Matt Hardy has expressed his desire to work with John Cena in the “Broken Hardy” universe, a creative and unconventional world that Hardy created in 2016.
In the “Broken” universe, Hardy and his brother, Jeff Hardy, were able to expand upon their characters and storylines in a unique never-before-seen way. The concept gained widespread popularity, particularly after the cinematic showdown between Matt and Jeff Hardy, known as “The Final Deletion,” which took place on Hardy’s home property the “Hardy compound”.
Not only were fans captivated by the unique and entertaining match, but other wrestlers were also drawn to the concept. In fact, John Cena was such a fan of the Broken Universe that he reportedly hosted special screenings of The Final Deletion for WWE wrestlers while the company was on tour in Japan.
Chris Jericho, who received an advanced copy of the match, showed it to Cena and other wrestlers, and it became a hit among the WWE roster.
John Cena Loved The Final Deletion
In the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy spoke about his desire to work with Cena in the Broken Universe, stating that he believes it would be a fun and exciting opportunity. Hardy also shared a story about Cena’s reaction to The Final Deletion, saying that Cena was blown away by the concept at the time and hoped to see it brought to WWE.
“He was one of the ones whenever I sent a preview of The Final Deletion to [Chris] Jericho, they were in Japan, and there is a very famous story; Jericho showed it to John Cena, and John said, ‘Oh my God, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. They started setting up different times — they were at this venue all day. So they said, like, ‘1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30… These are the showing times, you have to be here on time, and if you show up two seconds late, you don’t come in the room.’ So they showed it throughout the day to the WWE guys, and John Cena watched every viewing of it.”
Cena was involved in a similar cinematic match in 2020, taking on The Fiend in a divisive Firefly Funhouse Match at WrestleMania, and he clearly has a knack for that style of presentation. Nevertheless, it remains unlikely that Hardy will have the opportunity to work with Cena in the Broken Universe given his current status as an AEW competitor and with John Cena largely focussed on his movie career.
H/t to Fightful