We’ve written ad nauseam about the legal imbroglio between the Hardys and GFW (formerly Impact Wrestling). It seems like there’s an update on the situation a couple times a week, and yet it doesn’t seem like we’re any closer to a resolution than when Matt Hardy first left Impact and the company first hit the Hardys with a cease and desist related to their Broken Universe characters.
So for once, it will be a nice change of pace to reflect upon just how fun and insane those Broken Brilliance segments were, and how much unbridled glee was involved in the crafting of what may be the greatest thing Impact Wrestling ever produced, and perhaps ever will produce. It’s pretty established at this point that the Broken Hardys were the brainchild of Matt Hardy and Jeremy Borash, who produced and shot most of the wild stuff that went down on the Hardy compound.
In an interview with Wrestlezone, Borash talked about how he’s more concerned with all the laws he and the Hardys broke actually filming the segments than with who owns the rights. Yeah, that’s probably a good thing to be concerned about. When Borash was asked whether GFW would consider bringing the Broken Universe back with different characters, here’s what he had to say:
No. We did something at Slammiversary that was just Joseph Parks, Scott Steiner and Josh Matthews and I thought it was pretty entertaining. It’s more of a way I like to shoot television. I’ve done short movies, I’ve done short videos and it’s just sort of the same thing. It’s a meta style with very specific locations and I use very specific kinds of cameras. I don’t let a lot of people in on that because it’s got a very distinct look. Anyone who does that for a living can kind of figure it out I think. It’s a presentation and a style.
One thing that I think is important is that you’ve got to be different. The thing about other wrestling programs is that it all looks the same and sounds the same. That has it’s pluses and minuses. Being able to do the kind of things we do… I like to shoot “run and gun”. I don’t like to ask for a lot of clearances. I ask for forgiveness a lot of times.
The biggest legal issues I am concerned about in terms of the Hardy stuff is just the statute of limitations. I don’t want to be in court explaining why we broke into a zoo and fought a kangaroo. I don’t want to be in a court explaining why we are shooting fireworks off of FAA licensed aerial machines. (Laughs) I am just going to lay low on that. I don’t think a lot of stuff we did was above the law in North Carolina. I didn’t quite read the rules. I know we just liked to do a lot of “run and gun” stuff.
Okay, so Matt Hardy DOESN’T own a kangaroo and giraffe, apparently. That’s kind of a bummer. I guess it’s also a bummer that they broke into a zoo (in broad daylight) to fight a kangaroo, but I’m choosing to leave the memories alone and assume SOMEONE was there to make sure neither Jeff nor the ‘roo were damaged in any way.
