Broken/Woken Matt Hardy
In 2016, Matt struck gold with the "Broken" gimmick in
TNA. It was a gimmick of such weirdness that he could do his own television series with everything that he's done. We would like to note that
none of what is listed below is made up,
no matter how WTF bonkers it may sound. Notable moments include:
- Delete or DECAY revealed that he has his own personal zoo filled with the "greatest souls of existence", showcasing George Washington in the body of a giraffe, then having Brother Nero fight off Smokin' Joe Frazer in the body of a kangaroo, mentioning how he's a Spot Monkey whisperer and names a selection of monkeys based off of X Division wrestlers and talks to a lion that hosts the soul of Genghis Khan. And that's just before the fight happens.
- Trick or DELETE
: Handing out green beans to kids dressed in costumes. And when he confronts one dressed as a box of donuts:
- During a backstage fight between the Broken Hardys and DCC, he commands a forklift operator to charge after one of the members. When the operator refuses, Matt bites him.
- And then as a result of that forklift fight, Matt gets amnesia. Hilarity Ensues (as if there hasn't been enough of it to begin with):
- Jeff finds his brother being an engineer, dressed in a white sweater all while Senor Benjamin is lounging around. When he attempts to recreate the whole "Brother Nero, I knew you'd come!" schtick, Matt is honestly confused as to what's going on. Basically everything that has to do with JEFF being the only sane one out of the duo is full of hilarity.
- Then Senor Benjamin, Queen Rebecca and Jeff try to sing the "Obsolete" lines Jeff sings three times. Matt's (once again) honestly confused.
- And when Jeff tries to dunk Matt into the Lake of Reincarnation, Matt absolutely refuses by stating he could catch a cold or get sick.
- When Jeff gets annoyed and decides to go fight DCC by himself, Matt states that the feelings are hard to describe... and his faithful Scribe appears out of the blue, ready to take notes. Despite driving out to the lake when they were sure no one else was around.
- Sometime after the initial amnesia episode, Matt is seen deleting emails and eating candy. After Queen Rebecca states that they wouldn't have that candy if Matt didn't hand out green beans during Halloween, Matt questions what kind of lunatic would do so. And when she leaves, he decides to unsubscribe for an email in regards to a rock band known as The Young Bucks...and the Scribe appears again.
- When Queen Rebecca shows Matt scenes from "The Final Deletion", Matt's comments are:
(seeing Vanguard-1 projecting him) "How did you get my head in there?"
(Running a lawn mower over Jeff's tribal lawn) "How can I be so cruel?"
(Setting the Jeff Hardy Cross on fire at the end of the match) "I'm committing arson! I'm a TERRIBLE PERSON!"
- How does Matt revert to his "Broken" self? By pledging the Seven Deities to strike him with a lightning bolt!
- Total Nonstop Deletion, full stop! During the entire PPV there was a fake news channel reporting the different events that happened on Cameron, NC. A volcano erupted in the Land of Deletion at the Hardy compound, and should House Hardy lose a single match, the volcano will swallow the whole area. Every member of House Hardy (including Senor Benjamin and King Maxel) was booked and the main event would be the Tag Team Apocalypto, which was basically the Final Deletion up to eleven.
- Matt's son King Maxel winning a pro wrestling match. At the age of one. Granted, his opponent (Rockstar Spud) was tazed by Senor Benjamin at the beginning of the match, but still! Bonus points for his entrance, on a toy car. Props also to Spud himself, for his kayfabe-breaking sarcastic lampshading of many tropes involved with pro wrestling's way of storytelling.
- Vanguard-1 answering Sienna's Open Challenge and being denied the request by the referee.
- The highlight, however, is the Tag Team Apocalypto match. A Falls Count Anywhere like the Final Deletion, but involving every Tag Team in TNA/Impact's Tag Team division and with a last-team-standing elimination format. To ensure some order in the upcoming chaos, TNA lended many referees to this match. Needless to say, Hilarity Ensues!
- The fake news channel have a journalist near one of the barricades blocking the access to Cameron. Then a truck driven by Gregory Helms approaches the area and the (former) Hurricane, now the head of the Helms Dynasty, is being interviewed. After hearing that the road is blocked, he still insists with charging upon it in order to arrive to the match.
- Rockstar Spud's participation in the match. After witnessing Decay (Abyss and Crazzy Steve) mowing down most of the Tag Team roster, he promises to bring a partner bigger than anything that they have ever seen before. The partner in question? Hornswoggle.
- Helms being thrown into the Lake of Reincarnation, first appearing as his 3-Count self and dancing with his Dynasty partners before being superkicked by them after comparing them negatively to both Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias.
- The line after Matt and Hurricane Helms shovel dirt onto the Helms Dynasty:
- How do the Hardys win the match? With Jeff throwing Crazzy Steve onto the volcano and him being erupted onto the ring for Matt to do the three-count.
- During his Christmas Eve 2017 promo, his second son, Wolfgang, wakes up from a nap, notices his dad cutting a promo, and then immediately goes back to sleep as if he either realizes he is breaking kayfabe by being awake or has gotten used to the weird promos that his father cuts.
- Elimination Chamber 2018: Woken Matt has a singles match against Bray Wyatt. Normally, Wyatt's horror movie-esque crab walk is enough to make his opponent freeze in confusion/fear. Not only does Matt look upon the sight with admiration (the microphones in the arena just manage to pick up his comments that the spectacle was very impressive), he manages to goad at least some of the crowd into giving Bray a standing ovation. It's even a Moment of Awesome too, when Bray looks utterly baffled (and even creeped out) by Matt's response.
- This seems to be a Running Gag now: whenever a wrestler performs some feat, Matt states that it's absolutely "WONDERFUL!" and asks the crowd to rise in standing ovation.
- The Ultimate Deletion: Good lord, where do we start?
- When Matt decides either to run Bray down with the "chair with wheels" or "mower of lawn" and chooses the latter while "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" plays...and then the Ode to Joy starts blaring as Matt slowly moves the mower toward Bray who decides to rise up in his spider crawl in response.
- Bray and Matt playing hide and seek in the Land of Obsolete Men.
- When Bray lifts Skaasgard up (thinking Matt hid there while distracted by Vanguard-1), he finds Senor Benjamin instead, who randomly tosses a globe in Bray's hands while singing "He's got the whole world in his hands" in a very near-flat tone. (With a surprise Brother Nero cameo!)
- How does Vanguard 1 unleash the fireworks this time? Initiate Boomstick protocol!
- And when he tries to attack Bray, Bray just grabs the drone's landing rails, snickers, and mutters "I'll deal with you later."
- Woken Matt getting the entire New Orleans crowd at the iconic Bourbon St. to join in the DELETE!!! chants.
- Woken Matt talking to the statue of André the Giant after he wins the Battle Royal. No, seriously.
- The RAW after Wrestlemania 34 has Matt and Bray teaming up together. It's just as bizarre as you think it will be.
- When Jeff met up with his WOKEN brother that night, he then gets introduced to Bray who immediately referred to Jeff as Brother Nero (despite Jeff not being in that persona since his cameo in The Ultimate Deletion). Both would then share a very awkward hug, followed by Finn Bálor and Seth Rollins asking Jeff about them with very confused faces.
- Matt's promo on the RAW after Greatest Royal Rumble showcases a montage on how he and Bray were involved in various historical events with their images on cave paintings, them crossing the Delaware, on the Kiss seen around the world and Neil Armstrong's moon landing.
- At Comic Con, it is revealed that not only is Matt getting a figure, but they also are releasing figures for Vanguard-1 (including Matt Hardy hologram!), Skaåsgard and the Mower of Lawns! Yes, seriously.
- House Hardy Halloween: Oh, dear lordy...
- Why did Matt host the Halloween ball in the first place? To celebrate King Maxel passing through the corn maze as a rite of passage.
- Vanguard-1 falls in love with a pink drone and has a montage of him marrying said drone (with the Scribe as the priest and Senor Benjamin as the best man) and having a child.
- BROKEN Matt asking his wife for the address of the Conquistadors.
- When he encounters Los Conquistadors (after getting his "premo-NEE-tion" that the invader is in disguise), he asks if they happen to be Edge and Christian.
- The Godfather goes to the Lake of Reincarnation to take a call and watches as Jeff casually takes a swim into it and come out as Itchweeed. Godfather decides "What the hell?" and takes a dive himself.
- And who does he come out as? Papa Shango.
- BROKEN Matt lets The Boogeyman try out some greenbeans...and the Boogeyman spits out and asks if Matt is nuts. Yes, the guy who regularly eats handfulls of earthworms, forces opponents to eat worms, smashes big clocks against his head and randomly appears in the most unexpected times and places to freak out people asks if someone else is insane.
- Why was The Boogeyman there in the first place? Matt hired him to do the catering!
- His "You don't understand" skits on his Youtube page, which channel his "Big Money Matt"... at least at first. Highlights include:
- Upon introducing Damascaus (his new essence that brought back his Broken Brilliance) to All Elite Wrestling, Matt comes face to face with Chris Jericho. Insanity ensues. Special mention goes to Matt saying Jericho is a "hole of the ass."
Other personas
- After a pizza-eating contest with MVP, he ate two slices while MVP ate none. Cue Matt blowing chunks all over him while he complains.
- After losing a match against Adam Page at AEW Revolution 2021, where the winner would get all of the loser's first-quarter earnings, on the next episode of Being the Elite Matt's protégés Private Party go to his hotel room to try and cheer him up... and find him eating grapes.
