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WWE and Endeavor To Merge

Matt D

By Matt D
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

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JLowe

JLowe

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, Krone said:

Do WWE or UFC even need those recognizable names by this point (I say that kind of in jest)? I'm not arguing how a Conor can pop the numbers of a Pape, but I feel like it's the brand that sells the shows now on both ends of the spectrum. I have friends who have kids now (god I feel old) and I know for a fact those parents aren't watching WWE, but will gladly take their kids to a show. I'm talking people who will have a "WWE" themed party for their kids and you look at all the stuff and it's from like 2013. Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kane, Undertaker, etc. people that aren't even on the roster anymore (with kids who are 6, 7 years old meaning they wouldn't even know some of these guys).  You will always have your people that follow the product hardcore, but I do think a good chunk of them are just "hey WWE is coming to town!" or "you guys wanna go watch a UFC event?". 

WWE definitely likes to tell their independent contractor "superstars" that the brand is what sells tickets, not them.

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John E. Dynamite

John E. Dynamite

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, jaedmc said:

Paul Heyman made an interesting statement during an interview with Ariel Helwani this past week that sounded like typical Paul E hype man shit, but in hindsight sounds like he knew what was coming and why.

He made this point:

Take any UFC fighter besides Connor McGregor and walk them down the street and no one knows who they are. Take any WWE superstar and walk them down the street of any city in the world and they're mobbed like the Beatles. The difference is distribution, and we do it better than anybody.

So I'm thinking this is a huge selling point and why it makes sense for these companies to merge together. If Vince and company can use their infrastructure to raise UFC's visibility then this is a big win for Endeavor.

The UFC having anonymous fighters is the whole point. And Paul should know this.

The UFC goes out of it's way to promote itself as a brand first and a collection of individual fighters second. There are exceptions to the rule, but nothing like what we saw when Conor, Brock, and Ronda were all on top selling PPVs. The idea being - a single breakout star that has the leverage to ask for big, big paydays could be the rising tide that lifts all ships. More than one or two megastars start fighting for seven-figure purses causes other members of the roster to wonder where their slice of the pie is. Sure, the UFC will elevate ratings-and-clicks generating journeymen/fringe contenders/English-speaking regional draw midcarders and give them a higher degree of media exposure (Masvidal, Chandler, Paddy, etc.), but they rarely put the full strength of their promotional machine behind actual champions anymore. They will drop your ass before they allow you to upset their strategy of bottom-of-the-barrel fighter pay. Case in point - Frances Ngannou.

Since Conor, the person they spend the most time and money promoting to the public is Dana White. They want you to pay to see the brand, not the fighters. Because they don't want to pay the fighters.

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Craig H

Craig H

Posted
Posted

Yeah, not that I was fully back on the WWE train, but this is probably a good indication to just hop off and stay off. I can't see things getting better from here.

 

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

Posted
Posted

Dude, on the strength of PADDY PIMBLETT and MOLLY "MEATBALL" MCCANN the UFC sold out an arena in England and you would have believed Led Zeppelin had dug up John Bonham, reanimated his corpse to play the drums, and Robert Plant got his voice from the early 70s back. That shit was wild.

Fifteen years ago, when they started running shows outside the US, they had no idea how to navigate international markets if it wasn't GSP in Montreal. Now? They do it with ease. Guys like Frank Warren (who has been around FOREVER), Eddie Hearn (via the knowledge passed down from his father), and in the past Sauerland Events in Germany were able to do that in boxing cause they had distinct, inherent advantages of being local.

The WWE could never have like the equivalent of those two which would be like Bea Priestley under whatever name she uses now and like some NXT UK scrub and sell out the O2 Arena in London in record time with a gate surpassing a million dollars without using established WWE names.

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AxB

AxB

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Dude, on the strength of PADDY PIMBLETT and MOLLY "MEATBALL" MCCANN the UFC sold out an arena in England and you would have believed Led Zeppelin had dug up John Bonham, reanimated his corpse to play the drums, and Robert Plant got his voice from the early 70s back. That shit was wild…

The WWE could never have like the equivalent of those two which would be like Bea Priestley under whatever name she uses now and like some NXT UK scrub and sell out the O2 Arena in London in record time with a gate surpassing a million dollars without using established WWE names.

UFC may not have put much promotional muscle behind Paddy and Molly, but BT Sport, Radio Merseyside and the Liverpool Echo have. UK based UFC fans who didn’t follow Vage Warriors were utterly nonplussed by that first Liverpool UFC with the two of them. 
 

Whereas NXT UK, there were lots and lots of Britwres fans who would travel the length and breadth of the UK to attend every Progress show that happened, who would refuse to attend an NXT UK taping that was happening in their back garden. The brand was dead quickly.

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, AxB said:

UFC may not have put much promotional muscle behind Paddy and Molly, but BT Sport, Radio Merseyside and the Liverpool Echo have. UK based UFC fans who didn’t follow Vage Warriors were utterly nonplussed by that first Liverpool UFC with the two of them. 
 

Whereas NXT UK, there were lots and lots of Britwres fans who would travel the length and breadth of the UK to attend every Progress show that happened, who would refuse to attend an NXT UK taping that was happening in their back garden. The brand was dead quickly.

I was gonna bring this up earlier, but now that you give that example, that sounds like UFC trying to run in Poland originally. The folks who run KSW, which is basically an MMA company in Poland w/ WWE's production with one or two good fights with a freakshow fight and then D level fights on every card for those not in the know, basically laughed at them (the UFC) cause they had a stranglehold in Poland. That first show didn't really have the atmosphere of a big show in a new market mostly cause they didn't have the KSW stars. Now? The UFC doesn't have a foothold there cause they don't really run shows there, but they raided the pantry of many of the notable KSW stars that weren't like Mamed Khalidov or Mariusz Pudzianowski.

It sounds like WWE basically did the same thing with World of Sport, PROGRESS, etc. and expected folks to show up not realizing that's not how it works.

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Casey

Casey

Posted
Posted

Vince talking about his sex scandals on CNBC is fucking gross. “Owned up to it and I moved on”. Motherfucker you faced no consequences at all besides growing a mustache for 7 months.

Goddamnit.

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

Posted
Posted

Here is where I part with the Vince lovefest (or at least the absence of what Vince has done in the past) that comes about at certain times: When Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (non MMA fans look him up) passed unexpectedly not too long ago, there were people that went HARD in the paint about his history and maybe I missed something...his life never got to the ridiculousness in terms of Vince McMahon to warrant the level of vitriol. At the same time, I am cognizant enough to realize views on him should exist beyond, "well, he was a complex man." He did some bad stuff and that's framing it very lightly.

When Vince sells a company that can make money hand over fist without him, I cannot give him a gold star sticker. I can give him credit, but why does he need my validation? Moreover, I find it funny that Bill Simmons (who probably will cut out a significant portion of what might be negative about Vince in documentary form) created a term regarding Mike Tyson for the same thing you can readily apply to Vince McMahon. His life is so crazy and spectacular that it not only transcends what we can even conceive but it's almost like we take it for granted cause it gets crazier by the minute at any given time. 

He doesn't have this fake ass Teflon Don aura thing going as much as people just chalk it up to Vince McMahon craziness. This sale shouldn't blind people to who Vince McMahon is, for better or for worse. You can't be on TV looking like something from a goddamn George A. Romero movie to throw people off the scent.

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Matt D said:

I felt like Khan had a better chance of buying old Omni footage from the Saudis.

I know what Khan you mean since I remember you talking about this, but now I visualize a GIF of Nick Khan holding a bunch of randomly labeled videotapes in his arms and dropping them in a big bin labeled "WASTE" with a shit-eating grin on his face.

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

Posted
Posted

I just read Kevin Iole's story on Yahoo with quotes from all the relevant parties.

I think he used updated pictures of everyone but his picture of Vince has to be from ten years ago.

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supremebve

supremebve

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Does this mean I’m going to have to learn UFC stuff?

I've been talking about MMA on the internet for about 15 years and let me tell you,  learning has never been a requirement. People who watch every damn week don't know shit,  so you'll be OK.

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, supremebve said:

I've been talking about MMA on the internet for about 15 years and let me tell you,  learning has never been a requirement. People who watch every damn week don't know shit,  so you'll be OK.

You beat me to it. Shit, Mike Goldberg ain't watched MMA since 2004. Problem is he was commentating for UFC and Bellator up until a few years ago. You'll be fine.

However, if you wanna learn...

When someone has another fighter in a submission hold and a commentator says "It's tight!" (get your mind out of the gutter), that's the MMA version of Vince's "ONE TWO HE GOT HIM!...oh no he didn't". Ten seconds later, they're going to get out of it. It's crazy but MMA ain't like pro wrestling where you can sit in a choke and kneebar/heel hook for like 5 minutes without either getting choked unconscious or having all your tendons torn.

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Octopus

Octopus

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, supremebve said:

I've been talking about MMA on the internet for about 15 years and let me tell you,  learning has never been a requirement. People who watch every damn week don't know shit,  so you'll be OK.

I feel like more people need to do knee related offense. Less arms.

 I think I’m getting the hang of this!

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