A significant match for NXT Halloween Havoc was established on the October 21, 2025, edition of WWE NXT, featuring the return of a well-known persona. The segment began with the team Dark State, who declared their intention to regain the NXT Tag Team Championship at the upcoming premium live event.
Their challenge was answered by The Hardys (Matt and Jeff Hardy), who appeared in a pre-taped segment broadcast from the “Hardy Compound.” During the video, Matt and Jeff Hardy approached their “Lake of Reincarnation,” a fixture associated with their previous character work, and submerged themselves in the water.
When the duo re-emerged, they had transformed into their “Broken” characters. Matt Hardy reappeared as “Broken” Matt, and Jeff Hardy as “Brother Nero.” This marks the return of the “Broken” gimmick, an eccentric and highly stylized persona The Hardys utilized famously outside of WWE and briefly within the company.
The “Broken” gimmick, created by Matt Hardy, involves a unique vocabulary, accent, and a cinematic “universe” of characters and locations, including the Lake of Reincarnation. This body of water is purported to have the power to change or “reincarnate” the characters of those who enter it.
In their new forms, “Broken” Matt and Brother Nero accepted the challenge from Dark State. They announced that the NXT Tag Team Championship match at Halloween Havoc will now be contested as a “Broken Rules Match.” This stipulation implies an unconventional, non-traditional match format, likely incorporating elements of their “Broken” universe.
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OH. MY. GOD.
DarkState have awoken Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero, and we're getting a Broken Rules Match at Halloween Havoc!! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Zmsrp3uXbe
— WWE (@WWE) October 22, 2025
