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As we reported earlier today, Ed Nordholm sat down with John Pollock of The Fight Network to discuss a number of Impact Wrestling-related topics including ownership of the Broken Hardys gimmick.
During the interview, Nordholm noted that no one has reached out for conversations regarding ownership of the gimmick, but did note that WWE was not interested in using it. What was interesting about that statement is that PWInsider.com had heard, last week, from sources within Impact as well as sources close to the Hardy family, that legal representatives for the two sides were in the process of speaking.
We are also told that the Hardys hired a Nashville-area attorney at the beginning of April and that the Hardys' attorney had been involved with attempting to set up meetings since that time, but for weeks, Anthem representatives had not responded. In reaching out to the Hardy family this morning, they confirmed that timetable was correct.
As I have written about numerous times, the ownership of the gimmick all comes down to the language in the contracts. Until those contracts are revealed publicly, all the back and forth jousting online and in public is just talk - what will hold up legally before the eyes of a court will be what matters. The black and white of the contracts, more than anything else, more than any claim or allegation, will be the glue that holds the winning argument together.
But we are nowhere close to any sort of resolution in a courtroom. As of this writing, no lawsuits have been officially filed. If and when one is, it's going to take a long time to get it resolved - and a lot of money will be spent over something that will lose its value the longer it is not utilized.
Until there is an actual resolution, the situation continues to build in the eyes of the public and will only get uglier. Rebecca Hardy has no problem attacking anyone she feels is out to wrong her family and isn't going to pull punches while doing it, personally calling out Nordholm and Impact exec Jeff Jarrett over the situation.
On the Impact side, Ed Nordholm has now spoken out publicly for the first time, with that interview coming a week or so after PWInsider.com heard that from multiple sources that frustrations over how Anthem and Impact had been publicly treated and categorized over the Hardy situation had boiled over internally. It appears those frustrations led to Dutch Mantel speaking out publicly over the situation in recent days as well.
Impact sources feel that they are protecting their intellectual property and shouldn't be villainized for doing something that WWE or any other company would also do. They also feel that the situation has been painted extremely unfair to them, because of how well the Hardys play the social media game and because there is a belief that the Hardys have been presented as babyfaces in the situation because of their popularity among wrestling fans.
As the two sides continue to point fingers and remain steadfast in their claims over who owns what, all signs remain that the situation is going to continue building towards a legal battle, unless someone blinks and agrees to some sort of compromise. It's obvious that publicly, nether side wants to blink. Privately, discussions have been underway.
If those discussions don't play out and make those involved satisfied, it will be interesting to see when things end up in court and who files the first lawsuit, because the court of public opinion is going nowhere fast for all involved.
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