WWE Reportedly Not Interested In Broken Hardy Gimmick
05/22/2017 11:29 am EDT
Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm says that the WWE is not interested in the Broken Hardy gimmick. During an interview on The LAW: Live Audio Wrestling, Nordholm slammed the rumors that the WWE has been actively pursuing the gimmick.
Nordholm said: "I think it's unquestionable that the ownership of the characters in the storyline resides in Impact Wrestling. I don't think even the Hardys would dispute that. They've all signed contracts. Their contracts are standard contracts. Not only in the wrestling industry, but in the entertainment industry, generally, the producer of the show owns the content and it doesn't really matter who in the creative team came up with the idea of what the character should be.
The person that owns the storyline and the character is the person who invested to take that idea and put it on TV. That's what we did. Impact put those characters on TV, and the contracts with those people are indisputably contracts that provide their IP to Impact."
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When asked if he was open to speaking with the Hardys about their contracts and storylines, Nordholm said:
"I was open to speaking before and I'm open now. We've offered many times to find an arrangement with the Hardys that would allow them to continue to use the gimmick within reasonable parameters as to what's important to us and what would be important to them. I understand with the dynamic of their move to the WWE and drama with which they created that launch – I understand their plan to create maximum "heat" in that period from when they announced to us that they weren't going to sign the contracts, to the date that they revealed their new location.
But I kinda half-expected that once that had been achieved, the thing would die its own natural death because as far as I know, the WWE doesn't want the gimmick, and indeed, from every conversation I've had with them, I've been told they have no interest in it."
Nordholm concluded by saying: "We've been in communication [with the WWE] because there's all this chatter about how we're keeping it from them. [Laughs] I'm taking heat because I'm keeping something from you. If you want it, why don't you call me? And their answer to me has been, 'No, not interested.'"
Matt Hardy's wife, Reby, took to Twitter after the interview aired to speak out about the issue.
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"Only thing apparent here is the level of desperation from a person of his position doing a phone podcast re: intentions of a billion $+ co," she wrote. "Taking advantage that fans do not know details of contracts, which were NOT 'standard entertainment contracts' & not drafted under Anthem."
[H/T 411 Media]
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