The Hardy Boys definitely changed the game with their 'Broken' gimmicks in the midst of their TNA run, however, they have since found their way home to WWE.
Though their gimmick is currently hindered due to a legal battle over character rights between The Hardys and Impact, it's still nice to sit back and reminisce over the success the gimmick received when it was used to its full capacity.
One thing that completely changed the game for The Hardys and their gimmick was the Final Deletion segment that was filmed at Matt Hardy's home.
Some early tapes were sent out to various members of the pro wrestling community beforehand to get their take on it, and one of those people was none other than WWE Superstar Chris Jericho. "Broken" Matt Hardy had done Jericho's podcast, Talk Is Jericho, and gave him a copy of the segment after the show.
Jericho brought it back for his fellow WWE Superstars to watch, and one of those stars was recently released WWE Superstar Simon Gotch.
Gotch recently did an interview with Journey of a Frontman, and discussed what happened when he and his former fellow WWE Superstars watched the segment. He also mentioned what locker room leader John Cena thought of the angle, and you can check that out here (quotes via WrestleZone):
“Chris Jericho had actually been given an advanced copy of it because Matt had done his podcast and he gave him a copy of it. So when we were over in Japan for a couple days, he was showing it to us.
"He was telling us that this video’s insane, it’s insane, it’s insane, it’s insane. So we had a viewing and Cena sees everybody laughing and asks what’s going on.
"And we were like, “Oh, we’re watching this Matt Hardy video.” And he asked how it was. I said, “Try and imagine the worst thing you’ve ever seen WWE do. Then imagine if somehow it was good.”
"And he looks at me for a second and he goes, “I don’t want to come in halfway. Please tell me when it is over. I would like to watch it.” So it finishes and we’re all dying laughing because it’s just the most insane thing anyone’s ever seen.
"I actually brought it up to Chris and found out he ended up bringing it up to Matt at Mania. If you watch the video when he lights the fire, Matt actually gets engulfed in a ball of flame for a second. If you watch it closely when he throws the fire down, pay attention to Matt.
"Don’t look at Jeff, don’t look at the fire. Look at Matt. The fire comes up and engulfs him. And he was like, “Yeah! No one noticed that! We were doing it, it took all day and we were losing the gasoline.
"They were like you just gotta go, just do it. And we just went and did it. It got all over me!” And so it was just one of those where it was just a complete accident, but apparently not a lot of people noticed it.
"I came back in later, Cena was watching the video, he looked at me and said, “You are absolutely right.””
What do you think of Cena's reaction to the Final Deletion? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the third episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here!
Check it out via this link. https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-all-the-fallout-from-wwe-payback