Former WWE Star Matt Hardy Recalls Vince McMahon's Reaction To His 'Broken' Gimmick

Matt Hardy has portrayed a slew of different personas across his wrestling career, from his character alongside his brother to "Version One Matt", and even "Big Money Matt." However, the "Broken Matt Hardy" character has been a fan favorite, and on his "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" podcast, he revealed how even Vince McMahon had to admit that.

According to Hardy, even he didn't predict that the persona would eventually become a cultish character, which he now describes as "influential." Upon returning to WWE in 2017, he recalled how Triple H was open to showcasing the character onscreen. "I remember talking to Triple H, and he said 'You know what? Maybe we could do a Hardy Boyz run, kind of a throwback to the original WWE Hardy Boyz, and then maybe we get into the Broken Matt Hardy a little bit?'"

However, McMahon wasn't a fan of the idea and shot it down at first. "And then Vince is like 'They're back in WWE now, they're The Hardy Boyz.'" Despite this, he'd later feature the character as "Woken Matt Hardy" down the line, even enjoying a run alongside Bray Wyatt as "The Eaters of Worlds." But, at the same time, he established his "Delete" catchphrase, which he uses to this day. Hardy claimed that the catchphrase taking off with fans is what eventually got McMahon to showcase the character in a lengthy run. "We sat down and we talked for 30 minutes about what the character was, he says 'They keep doing delete-delete-delete-delete, they won't stop that s—t! I guess we got to give it to 'em.'," Matt said. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.