Matt Hardy reveals why he created Brother Nero for Jeff Hardy
Matt Hardy is a man who is continuously evolving his character in pro wrestling. Having been in the business for several years now, he has adapted to his surroundings and found new creative ways to get over with wrestling audiences.
Matt Hardy created the 'Broken' character to be a throwback to mystical characters like The Undertaker; it's not entirely clear why Jeff Hardy was also thrown into the mix with Brother Nero.
Matt Hardy wanted Jeff Hardy to slow down
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Matt Hardy revealed that Vince McMahon never embraced the 'Broken Matt Hardy' character as he saw Matt transitioning to a backstage role, which was probably why it didn't take off in WWE.
While the 'Broken' character was created in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, Hardy said that he wanted it to be a throwback to magical characters like The Undertaker. But it also had to do with the fact that he couldn't do the high-flying spots he used to do. He said:
"Thinking back and looking back at the landscape of things all these young guys that you know, 25 to 35 that are in super top shape and super athletic and super healthy in so many ways and don't have their body covered in scar tissue like mine is. You know, when I was thinking about those characters, what if I could do a throwback to the days of Papa Shango, the days of The Undertaker. Trying to create a character that's like somewhat magical somewhat over the top, and that was the whole mindset."
Matt Hardy said that the Brother Nero character was created for Jeff Hardy as he wanted his brother to slow down. He said:
"I asked Jeff to do the whole Brother Nero thing and got him on board with that idea because I was literally trying to get Jeff to like slow down and conserve his body a little more because he's just like so passionate and he so much feels like every time he's in the ring, 'No, the fans want me do a Swanton, they want to see a Whisper in the Wind.' You know, he feels so committed and so loyal to the audience he wants to do that every time, but I'm like, you're Jeff Hardy. At this point, you can kind of pick and choose; you don't have to do everything. You don't have to beat your body every single match, you know?"
You can watch the video segment at 4:30 in the video below
Matt Hardy essentially pointed to Jeff that he was a star and had earned the right to do things his way. Moreover, Hardy also believed that it allowed Jeff to get into more of a character mindset rather than doing high spots regularly.
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