Without doubt, the Hardy Brothers feud featuring 'Brother Nero' and 'Broken' Matt Hardy has been the most buzzworthy program for TNA wrestling in 2016. While polarizing in response, the segments were attention-grabbers, to say the least. Just a few days after 'The Final Deletion,' Fightful has learned some exclusive details about the segments.
The original Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy contract signing was filmed over about five hours at Matt Hardy's home in Cameron, North Carolina. TNA Wrestling employee Jeremy Borash directed the entire segment, and drones were used in shooting some of the footage outside the home.
The following weekend, TNA talents Ethan Carter III, Josh Mathews, Eli Drake, Rockstar Spud and Tyrus all participated in the creation of a parody of the contract signing. It was joked to Fightful that the parody likely took longer to film than the actual contract signing, and that current King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake produced and edited the entire video while the group was in Mexico for the AAA World Cup.
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The director's cut of the Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy contract signing is the most viewed clip on TNA's Youtube since moving to Pop TV in late 2015. The aforementioned parody is also the most viewed of it's kind on Youtube.
During an interview I did with EC3 ahead of Slammiversary for Wrestling Inc., EC3 spoke about the parody.
"I don't know if you've seen the Hardy contract signing, but (Matt Hardy) is out of his skull," Carter said. "They came out with a segment that was met with a lot of buzz, and the way I look at this business was that good, bad, indifferent, doesn't matter, what matters is that people are talking. People were talking. So much so, I was in Mexico with Eli Drake, don't always see eye-to-eye with him, Rockstar Spud, Tyrus and Josh Mathews. We were watching this segment and thought it was ripe for parody, if we don't, somebody else is going to and capitalize on it, and we're better at it. In a couple of hours we whipped up that little video, secretly put it on the Impact Youtube account. The original finish had to be taken out due to me being profane. Everyone contributed equally, and Eli Drake was the editor of the video. I give credit where it's due. Pay it forward. I can't ever fault anyone for trying something. Success, failure, you don't know until you try."
We're also told that the WWE locker room got a screening of the clip, and it was universally praised, with the likes of John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho and others checking out the clips. The segment, produced by the Hardys and Borash, was credited by WWE stars for production values, and one star said it could have passed for something that appears on Adult Swim. There were also talents running around backstage saying "It's ovah!," and "extraordinary xylophone!"
We were also told that the music for "The Final Deletion" was stock, and that Jeremy Borash and one other TNA employee did the editing.
You can see the full segment above.
By Sean Ross Sapp
