WWE Agrees $21 Billion Merger With UFC

[Rozalia1]

https://itrwrestling.com/news/wwe-agrees-21-billion-merger-with-ufc/

https://metro.co.uk/2023/04/03/wwe-and-ufc-combining-to-create-multi-billion-dollar-company-18547210/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wwe-and-ufc-owner-endeavor-agree-to-massive-merger-110951505.html

 

Very sad day. WWE for all its faults was at least an independent company that hadn't been swallowed up by big business... and now it is. Biggest disgrace to me Vince has ever brought upon his family.

 

I wonder though... wouldn't Tony Khan (owner of AEW) have an antitrust case here? Pro-wrestling and MMA are sort of in the same arena so you could say that is the two biggest players in that arena joining together. WWE through this only grows stronger too (in theory, reality will likely be different) so it only makes it harder for competition like AEW to have a chance. Is it possible for Tony to use his manic energy for good... hopefully.

[Vergil]

So now we gonna see WWE vs UFC 

[Rozalia1]

Just now, Vergil said:

So now we gonna see WWE vs UFC 

 

Inokism making a comeback. What a dreadful thought.

 

Also while WWE wrestlers certainly aren't paid what they should be... it is even worse in the UFC. If this goes through are they going to attempt to drastically cut WWE wrestlers pay? Because if they don't then how can they justify how they treat the UFC fighters? Surely fighters should refuse to compete until they get paid at least the WWE rate.

[serrated-banner9]

wow, i never expcted this, this will be huge

13 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

I wonder though... wouldn't Tony Khan (owner of AEW) have an antitrust case here? 

probanly.

 

i know abouslty nothing about wwe or ufc so i'm surprised there's a lot of negativity but from looking at these comments t looks like the normal big business hate that is justified.

[You]

Looking forward to hearing what Jim Cornette and Brian Last have to say about it later on Jim's youtube channel.

[Helyx]

Joe Rogan is gonna be the second most cringe thing about UFC now.

[Vergil]

17 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Inokism making a comeback. What a dreadful thought.

 

Also while WWE wrestlers certainly aren't paid what they should be... it is even worse in the UFC. If this goes through are they going to attempt to drastically cut WWE wrestlers pay? Because if they don't then how can they justify how they treat the UFC fighters? Surely fighters should refuse to compete until they get paid at least the WWE rate.

Why is it a dreadful thought?

[TJ_Solo]

I am befuddled, flummoxed, and slightly beside myself.

I don't get it and don't want to think about it.

[Rozalia1]

21 minutes ago, serrated-banner9 said:

wow, i never expcted this, this will be huge

probanly.

 

i know abouslty nothing about wwe or ufc so i'm surprised there's a lot of negativity but from looking at these comments t looks like the normal big business hate that is justified.

 

Vince McMahon, the owner of WWE, has for a very long time been completely invincible. Absolutely nothing could touch or affect him. There was however some recent allegations of him taking advantage of women and such, which he fully intended to no sell and did for a time but then someone apparently convinced him to give in and step back from the company. Vince being Vince eventually figured out that he had been tricked and put himself back in power, though only to get a sale as its thought that if not for that then his return would have been fought against. As such Vince has wanted to sell WWE so he can remain as WWE's boss. Endeavor certainly wasn't the wealthiest group linked to buying WWE, but apparently they're the only ones scummy enough to keep Vince in power so he has sold to them.

 

So yeah. This sale is bad because Vince is getting exactly what he wanted. Personally I also think there is an element of him wanting to screw his own family by having the family business aspect end with him. Vince has had issues with his son Shane for quite a while and since a few years ago is apparently at "you're dead to me" levels. Stephanie his daughter he has always had a better relationship with but seems to have lost any faith in her ever since he saw the mess HHH, Stephanie's husband, did with NXT (which he promptly had destroyed and replaced with NXT 2.0, which was no bad thing as it was superior). To me, to be that spiteful towards your family like that is just distasteful. Really wouldn't surprise me if Vince gives away his money on his death, not because he wants to give to charities or whatever, but simply so his children don't get it.

 

6 minutes ago, Vergil said:

Why is it a dreadful thought?

 

Because a professional wrestler shouldn't have to go risk getting their faces punched in doing something they've not seriously trained for. Nor should they, if they lose, get punished for it.

 

Likewise if they try and get UFC guys on WWE it'll also be a disaster. Wrestling is more than just doing moves (it is in fact the least important part) and even with just those many UFC fighters will struggle.

[Vergil]

1 minute ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Because a professional wrestler shouldn't have to go risk getting their faces punched in doing something they've not seriously trained for. Nor should they, if they lose, get punished for it.

 

Likewise if they try and get UFC guys on WWE it'll also be a disaster. Wrestling is more than just doing moves (it is in fact the least important part) and even with just those many UFC fighters will struggle.

Yes i would agree on that. I was thinking they could definitely do just something for a show. Just for business and money. Like with these old UFC fighters va Youtube Boxers. I mean latest thing, Eddie hearn said. Jake Paul vs Wayne Rooney could happen ?

[djb5f]

Given how poor the product has been over the last few years (arguably last 15-20 years), maybe this will give it new life.  
 

the storylines are so generic, no real pop.

[Glorious Fury]

31 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

Very sad day. WWE for all its faults was at least an independent company that hadn't been swallowed up by big business... and now it is. Biggest disgrace to me Vince has ever brought upon his family.

 

I agree with this. Appears Vince is back on creative 'officially' now based on a interview earlier today relating to the sale. 

[Rozalia1]

1 minute ago, Vergil said:

Yes i would agree on that. I was thinking they could definitely do just something for a show. Just for business and money. Like with these old UFC fighters va Youtube Boxers. I mean latest thing, Eddie hearn said. Jake Paul vs Wayne Rooney could happen ?

 

Logan Paul has been in WWE for a while and not that long ago for a Saudi show they had Tyson Fury in a match. Special attraction matches with a celebrity wouldn't be anything new for WWE, but getting a lot of UFC guys on the show would be horrendous.

 

3 minutes ago, djb5f said:

Given how poor the product has been over the last few years (arguably last 15-20 years), maybe this will give it new life.  
 

the storylines are so generic, no real pop.

 

Wrestlemania just hurt a lot of what they've been doing, but not exactly the best time to make such a comment as WWE has been really hot lately. Granted, main roster shows are still largely bad, but they'll have like 30 mins of really good stuff which is an improvement over having you know, 0.

5 minutes ago, Glorious Fury said:

I agree with this. Appears Vince is back on creative 'officially' now based on a interview earlier today relating to the sale. 

 

Says he is back but just for the big stuff, not the "weeds" as he put it. Of course, he said the same thing 5 years ago which was a lie so no one should believe him now.

[sk_lp_him]

No wonder why night 2 felt so Vince-y. What with Roman and Bianca retaining and the return of the best wrestler in the world.

[Infected Elite]

Stupid. Vince and Ariel are co-owners. Meaning Vince in a way is Dana Whites boss. 

 

Night 2 reeked of Vince. Now i see why. I hope HHH gets let go and a ton of stars and he just starts his own promotion. 

 

UFC already acts like everyone is the best pound for pound. Dude can have a 0-25-1 record and that goof Joe Rogan would be like: "He throws the hardest punches in the game!".

 

fuck Vince. Stupid old out of touch fuck. Hope more women speak up against him and Danas wife speaks up against him and both come crumbling down.

 

Bring down the machine!

[PooPooBlast]

This weekend I'm expecting Alex Pereira to bloody Izzy up but right before he deals the final blow, Jorge masvidal sucker punches Pereira from behind causing him to black out. Enraged by this, Gilbert Burns jumps and lands an RKO on Masvidal to avenge his fallen Brazilian brother. Sending a message, he sets the cage on fire letting him know you don't mess with the Burns. 

 

Stipe being in the audience jumps and puts the fire out. This prompts DC from the commentary team and Jones to unexpectedly team in a handicap 2 vs 1. With stipe beaten, Jones says there can only be one last man standing. DC and Jones cut a promo saying they'll settle this in a Buried Alive Match on the next PPV. Winner fights Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight title. 

[GoonerLukeThe]

7 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

so it only makes it harder for competition like AEW to have a chance. Is it possible for Tony to use his manic energy for good... hopefully.

 

Tony has no idea what he's doing anyway, the guy is just a fan of wrestling with loads of money and isn't a great promoter/business man

[BEYOND-EVIL]

7 hours ago, Helyx said:

Joe Rogan is gonna be the second most cringe thing about UFC now.

L

[majob]

IIRC WWE has been  bleeding money for years and Vince's second XFL venture cost him millions after Covid resulted in the League stopping and being sold for pennies on the dollar. Many former WWE wrestlers have gone into MMA like Shamrock and Brock Lesner. Sucks either way though but I honestly stopped watching after Stone Cold/Rock era ended.

[Infected Elite]

56 minutes ago, LukeTheGooner said:

 

Tony has no idea what he's doing anyway, the guy is just a fan of wrestling with loads of money and isn't a great promoter/business man

i agree on this. Similar to Vince, he has all the talent he needs AND MORE, to run a fantastic product. But we get 1 to 2 good programs from both AEW and WWE. Issue with Khan is as MJF put it, he's a fucking mark.

 

I like wrestling and certain wrestlers..I dont care who runs it, just make it good storytelling. AEW fucked up with Hangman not winning the title at All-Out against Omega, held off until Full Gear (why?) , and now WWE fucked up with Cody by not calling any kind of audible. They probably are already printing these stupid fuckin 1000 day shirts. Only 2 people can feasibly beat Reigns. Seth, or Rhodes. I prefer Rhodes. But i half expect Rhodes beat Reigns, has his big confetti celebration.... BURN IT DOWN. Seth cashes in and wins on Cody. Aka run back the Danielson crap with Orton. Then we have Cody vs Seth for the next 5 years endlessly. 

 

What's worse is if they do the backup plan of a new world title.... just for Rhodes to win? thatd be dumb.

29 minutes ago, majob said:

IIRC WWE has been  bleeding money for years and Vince's second XFL venture cost him millions after Covid resulted in the League stopping and being sold for pennies on the dollar. Many former WWE wrestlers have gone into MMA like Shamrock and Brock Lesner. Sucks either way though but I honestly stopped watching after Stone Cold/Rock era ended.

Shamrock was MMA before he was WWF

[MidnightDragon]

So does that mean UFC is gonna be more scripted?

[majob]

Ironic I guess, Vince was offered the opportunity to buy UFC once upon a time and now it's UFC buying out him.

[You]

9 hours ago, djb5f said:

Given how poor the product has been over the last few years (arguably last 15-20 years), maybe this will give it new life.  
 

the storylines are so generic, no real pop.

 

I used to love Wrestling in the 80s and the 90s. I think when Covid kicked off and there were those weird matches in front of computer generated Facetime tablet audiences and the sets looking like Saturday morning TV shows did the industry a lot of harm.

 

The product has certainly become poor, I think that started happening as far back as 1995 to some extend, but I think a big issue with the "sport" in general is just that it's a sign of the times. Same with Radio, regular TV etc, newer technologies and cultural things in society just surpassed. So many other forms of entertainment like video games and Netflix and the Internet. A lot of mistique about wrestling is gone and due to the Internet we can easily see the wrestlers outside of the ring. Even the WWF games look more realistic than the actual wrestling these days since they look realistic ingame but they are doing way more moves on each other than the actual human wrestlers will be doing.

 

I remember seeing some weird "wrestling" shit a while back when I saw a guy wrestling an inflatable doll and then there was the "invisible hand grenade" stuff. Whether this is a sport or entertain is of course up to you. And honestly, I watched the inflatable doll match and that Japanese guy, he did pull it off well, it was entertaining fighting by himself, but like, wrestling... has changed.

 

Pretend to fight, just doesn't really cut it anymore, fake fights and fake stories, everyone knows it is fake. Which doesn't help. I like UFC less, but still, that's an actual sport, which wrestling isn't.

 

Regardless of what Vince McMahon has done, arguably this is a dying industry, or at least, void of ideas for now, a bit of life was certainly injected into it over the years decades with more acrobatic wrestlers, and then over the top violence or stunt work, and most matches have to have a million upsets and crazy shit happening inside and outside of the ring to be considered "a match".

 

Blockbuster Video used to be the king of the world, and then suddenly it wasn't. WWF used to be the king of the world, but probably wrestling will go the same route eventually, to be honest I am surprised it didn't happen earlier.

 

Subscribing to WWF network, how many people like myself subscribe to it to watch the past catalogue and not the newer stuff? Would be very interesting to see those stats.
 

 

[Dauersack]

WWE destroyed a lot of the fan goodwill that they managed to carefully built back up for months, messed it up within a single night despite having the easiest path to create one of the most memorable Wrestlemanias in many years. I noticed the classic Vince McMahon stench in my nose right after it was over, especially with the Roman Reigns disaster, and now this as a follow up. Too bad the old fuck could not do us all a favor and quietly live out his undeserved retirement life, he just had to try and mess things up once more to get back in, can't expect the vile old lizard to have a change of heart this late into the game I guess, at least this time he is much more likely to ruin a bunch of lifes and careers unintentionally, not like in the past when he still knew what he was doing and was doing it on purpose.

 

This is bound to turn to shit like all of his side projects. The problem is that most UFC fans have no respect for professional wrestling, and most professional wrestling fans are not all that interested in UFC, people like Lesnar, Lashley and Rousey who managed to become reasonably successful in both categories are exceptionally rare for a reason, the hardcore fans of them may follow up on what they are doing at the other company occasionally, but few do so in a manner that actually generates money, most won't bother at all. Wrestlers usually make fools of themselves in the cage like Punk, UFC fighters usually don't get what they are supposed to do in the ring like Velasquez, so it just falls flat, natural synergies between both sports are completely overstated, can't seriously compare fighters with entertainers, not for the most part anyway.

 

Curious to see how they plan to approach this, I can't see this going well at all, with my hope being that at least we get to see some "so bad its unintentionally hilarious" crossovers ala Ali vs Inoki instead of it just being generally awful and cringy. With two much more competent companies and more versatile rosters we would have maybe seen an invasion style crossover feud between some of them that has events taking place mostly in WWE, and some in UFC, the hoursewomen vs horsewomen rivalry comes to mind, the likes of Lesnar and Lashley with a few guys like Gable who have amateur wrestling background and therefore can somewhat compete in both styles feuding with the pure UFC guys who learned the basics over the course of a few months, nothing that would have ever led to great matches but at least it could have been a media spectable.

[Infected Elite]

20 minutes ago, Dauersack said:

WWE destroyed a lot of the fan goodwill that they managed to carefully built back up for months, messed it up within a single night despite having the easiest path to create one of the most memorable Wrestlemanias in many years. I noticed the classic Vince McMahon stench in my nose right after it was over, especially with the Roman Reigns disaster, and now this as a follow up. Too bad the old fuck could not do us all a favor and quietly live out his undeserved retirement life, he just had to try and mess things up once more to get back in, can't expect the vile old lizard to have a change of heart this late into the game I guess, at least this time he is much more likely to ruin a bunch of lifes and careers unintentionally, not like in the past when he still knew what he was doing and was doing it on purpose.

 

This is bound to turn to shit like all of his side projects. The problem is that most UFC fans have no respect for professional wrestling, and most professional wrestling fans are not all that interested in UFC, people like Lesnar, Lashley and Rousey who managed to become reasonably successful in both categories are exceptionally rare for a reason, the hardcore fans of them may follow up on what they are doing at the other company occasionally, but few do so in a manner that actually generates money, most won't bother at all. Wrestlers usually make fools of themselves in the cage like Punk, UFC fighters usually don't get what they are supposed to do in the ring like Velasquez, so it just falls flat, natural synergies between both sports are completely overstated, can't seriously compare fighters with entertainers, not for the most part anyway.

 

Curious to see how they plan to approach this, I can't see this going well at all, with my hope being that at least we get to see some "so bad its unintentionally hilarious" crossovers ala Ali vs Inoki instead of it just being generally awful and cringy. With two much more competent companies and more versatile rosters we would have maybe seen an invasion style crossover feud between some of them that has events taking place mostly in WWE, and some in UFC, the hoursewomen vs horsewomen rivalry comes to mind, the likes of Lesnar and Lashley with a few guys like Gable who have amateur wrestling background and therefore can somewhat compete in both styles feuding with the pure UFC guys who learned the basics over the course of a few months, nothing that would have ever led to great matches but at least it could have been a media spectable.

 

Now we also have them clue in they ruined Cody's moment and are having him go through Brock and whatever else before Roman. 

 

They say nothing will change but its a lie. I dont want to see MMA and WWE mix. Keep real combat with real, keep scripted drama with scripted drama.