Hardys/Impact: WWE Does Want the Gimmick, Corgan + Lots More Updates

Impact Wrestling’s Ed Nordholm recently gave an interview and released emails from WWE claiming that WWE has “no interest” in the Broken Hardys gimmick.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that “couldn’t be farther from the truth.” WWE certainly does want the gimmick, but the situation is that they are not trying to directly buy it from Impact or negotiate with them. Matt Hardy is.

Matt Hardy claims that he owns the gimmick and is confident that he will win any legal case against Impact. WWE buying the gimmick from Impact would be acknowledging that Impact has the rights to it in the first place rather than Matt Hardy. WWE knows that the gimmick is a merchandise goldmine, so they certainly would love to be able to use it. However, they appear to be staying out of the legal battle and negotiations for now.

The Hardys’ argument has been that they funded and produced the gimmick and segments with their own money, and Impact has violated their contract several times, so the feeling is that it won’t hold up in court anyway. They have also claimed many times that Impact never paid Senor Benjamin though they promised to, and he never signed a release to have his footage aired.

Impact and the Hardys have been in negotiations, with Anthem even bringing on Billy Corgan as a mediator recently. Corgan said in a recent interview with PWInsider:

I was approached by Anthem to help mediate this situation and Matt & Jeff signed off on me sort of negotiating on their behalf. So I’ve been sort of the back channel negotiator for the past week or so trying to resolve this situation, and I think though it’s not where anybody wants it to be, I think it’s a little bit more clarified. […] I don’t have much of a role to play. It’s going to go more of a legal route at this point, which is unfortunate.

The situation for now seems to be that Impact is unwilling to sell the ownership of the gimmick outright to the Hardys, instead wanting the Hardys to pay royalties. The Hardys don’t want a deal that doesn’t give them ownership of the gimmick and they also feel that they will win if the case goes to court, which is where it appears to be heading.