously a negotiation tactic. Because there’s always a deal if you have the right deal,” Meltzer said.

“Reby Hardy is saying that they taped all the conversations and I’m sure they have.” Meltzer continued, “What that’s gonna mean I don’t know. I mean it’s basically, the deal is that Anthem — I think that their idea is that they can make a better deal the longer they wait, the better deal they can make and if they tell [The Hardys] they’re gonna have to go to court to do it. The court thing will take so much time and so much money. And the key thing [Anthem has] in their back pocket is the knowledge that WWE will not touch that gimmick unless it’s owned by The Hardys. It has been made very clear WWE will not say, ‘well screw it, we’re gonna do the gimmick anyway’ — they’re not gonna open themselves up for a lawsuit.”

“So it’s basically a deal where The Hardys and Anthem have to make a deal and Anthem is making it very difficult to make a deal and they’re trying to say, ‘if you wanna go to court, go to court’ thinking that their position is real strong in court. And again, based on the contract their position is pretty clear — The Hardys claim that they funded a lot of those tapings, Senor Benjamin was never paid, that they believe that they could win, but I don’t know.”

Finally, Meltzer went on to discuss one of the key elements Anthem has on their side and that is time. After all, the longer Anthem drags their feet on making a deal it could mean The Broken Universe will have less value in theory.

“It kinda loses a lot of value, time is on Anthem’s side,” Dave concluded. “Time is not on The Hardys’ side and I think Anthem is doing that. I know a lot of people are [saying] just let them have it. You know, there’s a moral argument that you could make on that one, but this is not a moral business.”

On the flip side, WWE has also kept people from using gimmicks and names developed while under their banner. They won’t even let Cody be a Rhodes and that is his family name. Only time will tell on this one, but it certainly looks like if you’re holding your breath for a big Broken reveal at SummerSlam then you might want to exhale already because it could still take some time.

If you use any portion of the quotes in this article please credit Wrestling Observer Radio with a H/T to Still Real To Us for the transcription