After witnessing Matt Hardy go from his retro Team Extreme character to a new “Woken” state this past Monday on Raw following a defeat to Bray Wyatt, Matt Hardy tweeted today that a “Great War” was beginning in the WWE and implied he was going to be building an army of “LOYAL Soldiers” in his battle.
The #GreatWar is merely beginning on this plane identified as @WWE. I must recruit LOYAL Soldiers from around the planet of Earth to join me as I battle in a DOMAIN overflowing with DARKNESS & DEMONS.
Our Platoon has much to do.
— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) November 29, 2017
He also revealed that although he was now “Woken”, he was still very much his same Broken self.
I am recently #WOKEN, but I will FOREVAH be #BROKEN.
— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) November 29, 2017
Many are wondering how the WWE and Matt Hardy are able to suddenly use the Broken character, previously owned by Impact Wrestling, so freely now on television, but Anthem’s Ed Nordholm spoke to Sports Illustrated today and indicated that going forward, performers on Impact will be able to use their Impact personas elsewhere, even after departing Impact, and will be retro-acting that to former employees as well.
“We have seen the character development and will be interested to see where they take the concept. Our new talent agreements all incorporate language that allow talent to continue to use their IMPACT persona after they leave the company. We are working with our legal team to amend our existing agreements to extend this to all of our current and former talent.”
With Matt Hardy now moving ahead full steam back into a new version of the Broken Universe, it will be interesting to see the battalion he builds for this new Great War in comparison to the one he fought along in Impact Wrestling. With that in mind, here’s a look at potential Soldiers for the new Woken Army.
HIS FAMILY
The most obvious choices are those closest and most “LOYAL” – his immediate family. His brother Jeff Hardy is out with a shoulder injury until April of 2018, but he could still appear as a consort to Matt Hardy in his new war in the WWE. All good Generals need a Brother Nero. His wife Reby and son King Maxel are potential candidates as well, but the candidate most anticipated is probably that of his real life father in law, Senor Benjamin. During the Broken storylines in Impact, Senor Benjamin was Hardy’s groundskeeper who helped him set the battlefield to “massacre”. Interestingly, Benjamin returned to Twitter on Tuesday following Matt’s awakening and tweeted simply this (rough translation: You called?)
Me llamaron?
— Señor Benjamin (@BenjaminSenor) November 28, 2017
HURRICANE HELMS
Stand back, there’s a Hurricane coming through! Matt Hardy’s best friend, Shane Helms, is a free agent in the wrestling world, leaving Impact earlier this year during the management transfer. He was a part of last year’s Tag Team Apocalypto event, where he appeared first as Shane Helms, but was kicked into the Lake of Reincarnation, only to emerge in his former WCW gimmick, 3-Count, and then Hurricane Helms, his former WWE personality.
While he’s not a long term candidate for an extended WWE return (although a transition to 205 Live and the Cruiserweight Division wouldn’t hurt), he has nostalgic star power for the WWE casual fans to help bolster the faction if lesser known stars are added.
SHANNON MOORE
Another one of Hardy’s close friends from the early OMEGA days, Shannon Moore is another former battle ally of Matt’s, back from his Mattitude gimmick in the early 2000s. He hasn’t appeared on televised wrestling since leaving Impact Wrestling in 2012, but he’s remained active on the indies with the likes of Atomic Wrestling Entertainment (AWE), Vanguard Championship Wrestling (VCW), AAW, and XICW. His last match was in July of this year and he seems to be focusing more on his tattoo shop these days, but a short return to the WWE as part of the new Broken army alongside his old friend may be something that draws him back.
CRAZZY STEVE
Another former combatant in the Final Deletion series, former Impact Tag Team Champion Crazzy Steve was the leader of one of the Broken Hardys’ first rivals, Decay. He also left Impact Wrestling earlier this year and recently had a WWE tryout. What better person to trust than someone you’ve previously gone to war with? And before anyone starts saying they should also bring in Abyss and Rosemary and reunite the trio, the last two are happily still contracted with Impact Wrestling.
TM-61
This is in NO way tied to any rumours and is merely the author’s speculation, but if the army is going to add a tag team, adding TM-61 would make sense. Obviously the Broken Hardys would be the main team of the group, but with Jeff out until April, they wouldn’t see any action for months. If they decide to keep Matt singles (which they should), another tag team unit would be needed. TM-61, formerly indie stars The Mighty Don’t Kneel in Pro Wrestling NOAH, were about to get their NXT push last year with the Dusty Rhodes Classic Tag Team Tournament, but an injury to Shane Thorne in January derailed that and put them on the shelf. Thorne returned this past September, and they’ve begun working Live Events again, but they haven’t appeared on NXT television as of yet. They could simply skip a proper NXT run like some of the women who debuted last week, and come straight to Hardy’s aid. TM-61 are also from Australia, and Hardy DID say he was looking “around the talent” for soldiers.
KASSIUS OHNO
Total wishful thinking and many would argue that the former Chris Hero deserves better, but being the Little John to Hardy’s maniacal Robin Hood and providing the group it’s muscle would be a great way to get him over with the WWE Universe who are oblivious to Ohno’s pre-WWE existence and prepare him to break away on his own.
SANITY
They’re about as “broken” as anyone in the WWE Universe and their recent match at NXT Takeover: War Games, coupled with Nikki Cross‘ antics the past several months, has begun to sway the WWE Universe to cheer rather than boo the faction. Adding SaNitY would instantly give Hardy four capable bodies, in a Sergant-at-Arms in Eric Young, a strong utility big man in Alexander Wolfe, monster muscle in Killian Dain and a formidable women’s wrestler in Nikki Cross.
Who do you think Matt Hardy will enlist in his new army for the Great War? Let us know in the comments below!
