— According to a report at pwinsider.com, Impact Wrestling has indeed sent a 15-page Cease & Desist letter to the Hardy family, demanding that they all stop using the “Broken” characters including making any references to it.
— As reported before, Impact Wrestling is primarily claiming rights to the “Broken” trademark, suggesting that ownership would fall under the company not the wrestlers themselves.
— Anthem’s Ed Nordholm sent out a tweet today that basically gave credit for the Broken Universe characters to members of the TNA writing team instead of Matt Hardy, while also implying that the Broken Universe would carry on with Impact in their absence.
We thank @matthardybrand for a superb performance in Broken Universe. May the seven deities guide with their Broken Brilliance left behind
— Ed Nordholm (@EdNordholm) March 10, 2017
@MATTHARDYBRAND Broken Universe will always be here. Kudos to the creative team behind the vision @JeremyBorash @paradysexoxo @Lagana @Billy
— Ed Nordholm (@EdNordholm) March 10, 2017
— When news of this likely reached the Hardys, Reby Hardy – Matt’s wife, took to Twitter and pretty much lost it in a lengthy, yet entertaining rant. If you want to read her tweets, click here.
— As far as the legal dispute, ultimately it comes down to the terms of the contract, specifically whether there was language in there that indicated material created by the talent while employed by TNA/Impact would still belong to the company.
— It also remains to be seen how this will affect Matt & Jeff’s appearance with ROH and whether Impact will also target ROH and any other indie promotions that the Hardys appear on while portraying the “Broken” gimmick. Either way, there’s a good chance things will get ugly and Impact Wrestling could cause severe damage to the fanbase they are trying to grow.
