Backstage Update On WWE's Plans For "Broken" Matt Hardy, Anthem's Ed Nordholm Issues Statement
As noted, this week's WWE RAW saw Matt Hardy really crank up the "Broken" gimmick teases as his losing streak continued with a loss to Bray Wyatt. It appears WWE is moving forward with the gimmick change, which may see Hardy become "Awoken" instead of "Broken" like before.
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that WWE will be creating their own new character for Hardy and that it will not be labeled as "Broken", but it will be very similar.
Regarding the legal matters between Hardy and Anthem Sports & Entertainment over the ownership of the "Broken" intellectual property, SI reports that there have been no new negotiations between Hardy and Anthem's Ed Nordholm, and there have been no talks of revenue sharing over profits made off merchandise. SI reached out to Anthem for an update and Nordholm issued the following statement:
"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."
Source: SI.com