Impact Wrestling and Anthem Sports aren’t letting the Hardys go quietly. They have sent out cease and desist letters to numerous people including the Hardys and ROH threatening legal action if they continue to use their beloved Broken gimmick. This tactic even caused Dish Network to pull the ROH 15th Anniversary pay-per-view.
With the rumors circulating that WWE might be bringing the Hardy Brothers back home, a lot of people are elated as they consider the fact that the Broken Hardys might square off against characters such as New Day or The Wyatts. However, with this new legal posturing from Impact Wrestling, it is looking even less likely this will become a reality.
Dave Meltzer said on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Anthem Sports doesn’t want to prevent The Hardy Brothers from using the “Broken Universe” and they would be willing to allow them to continue using the characters. The only catch is Anthem wants a slice of the Broken Hardy pie from this point onward.
Impact and Anthem claim intellectual property rights over the gimmick and want a cut of all future revenue that the Broken Hardys might bring in. Therefore, WWE can totally use the Broken gimmick, if they’re willing to pay for it.
Meltzer said he doesn’t foresee WWE playing ball with Anthem Sports in this regard, but this leads us to ask, “what is to stop Vince from copyrighting something similar?”
Why can’t McMahon license the “Deleted Hardys” and just carry on with the same mannerisms, only with a slight name change? However, whatever the end result of this might be, the fact is that people love Matt and Jeff and taking this kind of action against them will only make people resent Anthem Sports and Impact Wrestling.
The rumor is still swirling out there that the Hardys are planning on signing WWE contracts after the ROH Supercard of Honor show where the Young Bucks will get their last shot at the Broken Hardys and their ROH Tag Team Titles. Who knows how this will eventually unfold, but as soon as we hear anything we’ll let you know.
