Based on what we’ve seen on WWE television since WrestleMania 33, it looks as if Matt Hardy is suffering from an identity crisis on Monday Night RAW.
Both Matt and Jeff haven’t been given a lot of microphone time, but it’s visible that there are still glimpses of the Broken character as Matt mixes it up with his old ‘version one’ gimmick – mainly through the use of his hand gestures.
BROKEN GIMMICK
The big news over the past week has been that WWE is now looking to finally use the Broken gimmick by paying Anthem one lump sum to own it, rather than pay royalties on the merchandise sales.
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That seems to be the reason why WWE is open to using it at last, and it’s expected that Matt’s broken state could be triggered as soon as they drop the RAW tag team championships.
Despite all of these developments reportedly taking place, there is still doubt from fans whether this will ever happen as there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to reach an agreement.
However, based on Matt’s recent appearance at Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show, it’s safe to assume that it’ll be coming sooner rather than later.
HOUSE OF HARDCORE
Although The Hardy Boyz are now signed to full-time deals with WWE, they have been granted permission to appear at the independent shows they were booked for, and this time Matt appeared on his own.
As you’ll be able to see in the clips below, Matt remains as Broken Matt rather than the toned down version we’re now used to seeing on RAW.
In fact, Matt was advertised as Broken which is not what we’re used to seeing ever since Anthem claimed they would sue whoever uses the gimmick, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping them.
Matt was originally scheduled to be in action at the show, but contractual issues between Dreamer’s promotion and the WWE meant Matt could only appear in a non-competing role, which saw the Spirit Squad make an appearance as well as Bully Ray.
Although, Jeff Hardy did make an appearance alongside his brother at the HOH 25 event and they both did compete, so perhaps they managed to find a loophole regardless.
The key thing to understand is that the show aired on Floslam which means Anthem could probably take action as the gimmick was in use, and we also heard some of the terms associated with the Broken character such as ‘Meekmahan’, so chances are WWE is quite relaxed on the situation as they’re allowing Matt to act in that way.
Everybody knows WWE could easily take this to court and win, but it seems like they’re avoiding unnecessary hassle by slowly teasing the gimmick; so it could only be a matter of time before the gimmick arrives in WWE.
What do you make of Matt Hardy’s recent Broken appearance? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the second episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here! Check out the inside info from our coverage in Orlando. https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/givemesport-inside-wrestlemania-33
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