TNA/Impact Thread (Spoilers)

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- The Impact website is down due to a server issue. We are told the company wasn't happy about crashing but was happy it was due to traffic.

The Youtube videos for Alberto el Patron's debut in Impact Wrestling are already in the hundreds of thousands, way up from what the company usually has in terms of views.

If you noticed there seemed to be no big pop for Alberto's debut last night, we are told a technical glitch with the video wall as well as losing the feeds to a handheld camera for a few minutes led to some edits. They had to reshoot his entrance (which they did in an empty Impact Zone between tapings) as they initially had the name "Alberto de Patron" on the videoscreens, which was later changed to "El Patron." Live, he got a massive pop when he showed up, so the company lost that moment.

Maria Kanellis' exit in storyline is that she had a "nervous breakdown", according to Sienna. They slipped in a line that it was actually a contract issue (as in real life, she opted not to sign) so if there is a return down the line, Kanellis could always claim it was a lie.

[Bandit]

I'm not going to get invested in Alberto because I have no faith he'll last more than a few months.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

And here's the news on the lawsuit shenanigans.

-- Impact Wrestling sent Matt and Jeff Hardy (and perhaps others) a 3* page cease and desist letter today, demanding they immediately stop all utilization of the "Broken" characters, PWInsider.com has confimed. We are told that Impact is claiming that that intellectual property of the characters and anything related to them would fall under the ownership of the company, not Matt and Jeff Hardy, and that as of today, the Hardys are not to use anything related to the "Broken" universe going forward.

The letter being sent is what sparked Rebecca Hardy's rant on Twitter earlier this afternoon.

Anthem's Ed Nordholm took to Twitter today, writing, "We thank @matthardybrand for a superb performance in Broken Universe. May the seven deities guide with their Broken Brilliance left behind. @MATTHARDYBRAND Broken Universe will always be here. Kudos to the creative team behind the vision @JeremyBorash @paradysexoxo @Lagana @Billy"

The Tweets seem to take the credit for the "Broken" material away from Matt Hardy, who had an incredible amount of creative control and say over it, and places the creative credit specifically upon current and former Impact creative and production staffers, giving the impression that the material was created by Impact, not Hardy.

Impact Wrestling is claiming that any new, original intellectual property created by the Hardys while they were under contract to the company would be owned by Impact and cannot be used outside of their auspices. Where the intellectual property begins and ends would certainly be up for debate, although the "Delete!" and "Obsolete" chants, as well as costuming and references to Seven Deities, Broken Brilliance, and perhaps even the dilapidated boat, could all claimed by Impact as their property. It's also a weird situation in that Impact are going to have to argue and prove that "Broken Matt Hardy" is their IP, whereas Matt Hardy is not. It gets even weirder if they are claiming to own "Brother Nero Hardy" when Nero is Jeff Hardy's actual middle name.

Matt Hardy filed for a trademark on the Broken Matt Hardy character himself on 3/1, right after his Impact contract expired.

Based on Rebecca Hardy's comments, it would appear the legal threat from Impact Wrestling would include her father, who portrayed Senor Benjamin despite not being signed or paid by TNA. One would assume it would then include Rebecca's persona as "Queen Rebecca" and possibly even Matt and Rebecca's son, who appeared as "King Maxel." Rebecca Hardy wrote that her father was never signed or paid by Impact Wrestling, which, if that is the case, makes Impact look like the worst kind of bullies for even targeting somone who performed for the company for free.

If Impact does follow up on the cease and desist and goes after the Hardy family legally, it puts the Impact in a situation where they are going after what was the most popular act on their roster, one of whom is scheduled to have a baby shortly - and that is the type of thing that is not going to endear Impact Wrestling to the very fans they were publicly trying to get back behind the company on their TV show this week, even if legally, Impact is in the right. By going after talents who had given a lot to Impact in recent years - and who were always popular - it puts Impact right back into the position of being seen in a negative light yet again by fans.

Where the situation get dicey is this - The Hardys have already appeared in a Ring of Honor ring and are scheduled to appear in a few hours at the ROH 15th Anniversary PPV in Las Vegas. If/when they do, it stands to reason that Impact might take aim at ROH or even future independent companies that allow the Hardys to appear in those guises, claiming they too are infringing on Impact's intellectual property. There is no sign as of this writing that the Hardys, currently the ROH Tag Team champions, are in danger of being pulled from tonight's PPV.

Legally, a situation like this comes down to the legal language in the contracts. If the Impact deals included language that any material created by the talents while they were under contract to Impact is retained by the company, Impact may indeed have a case. That sort of clause is why when WWE talents leave, they can't retain their ring names, unless there's a case of someone like MVP, who created his character independent of the company and could legally continue to utilize and perform under that name. If Matt and Jeff Hardy did not have that language in their contracts, all of this would be for moot and Impact wouldn't really have a case.

So, it appears the next place the battlefield in the broken universe will be a courtroom.

[Bandit]

Bryan Alvarez should claim the rights to the invincible boat since that was a inside joke about one of his TNA rants on Bryan & Vinny.

[Hawq]

well I onda liked that impact, OK the Hardy/Decay thing was poorly shoehorned in but really what choice did they have, I'm guessing the Hardys didnt want to show up to finish it ona by appearence basis (or the company didnt want that). Nice few pops at the wwe along the way in the show, rather liked "my name is ze... no wait cant say that its trademarked" good to see the new management are still having a show that beats wwe for quality. If the bickering commentater bit drags on it could be bad though, I know they need one to be a dick but it aint gonna work that well if Josh has to keep it up for long, by which I mean viewers will hate him to the point they dread watching as they'll have to sit through his crap

[Bandit]

Reby Hardy continued to go off on Impact Wrestling on Twitter today. She tweeted: "UPDATE: TNA sending 'spooky' letters to cable providers threatening to sue if they air Hardys. Trying to screw ROH & ruin wrestling for fans," and told Dish Network to do better by fans after they didn't carry last night's ROH pay-per-view because of legal threats. She also claimed that Matt Hardy's contract with TNA didn't have any exclusivity and he could have appeared on any other televised wrestling program while under contract with them, and questioned who would work with Impact now.

What does Spooky mean? Did they threaten to send Decay into the headquarters of Comcast Cable? Threaten to force Time Warner Cable into watching the entire Sting and Abyss feud Clockwork Orange style?

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

I am just shocked they have Aces and Eights merchandise left.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I'm not shocked, who would have bought that shit first time around?

They probably still have Team Canada stuff.

[Bandit]

They won't sell it this time either. They will give it to the homeless people of Nashville.

[Bandit]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

Get over it TNA. Get Don West back on air = ratings thru the roof!

[Bandit]

Maria Kanellis's vagina.©

There, now she legally has to have sex with me using TNA legal logic.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

I can't blame him, they had him come in popular since smarks were mad about his release and did nothing with him.

[Big Boss Man]

Impact back on U.K. TV this Friday on Spike.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

I think WWE should sign Decay. Crazzy Steve was awful when he started but has definitely improved. And while WWE was never interested in Abyss as a singles wrestler (since like Mike Awesome he's only as big as who he works with) as a tag wrestler he'd be valuable. And he could do good singles matches with Jeff, Joe and AJ.