UFC WWE merger

[Richie the Rally Goat]

live events are one of the few ways TV gets advertisers, but the markets slumped in response to the merger. Too similar?

How many of you are fans of WWE and UFC?

What are your thoughts?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/business/wwe-sale/index.html
 

[Jocko87]

Yuck, I've been watching UFC and buying PPVs (even watching alone) for a long time but they have been heading off the path for a several months.  The Slap League is about the worst concept I could imagine and they are using the UFC bullhorn to shove it down our throats at every turn.  Its very distasteful.  I've pretty much tuned out all UFC related social accounts to get away from it.  Can't wait for the same treatment of WWE.  I've also watched a good bit of rasslin in my day but its been several years and I just can't see the time needed to keep up with storylines.  Nothing against it, crazy athletes and performers but not my speed anymore.

UFC has also seemed to be slipping with the core product.  There are far more big money fights than there used to be instead of the best vs best all the time.  I get that everybody has to make money but its now money over product and it shows.  That leads to questioning/questionable judges decisions, fake feuds etc.  Basically all the distasteful parts of boxing.  I can't imagine having WWE in the fold will help that trend.  

I've pretty much stopped buying PPVs altogether and this won't help for me.  I'll still swing by the Twin Peaks when there is a fight I want to see but not much more.

[nicksaviking]

Haven't watched pro wrestling since I was a kid. Haven't watched UFC ever, as my dad always told me when I was young, that if I ever find myself in a fight, kicking is absolutely not acceptable (he was probably just worried about getting sued!). I was really into watching boxing back in the day though. 

But this seems weird since I assumed UFC thought it was an actual competition and obviously pro wrestling is a circus. Don't know enough about it but seems like it would delegitimize UFC almost completely.

 

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

On 4/4/2023 at 9:47 AM, nicksaviking said:

Haven't watched pro wrestling since I was a kid. Haven't watched UFC ever, as my dad always told me when I was young, that if I ever find myself in a fight, kicking is absolutely not acceptable (he was probably just worried about getting sued!). I was really into watching boxing back in the day though. 

But this seems weird since I assumed UFC thought it was an actual competition and obviously pro wrestling is a circus. Don't know enough about it but seems like it would delegitimize UFC almost completely.

 

 

That seems to be Jocko’s narrative of UFC, and that’s also my read on Boxing as well.

I stopped following pro wrestling, boxing, UFC 20 years ago, in part because of time, in part because it didn’t seem actually competitive, then. 20 years later, I just find the business aspect fascinating. TV is going through radical change, and live programming is one of the few ways to get people to watch the ads.