WWE to add MMA branch?

Twist of Lemon

There has been much talk of Pride’s semi-clandestine meetings with bosses at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) but little notion of what it could mean. According to “a well placed source who wishes to remain anonymous� WWE are looking to add a fourth member to their phenomenally successful family of Pro Wrestling shows.

According to these rumours, soon to be joining RAW, Smackdown and ECW will be an MMA themed event. The show is expected to be a gateway between the worlds of Pro Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts, who have traditionally shared a modest cross-over in terms of fans and fighters.

In the past MMA fighters such as Ken Shamrock, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Bas Rutten have sought out new directions in the world of Pro Wrestling, while Pro Wrestlers have also permeated the MMA scene. This is most apparent in Japan but is happening more and more in the USA. Pro Wrestlers like Daniel Puder, Sylvester "The Predator" Terkay and Giant Silva have fought in the major leagues of MMA, with more major stars like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar reportedly in training for a 2007 debut.

WWE entering the world of Mixed Martial Arts is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand WWE will bring a spectacular big budget presentation but will also bring unwelcome undertones of match-fixing.


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not sure how much to believe but I wouldnt doubt it, I really hope Vince stays in Pro wrestling and dosn't bother with this though

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

This would fail like the XFL.

AudioSavior

Interesting. If anything I would want this to not fail and to actually work. I haven't seen any MMA presentations I wouldn't watch and that includes Vale Tudo, in which there is no broadcaster and is bare knuckles and few rules. If they promote it right and have the networks they can be huge. They would get the bigger networks faster because, well they have contracts with them. I'd like to see UFC be given a run for their money. PrideFC as well since they are branching over to the US.

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Vale-tudo (Portuguese for anything goes) describes competitions in unarmed combat having minimal rules,[1] especially up until the modern day mixed martial arts competitions. It is sometimes also considered a combat sport[2] and style of fighting[3] in itself. The term vale tudo comes from the name of a television show that aired in Brazil starting in the 1960s. The show was a telecast of style-versus-style fights hosted by Hélio Gracie, which later changed into a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament followed by the victor fighting an invited opponent of another style in a vale tudo bout

Dmac

This would phail harder than the XFL, enough said.

AudioSavior

Maybe you would like to state your case on that? It has nothing to do, and is nothing like how the XFL failed. That failed because the NFL is such a strong league of the best there is. The XFL was basically a bunch of nobodies. I think if done right it has no reason to fail. Having more MMA on TV is a great thing.

Dmac

I never said it would be anything like the XFL, I simply said it would phail harder than it. Good creations should never be copied, for instance the current 'ECW' they should have never messed with the legend of it, it is drowning faster than a rat with a bowling ball tied to it.

Tyler Durden

I'd be interested to see how they do this and how they get over trying to present one style of fighting as being legit hard ass real stuff and the other as "sports entertainment".

Wouldn't the wrestling side suffer since they're actively being shown as non legit, or would the MMA side suffer since the WWE audience prefer something story related (lol, not that we actually get that now!!).

It'd take a lot of work to make this, you know...work!!

AudioSavior

How are they messing with anything by starting an MMA company? They aren't taking over anything, they are just doing their own thing. You still haven't explained why you think it would fail.

AudioSavior

Lets face it, MMA is out there and I don't think it hurts the WWE in the way you described if they had MMA. However, I do tend to giggle at WWE wrestlers when they say how tough they are. I think WWE is basiclly saying if you can't beat em join them. I hope it doesn't fail and we have more MMA to watch.

Tyler Durden

Like I say, it'll depend how they present it. It's part of the same programming I think it makes it more difficult, e.g at the moment people can love both, you mentally switch from one to the other by flicking the channel. If it's a totally separate brand then maybe that'd be fine, but if there's cross representation then it becomes a tad tricky for the (un)creative team