Matt Hardy has never been accused of not being a savvy businessman. He’s likely to come out way ahead from leaving Impact Wrestling, as his stock has never been higher than it is right now. Regardless of how long he sticks with Ring of Honor and whether he goes to WWE at any point, he’s planning on sticking with the “Broken Matt Hardy” character that’s been earning him so much acclaim. And now he’s trying to ensure no one is going to mess with those plans.
As first noted by Pro Wrestling Sheet, Hardy filed last week with the U.S. Patent Office for a trademark on “Broken Matt Hardy” for elements related to “Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer.”
He filed on March 1, pretty much the instant that his Impact Wrestling contract was up (or at least, pretty much the instant that the topic of who owns the #BROKEN characters became a going concern that every wrestling site was writing and talking about).
Given what I know and what I’ve heard about pro wrestling, I would be surprised if anyone over at Impact Wrestling had the wherewithal to file for the same sort of trademark on the “Broken Matt Hardy” characters or universe, particularly given everything that was going on behind the scenes at the time and coupled with the fact that Impact was already operating under not being able to trademark Matt and Jeff’s names anyway.
Impact may try to fight this, but if Matt is awarded the trademark, that’s obviously a moot point. I guess the Hardys can just be thankful they’re not going up against AAA, because those dudes are RUTHLESS.
