Last night, Ring Of Honor Wrestling held their 15th Anniversary show and received a cease and desist letter from Impact Wrestling two hours before the show kicked off concerning Jeff and Matt Hardy. Impact Wrestling believes that they own the rights to the Broken Matt gimmick and informed Ring of Honor that they would pursue legal action if they used it on their show with the Hardy Boys.
Broken Matt Hardy and Impact Wrestling
Over the last year, Impact Wrestling was falling on hard times. Matt Hardy took the opportunity to create his Broken Matt Hardy character and then used some of his own money to help the company by shooting scenes and matches from his own home in North Carolina.
When Anthem Sports bought Impact, they attempted to resign the Hardy Boys but the terms of the contract were not in the favor of the wrestlers, so they left the company. They showed up in Ring of Honor and announced that they signed new contracts and were bringing their Broken Brilliance to ROH. However, Impact Wrestling has other ideas. They sent the cease and desist letter to Ring of Honor and the Hardy brothers wrestled without using the words Broken or using the taglines they used with the gimmick. Matt's wife Reby Sky went off on Twitter, telling fans that Anthem was wrong in what they were doing. She also said that the company was claiming that her own father, who played Senior Benjamin, was no longer allowed to use the gimmick even though he never signed a deal with Impact Wrestling.
The Future of the Hardy Boys and Ring of Honor
In their first appearance with Ring of Honor, Jeff and Matt Hardy won the Ring of Honor tag team titles. They then cut a promo as Broken Matt and Brother Nero and promised to Delete all competition. That is what caused Impact Wrestling to send the cease and desist letter. Matt Hardy claims that he owns his character and created it himself.
Anthem claims they own anything he created while under contract with their company and believes they are protecting their assets, while Matt Hardy feels they are infringing on rights to his creations. For now, Ring of Honor is complying but Matt Hardy has vowed to fight, and this battle will rage on.
