Road Dogg Liked, But Never Understood, The Broken Matt Hardy Character

New or different doesn't necessarily translate to good when it comes to professional wrestling, but there can be a place for it. So when Matt Hardy returned to WWE in April 2017 and began feuding with Bray Wyatt, he riffed off his "Broken" gimmick from Impact Wrestling, referring to himself as "Woken" instead. WWE Senior Vice President of Live Events Brian "Road Dogg" James spoke on what his process was while he was a writer for WWE when it came to a character he didn't understand. It included delegating it to somebody who did. In this case, Hardy himself.

"Look, I didn't understand the character, so I was automatically like, I don't want to say had a negative reaction to it, but I just didn't understand it," James said on his "Oh...You Didn't Know" podcast. "So I guess I was scared of it ... I was just scared to engage with it because I didn't understand it."

Instead of engaging with Hardy's "Woken" character, James delegated the writing to others who had a better grasp of it. And while his lack of understanding of the character never changed all that much, he's still willing to discuss whether or not it actually worked.

"I'm still up for the conversation whether that character was any good or not," James added.

He admits that he never saw the transformation Hardy made in Impact, which is likely why he never really got on board with the gimmick. That said, James appreciated what he saw in Hardy's feud with Wyatt.

"It was wacky to me," James continued. "I know just 'cause something's different doesn't make it good, but there is something to trying different things. Because man, there's so many good ideas that are left unsold because nobody ever tried 'em."

If you use quotes from this article, please credit "Oh...You Didn't Know" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.