The Saga of Broken Matt Hardy, Explained (2024)

Matt Hardy changed his career forever when coming up with the Broken gimmick. TNA was trying to use Matt in a main event heel role feuding with the likes of Drew McIntyre, EC3, and his own brother Jeff Hardy. Fans were losing interest since TNA was falling lower down with their television deals and their future as a company up in the air.

RELATED:

The creativity of Matt has always been his strongest suit and he tried to showcase that again. In 2016, Matt created the Broken character that instantly received polarizing receptions. The journey from TNA to WWE to AEW has seen Hardy trying to keep the popular act relevant. Without further ado, let's take a Broken journey to see the shocking change of Matt leading to a new chapter in the Hardy legacy.

Matt Created The Final Deletion Concept on His Own

Matt Hardy’s creative nature allowed him to experiment with a style of character most wrestlers would fear. The lack of momentum for TNA at the time convinced Hardy to go bolder in hopes of getting viewers to return and give the show another chance.

RELATED:

The feud between Matt and Jeff created the Broken Universe with Matt’s vision coming to life. The Final Deletion was the event that featured the two brothers facing off at the Hardy compound. Matt came up with this all on his own along with some help from Jeremy Borash.

Character Started After Losing Match to Jeff Hardy

The rivalry between the Hardy brothers created the storyline that gave us the concept of Broken Matt. Jeff winning a violent match against Matt ended with Matt suffering an injury that was viewed as career-altering, but it wasn’t in the way fans expected.

The explanation was that the injury and another loss to Jeff caused Matt to finally snap and, as a result, showed signs of the new character. Matt took the gimmick further each week until it became one of the top acts in all of wrestling.

Character Debuted Before Official Match

The debut of the Broken Matt character didn’t come in the Final Deletion, but it was pivotal in the build. Jeff confronted Matt at his home when his older brother wanted another match with fewer rules at the Hardy compound.

Matt started speaking with an accent and an intent that had fans confused. Despite not realizing what was coming next, the viewers wanted to see more. Matt’s wife Reby Sky throwing a plastic baby doll at Jeff who assumed it was Matt’s child showed just how wild things would get moving forward.

Wife's Family Made Up Rest of House Hardy

Reby Sky became part of the Broken Universe, appearing more often with her husband Matt and other members of the family. Maxel was the young child of Matt and Reby, also appearing in the segments and actually holding a victory over Rockstar Spud.

Senor Benjamin was a fun part of the family who appeared in comedic moments during the various cinematic matches. Fans were surprised to find out that Benjamin was the real-life father of Reby to help make House Hardy a family affair.

Teamed With Jeff Due To Popularity Making Matt Face

Fans started to love the Broken Matt character to the point where fans cheered for him at WWE shows. Jeff Hardy remained a face when facing off with Matt on a few occasions, including the Final Deletion cinematic match. But as a result of Matt's newfound popularity, he and Brother Nero (Jeff) teamed up once again, most notably battling the trio of Abyss, Crazzy Steve, and Rosemary, during the "DELETE or DECAY" segment.

The audience loved to see the legendary duo reunited once more in a face role. Jeff’s popularity has always been strong due to his connection with the audience. The Broken Hardy Boyz became the top act in wrestling outside of WWE.

Was Planned To Have ROH vs TNA Feud With Young Bucks

The Young Bucks and The Hardy Boyz have been close since the two met in TNA. Both duos held enough importance in their companies to pitch the unique concept of them having a feud in Ring of Honor and TNA each during the early portion of 2017.

RELATED:

Jeff Jarrett gaining control of TNA again saw him changing all plans and no longer negotiating a contract extension with Matt and Jeff. The aftermath saw them leaving for a short ROH run to have the program with The Young Bucks before returning to WWE. During this time, Broken Matt humorously referred to the duo as The Bucks of Youth.

TNA Threatened to Sue Hardy Brothers For Using Broken Gimmick in ROH

Jeff Jarrett became a hated figure in wrestling when regaining control of TNA and delivering a few hostile actions towards others. Matt Hardy felt personally attacked when Jarrett tried to claim TNA owned the rights to the Broken gimmick.

Jarrett tried to get compensation from the Hardys and threatened to sue them for using the characters in Ring of Honor. Matt going for the “Delete” chants and delivering the same style of promos saw TNA going after them due to Jarrett’s ax to grind.

WWE Made Them Avoid Obvious References During Debut

Matt and Jeff Hardy returning to WWE in 2017 featured an all-time greatest pop at WrestleMania 33. The popularity of The Hardy Boyz featured a combination of longtime fans wanting to see the legends return and the newer fans of their Broken characters wanting to see it in WWE.

TNA still threatened lawsuits, forcing Matt to drop using the Broken gimmick. Matt tried to slyly get “Delete” chants when Hardy delivered his mannerisms, but WWE banned him from referencing it directly due to Jeff Jarrett’s influence in TNA.

Matt Used It During Feud with Bray

Matt Hardy eventually gained the rights to his Broken character when TNA dropped the lawsuits and threats. However, instead of being "Broken" like he was in TNA, Matt became "Woken" in WWE. WWE allowed Matt to move forward in a new role separated from Jeff when feuding with Bray Wyatt.

Both characters had similar appeals that saw Wyatt as their ideal choice to work the cinematic match with Matt at the Hardy compound. WWE even allowed Matt to use the term Ultimate Deletion when facing off. Wyatt eventually teamed up with Matt as the end game of that angle with lackluster results.

Made It One of Multiple Characters in AEW

The end of Matt Hardy’s WWE run saw him realizing that Vince McMahon did not understand the Broken character or Matt’s style of creativity. Matt left the company when his contract expired to sign with AEW.

The run of Matt in AEW has seen him playing various characters from the different chapters of his career. Hardy winning his feud against Sammy Guevara saw the return of the Broken character in the Elite Deletion cinematic match. The gimmick appears to be ending with Matt teasing new traits to his onscreen character.

NEXT: 10 Times AEW Has Fired Shots At WWE