WrestleZone Forum Files #2: Broken Matt Hardy Is Awoken (Get on the Main Page!)

[klunderbunker]

Welcome back to the Forum Files where the best posts make it up to the main page! Post in here until the end of Thursday December 7 and the best ones are put into a special article on WrestleZone.com!

Today’s topic: Broken Matt Hardy is Awoken

Earlier this week, Matt Hardy debuted his Awoken persona in WWE, which is pretty much the same thing as the amazing Broken character from Impact Wrestling. Word on the street is that Vince McMahon is a big backer of the new character, which could mean some great things for Matt.

What are your thoughts on this new character and where it’s going? Is it good? Bad? A big mistake? Hardy's ticket to the main event? Let us know and see if your response is as wonderful as Senor Benjamin’s green beans.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I never got to see Broken Matt Hardy on Impact because I didn't get the channel they were on by that point. That said, by all accounts from what I heard, it seemed to be one of those "so bad, it's good" kinds of things. From what I saw this past Monday, that holds true. But things like that tend to thrive in professional wrestling when they're done right.

I'm not sure on his first program being with Bray Wyatt though. WWE has shown in the past they have no idea how to handle his character. And the back and forth promo thing they did Monday didn't help. I also see a lot of people thinking they'll join forces which doesn't make sense to me at all. Supposedly Matt Hardy has a lot of freedom with this character, and I think teaming him with another character that's almost as far out there as him would only hamstring him. If Brother Nero worked well with him in Impact, what makes you think such a vastly different character would also? For now, let him be himself.

I am certainly intrigued.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Admittedly, the current product does tend to bore me. There are so many entertainment options out there with characters I can pay attention to much better than the ones who get title shots in WWE. I think fans like myself have taken to Matt's new gimmick because it's not of that norm, that standard that we've come to expect the passed few years. Matt Hardy has become something akin to an anime character. He's not an indy icon that'll do seven flips in a row. He's going to build a drone army and play violin.

Like many, I do hate that it is with Bray Wyatt. Wyatt has proven to be entertaining even when he rambles on about nothing. The potential there is astounding. Unlike several others on the roster, The Consumer of Terrestrial Entities does have a backstory caked in mythology. There are reasons to care about Wyatt. Why it couldn't have been Goldust or virtually anyone else, who knows. But the contrast in crazy style should make for a fun feud.

At the end of the day, WWE is still live theater and I don't care how many push ups the vanilla talent can do. I want characters I can either sympathize with or laugh at. Matt is someone I find genuinely funny as he captures that dadaist absurdism we usually find reserved for memes. He's so out there that you can't help but want to know what he will do next. No heel goes out of his way to ruin a perfectly mowed lawn. But Broken Matt does, and it's delightful.

That video on Youtube with him and Bray Wyatt cutting their promo trended. Matt could easily be a big deal when their feud is "Ovah".

 

[Uncle Sam]

The Room's not a good movie but it's made Tommy Wiseau a lot of money.

I distinctly remember people flocking to take the piss out of Matt Hardy when he debuted the Broken gimmick, me among them. This is the gimmick that's now got him a job back with WWE, a re-debut at WrestleMania, and his first seemingly heartfelt push since Edge slept with his girlfriend - not to mention the character itself is every bit as credible as Bray Wyatt's.

 

[ABMorales787]

A million views in less than a week. I can already see the "Did You Know" banner coming from comercial bragging about it. All because of Matt Hardy.

People have begged for it since Wrestlemania. We were forced to wait 8 months to finally see the character and despite it being already homogenized with Kevin Dunn obsessive bright lighting and "I swear I can do movies" looks, it was a smash hit off the bat despite the wait. The BROKEN/WOKEN character plays off meme culture very well and understands the seemingly random humor of saying things in funny ways and inspiring fans to repeat them. And of course all that means more social media exposure which WWE showed they'd do anything for. Even crown a mediocre wrestler as WWE Champion for it.

Will it get the same freedom it did in TNA? Probably not. Vince and Kevin have nasty habits that refuse to die and probably inspired Matt Hardy's tagline in his earlier run. But it's more about the character. Señor Benjamin, Vanguard 1 and Reby came after he was a smash hit after all. Matt's shown to be more than versatile enough to find a way around that if need be.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've only seen the various "Broken" stuff via some clips on YouTube because, like Bill, I didn't get the Pop channel, though I hadn't watched TNA/Impact in years even before they moved from Spike.

As I said in the forum addressing this in the WWE section, it's not really something I'm into; I know that wrestling is all about over the top stuff and I respect that Matt Hardy went so far out of the box and is finally out of his brother's shadow. For me though, it's so quirky that it's hard to take seriously, though maybe that's part of the point. With that being said, I don't think I'll mind it all that much as long as it's not something that eats up TV time. I may not be into it, but if it's a big hit, then WWE should run with it.

As to where it's going, it's hard to tell. When you think about it, the whole "Broken" concept is 100% pure sports entertainment and seems so cheesy in some ways that your first instinct is that Vince would love it. After all, Vince has allowed it to be brought back since Anthem announced that Impact stars could retain the rights to their characters and reports say that Matt Hardy will have a lot of creative freedom so that's another sign that you'd think he's into it. However, Vince can be unpredictable, downright irrational really when you get right down to it; he may love it right now, but might just suddenly change his mind in a couple of weeks because he's done stuff like this in the past. A month from now, you may have an entire arena going nuts for Matt Hardy, his merchandise could be selling through the roof and his segment could be the most watched on Raw but none of that will matter if Vince doesn't like it. His reason for dropping it, if he ever gave one, will be some bullshit observation that the angle isn't getting over or something along those lines.

 

[Dagger Dias]

So happy to see this gimmick finally come to the WWE. I don't watch TNA/Impact. Haven't for years. I used to for many years but gave up on them for good after Bound For Glory 2014. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had no intention of ever watching any of their content again. And then I heard about something called The Final Deletion. I looked it up and got my first experience of Broken Matt Hardy. In all honesty, at first I thought it was extremely stupid. It was different though. Silly, fun, and unique. I gave it another chance and watched a couple of other pieces of footage. The character won me over. This was the most entertaining Matt Hardy had ever been. Other than his love triangle feud with Edge in 2005 and his United States Championship feud with MVP in 2007, nothing ever stuck out about the guy. He was always the other less entertaining Hardy brother. This gimmick is Matt's chance to be successful in his own way. The promos going back and forth between Bray and Woken Matt were a great start. Looking forward to Dilapidated Boats, Deletions, and other silliness with this gimmick in the WWE.

 

[Барбоса]

It is fantastically silly; a throwback to early/mid 90s gimmicks while still having some anchor in 'reality' in that Matt has lost the plot rather than actually being some kind of deity.

It also provides for fantastic lines like calling Bray "the consumer of terrestrial entities."

And dare I say that Bray could be an interesting Woken disciple...

 

[George Steele's Barber]

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Anyway, here goes. The problem I foresee with Broken/Awoken Matt Hardy is that Vince has shied away from outside the ring production. Most every Broken thing I tuned in to see in TNA was on location. That's not a big deal when your show is pre-recorded, but it can take away from the live audience experience if you're going to cut to a farm or King Maxel for fifteen minutes. I guess WWE has gotten out of the arenas a bit lately with some of the Wyatt Family stuff (w/New Day, Orton) but not that much and it is hard to say if that little bit was worth it and that WWE wants to spend all that money and time on a veteran like Matt.

My suspicion is that we are going to get a watered down version with shorter but still wacky special effects driven promos and a lot of emphasis on the catch phrases so that they can sell t-shirts as opposed to building compelling characters and stories.

I think if WWE is smart they take a shot on Broken/Awoken segments on location but push fans to The Network to see the matches, attacks, and general wackiness. It may bring in Raw fans that don't have The Network while not completely killing their live audience experience.

We still have a few months to go but does anyone think the Broken Universe will get much effort and attention on the road to WM? Forgive my cynicism but my reaction is excited but pessimistic. I'm happy to see WWE give the idea a chance but I'm not feeling too strongly that it will be as enjoyable as it can be.

 

[theshadowranger]

Why didn't you just watch it online. Impact put all the Broken Matt stuff on their youtube channel. Final Deletion, Delete of Decay, The Great War, Total Nonstop Deletion there are several playlists on youtube.