— As reported earlier, Matt Hardy has finally won the battle with Anthem Sports over the “Broken Universe” trademarks, concluding a nearly year long legal dispute. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated suggests that the decision by Anthem to let Hardy walk away with the trademarks came down to one thing: finances.
— If Anthem continued to challenge Hardy over the trademarks, there was a very real possibility of the dispute heading to court, which would have opened up the chance that they would have lost and owed a significant amount of money to other parties for their use of Senor Benjamin, King Maxel and other characters (who never signed releases or were compensated for their work). It was ultimately decided that rather than risk losing more money and very likely tarnish their reputation, it was best to just transfer the trademarks to Hardy and move on.
— According to sources, Ed Nordholm – the Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports – was pulled into this battle by listening to the wrong people, namely Jeff Jarrett – who not only was a significant reason why Hardy left in the first place but was ready to fight for the trademarks. With Jarrett gone, Nordholm and Anthem have made a complete turn and also given all of their talent full ownership of their characters, gimmicks and trademarks.
— Where Matt’s future in WWE is concerned, it is doubtful that he will fully transition to “Broken” Matt Hardy but instead remain as “Woken” because of the fact that WWE tends to shy away from pushing characters or trademarks that they don’t own. However, Hardy’s evolution is expected to grow over the next few weeks and months, as it will not only extend his career in WWE but it will benefit the company as well since there is plenty of money to be made in merchandise sales.
— WWE clearly sees Jeff Hardy as a singles superstar and there’s a good chance he’s going to be pushed in one-on-one competition soon after his return. With Matt’s own “Woken” character around, it will allow him to stay relevant as well should there be no future for the brothers as a full-time tag team.
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