President of Global Force Wrestling Ed Nordholm recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about the current negotiations between the Hardys and Anthem over the rights to the “Broken” gimmick. Here are the highlights.
SI: Given the recent negative publicity toward GFW/Impact, most notably an indefinite suspension of your world champion, would Anthem be best served by coming to terms with the Hardys over the Broken Universe intellectual property?
“No. I don’t see how they’re related at all.”
SI: Anthem sent a cease and desist order to Matt Hardy, preventing him from using the “Broken” trademark in every way, including name, character, costume, the “Brother Nero” name and persona for Jeff Hardy, the Vanguard I drone, the Senor Benjamin character (though the man playing Senor Benjamin never signed a release or a contract), the “Delete” salute, as well as even “Broken” Twitter handles. Why do you believe Anthem is correct in its assertion that it owns these trademarks?
“Because Matt Hardy, his brother [Jeff Hardy], and his wife [Reby Hardy] have all signed contracts that sign over all rights to the IP. That is the fundamental term of every term for every wrestler on our show, that’s a fundamental term for every wrestler with WWE, and that is the same contract that Ring of Honor has. It’s not really up for debate.”
SI: You have stated that the WWE is not interested in the “Broken Universe” gimmick, yet the only public correspondence from the WWE regarding the subject was an email that you released that explained WWE was not interested in “getting involved.” The WWE rep never stated the company would refuse to use the “Broken” storyline if given the opportunity. That contradicts your assertion that WWE is not interested in the gimmick. Could you clarify your statement on the matter?
“I don’t think there is anything more to say beyond the email. We asked whether they were interested in negotiating for it, and they told us they have no interest.”
SI: In addition to Matt and Jeff Hardy, other recent departures from the company include Drew Galloway, Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett, and Cody Rhodes. There are reports that Anthem even enforces new rules in its contracts, which include talent giving 10 percent of their outside bookings to Anthem as well as zero percent of royalties for the talent. Do you worry that Anthem’s dealings with the Hardys will adversely affect its relationship with wrestlers in the future?
“Nope. I am quite confident from the number of people that have shown up post the Hardys departure. We have got a very robust roster of new talent. There doesn’t seem to be any issue with how we dealt with the Hardys affecting how professional wrestlers look at the opportunity to work with us. I will say that the issue with respect to the royalties is somewhat of an odd one. It’s been a TNA Impact Wrestling element of their contracts since day one, for years and years–basically, all the wrestlers get a payout on royalty opportunity as part of their compensation structure, and it always has been. That’s not a new rule with us at all. On the participation on outside bookings, we do a service for them that we didn’t do in the past. Part of it is we take on the responsibility of helping them with their bookings, trying to upgrade the quality of their bookings, making sure they get paid, dealing with the promotions, and making sure they get paid the value that they bring to them as people that are on TV. It’s not like it’s just a money grab. We’re working with them in a way that the previous organization didn’t. We’ve got talented people that are out actively trying to find bookings for them. I pay those guys’ salary for the effort they put in to getting them bookings and making sure they get paid for them.”
