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Report: WWE Plans on Using “Broken” Hardys Characters

TJR Wrestling

The “Broken” Matt Hardy character (and possibly “Brother Nero” Jeff Hardy) is coming to WWE television in the near future, reports Dave Meltzer on last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio (available via subscription at wrestlingobserver.com).

Meltzer noted that that WWE is working on a deal with Impact Wrestling to use the character on television, which has yet to be finalized. The reason they have to work with Impact Wrestling owners Anthem on it is because Matt started using the character on Impact Wrestling, which led to Impact Wrestling claiming that they own the rights to it. There has been a legal battle about it ever since the Hardys returned to WWE earlier this month. Meltzer said that WWE may end up paying Impact Wrestling in one payment or something that happens over several weeks or months.

The “broken” gimmick really took off in the last year as Matt re-invented himself in a major way. The “DELETE” chants for him were strong in Impact Wrestling as well as the brief run in Ring of Honor. Fans at WWE events chant “DELETE” a lot as well. Matt usually does the “DELETE” hand gesture on his way to the ring, but he doesn’t encourage the “DELETE” chants during matches.

The Hardys haven’t spoken much on WWE TV since their return, but when they were on Raw Talk a few weeks ago there wasn’t an indication of Matt’s “Broken” character with the way he spoke. There was a bit of it during the promo on Raw when he said “tremendous” in a unique way.

While Matt hasn’t talked about being “broken” on WWE TV yet, he does often times tweet #BROKENBrilliance pieces of advice as seen below.

There’s no word on if WWE may start calling Jeff Hardy “Brother Nero” the way Matt did when he was broken because Jeff has a lot of value using his own name obviously. We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

TJR Thoughts: I’m glad it’s going to happen because it’s an entertaining gimmick. A lot of fans keep asking me when it’s going to happen. Best thing I can tell you is be patient because we will have to wait it out a bit.

Here’s a Broken Hardys clip from Impact last year.