Matt Hardy Reveals Accidental Origin Of The Lake Of Reincarnation

On the latest episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, the TNA star talked about how one of the most famous concepts of his “Broken Universe”—The Lake of Reincarnation—was created completely by accident.

He explained that the initial plan was much simpler. During the cinematic match, Jeff Hardy, as “Brother Nero,” was supposed to be thrown into the lake and then re-emerge as his alter-ego, “Willow,” as a cool moment. The idea of the lake itself having transformative powers was not part of the original script. You can check out some highlights below:

On the original idea: “Whenever we did that the very first time, that was not our intent. We were just saying — because Jeff would do Jeff and he would transform to Willow, and he’d done Willow and got it established on TNA TV — we were just gonna have, ‘Oh, Jeff was down.’ But then all of a sudden he pops out as Willow, it’s going to be a cool moment.”

On plans changing: “And after that moment got such a great reaction and gained so much traction, we’re like, ‘Wow, maybe we should make this a thing where you dunk somebody in, and they can kind of come out as a different character of theirs, a different persona.’ And it paid off in spades.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.