Details Behind the Broken Hardy Gimmick Lawsuit; How Much It Would Cost

As the situation between The Hardy Boyz and Impact Wrestling, now GFW continues to develop, Sports Illustrated have provided a breakdown of the case details, including the cost of the lawsuit.

The past few months have saw a vast array of communication differences arise between GFW and the Hardyz, with Reby speaking about much of this via her Twitter account. The case just keeps getting deeper, as we can see today.

BROKEN Brilliance™ wrestling: Matt Hardy

Before we continue, if you’ve yet to watch anything on The Broken Hardyz, you should take a look at the video above to get an understanding on why people are so fascinated with the character. There is a whole storyline that Impact Wrestling (as it was known at the time) which explains how both Jeff and Matt Hardy became ‘broken.’

First, it should be established that the ‘broken’ gimmick was created by The Hardyz. They would invest time and money into everything in order to build the gimmick. Enter Anthem Sports and Entertainment. They came in as a third party as the new owners of Impact Wrestling and Global Force Wrestling. Claiming ownership over the gimmick, Anthem would cause the Hardyz to become upset.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated clarifies that the fight isn’t over the trademarks, as neither side has filed and completed a trademark, but the ownership itself.

Sports Illustrated has reportedly been told that Anthem offered Jeff Hardy a lucrative deal and only offered Matt Hardy a fraction of what he had been making previously. Matt was promised a position on the creative team with the company but Jeff Jarrett would ultimately deny this.

Despite the situation seeming endless to some degree over the past few months, we previously reported that an agreement was close to being formed. Sources say that the Hardyz would pay $10,000 to $15,000 for the rights to the gimmick and ability to trademark. This deal also included a non-disparagement clause as we previously mentioned, as Reby made the public aware of on Twitter in a series of tweets. Sports Illustrated has clarified the fines, which will be $1,000 for the first offense followed by $5,000 per subsequent tweet.

To wrap things up, the Hardyz were willing to sign everything off via a press release to end the ordeal with Anthem on good terms. However, this wouldn’t happen as Anthem told the Hardy Boyz that they want 50% of all Hardy revenue. This would include Jeff’s art and music. This was obviously viewed by the entire Hardy family as a huge attempt at money-grabbing.

In a statement made to Sports Illustrated, GFW said:

“WWE has clearly stated via email that they do not want the ‘Broken Brilliance’ IP [intellectual property]. GFW has been and always will be open to a licensing agreement for the IP to all parties, which is customary in the music and entertainment business, but revolutionary in the professional wrestling business.”

The Hardys may have the edge legally with the pending lawsuit against Anthem. This is for many reasons, as explained by Sports Illustrated. GFW, or Impact as it was known at the time did not pay for any of the ‘broken’ shoots within the Hardy compound or pay for renting Matt Hardy’s property as a location for Impact. Reby has tweeted that there were no child labor laws signed when her and Matt’s son Maxel appeared on Impact. Senor Benjamin, Reby’s real life father wasn’t paid for his appearances either. Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida is the home of GFW and if the court doesn’t act in favor of GFW than it could lead to severe consequences from Universal, up to and including the removal from the premises, leaving GFW without a stable location to film.

As Sports Illustrated note, it is rather unknown as to why Anthem are so adamant about holding onto the ‘broken’ trademark. If the ultimate goal is to profit from merchandise sales of any kind, they wouldn’t be endorsed by the Hardyz and their fans would likely be encouraged not to purchase it. It is also explained that while Jeff Jarrett is a very successful and talented businessman, he has to be careful with whatever his incentive is for having the ‘broken’ gimmick trademark against the tainted image GFW already has.

With the recently unified GFW World Champion Alberto El Patron being investigated for domestic battery, he was indefinitely suspended from the company. This alone is creating much bad press for the company, regardless of whether his suspension is paid or unpaid, which is known at this time. Any positive news is good. Sports Illustrated make the suggestion that GFW should focus on trying to positively engage fans with the in-ring product as opposed to intensifying the already negative perception of the company to an even more toxic level with El Patron and the Hardy Boyz situation.

The Hardyz and WWE will continue to make money regardless of their acquisition of the ‘broken’ gimmick. Sources have indicated to Sports Illustrated that Jarrett plans on stalling and dragging out the battle. His hope is that wasting money with an ongoing legal battle will cause the Hardy Boyz to give up and stop pursuing the ‘broken’ gimmick. However, the Hardyz are not stepping down and are prepared to get even deeper, as evidenced in a recent tweet by Matt Hardy if things don’t get solved soon.

Have The Hardy Boyz become "obsolete"?: Raw, July 10, 2017

As we have seen in the video above, which we suggest you watch, Jeff and Matt both made several references this past week on ‘Raw’ to the ‘broken’ gimmick and we at Wrestling Rumors believe this will only continue to grow.

Sports Illustrated explains that Jeff and Matt are only two title reigns away from surpassing The Dudley Boyz in the most title reigns for a Tag Team in WWE. Mr. McMahon would likely want them to succeed in doing this as they are homegrown talent who made their name with WWE.

WWE have fully supported the Hardyz in the pursuit of the ‘broken’ gimmick, though it is unknown still how WWE would utilize the gimmick. However, sources with Sports Illustrated have confirmed that McMahon is fully aware of the gimmick and why the crowd repeatedly chants “Delete!” when the Hardyz are out.

If any more information on the case does become available, Wrestling Rumors will keep you updated.

Editor’s Note:

I am very interested to see the conclusion of this case. I do hope it is in favor of Matt, Jeff and the rest of the family as it seems to be going. I enjoy GFW, so I do hope they figure out what their priorities should be and focus on those instead of this. Make competition.

What are your thoughts on the thought process of Jarrett and GFW? Who wins? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page or Twitter account. Additionally, you can find me on Twitter at @SOSNH1995. We also want to remind you that we have a Newsletter you can sign up to. This will allow us to send you the best news in one place via an email. We also have the Wrestling Rumors app that we encourage you all to download to get updates faster than they release on our various pages. It is available on Android and iOS devices.