PRIDE FC Meets with WWE

[Damone]

Originally Posted by Masscore

Well it is legit with me, you, and most people on this forum. But lets be honest, the average causal American MMA fan does not care about Pride. You suddenly tag the WWE name behind it and people are gonna look twice and realize that Pride has better fighters then the UFC instead of just buying into what Dana white says.

The average casual American MMA fan doesn't care about the WWE.

[Rockx]

One more thing, all it will take is some bad judging or a bad fight and rumors will fly about Vince fixing fights...

Hence the demise of Pride. It is just a bad move IMO.

[LethalStriker]

WWE brought ECW back earlier this year and Vince has already ruined that, and that is from his world of pro wrestling.

If this is just simply an agreement to help promote each other then it wouldn't be so bad. But if WWE ends up financially backing Pride in any way then I feel this is a serious step back for the sport.

We are trying to get MMA mainstream right now and this will at the least put a pause on that move.

[JimmyMoore]

Originally Posted by LethalStriker

WWE brought ECW back earlier this year and Vince has already ruined that, and that is from his world of pro wrestling.

If this is just simply an agreement to help promote each other then it wouldn't be so bad. But if WWE ends up financially backing Pride in any way then I feel this is a serious step back for the sport.

We are trying to get MMA mainstream right now and this will at the least put a pause on that move.

Pretty much says it all. If you want something seen as a legit sport by the mainstream, Vince McMahon's name should be nowhere near it.

[Damone]

I'm having nightmares of Vince fighting Fedor in a total work.

[Rockx]

Keep MMA and Pro-Wrestling far far far away from each other...

[Metalhead]

Why's everybody blowing their wad over this? Two companies can't have a meeting? We don't know anything about what's going on there. Maybe it's just a meet and greet?

[chungt79]

There are two parties involved here. It is not Vince dominating the whole thing. I can see good things coming out of this meeting and I dont see Vince losing his head and turning MMA into fake wrestling.

[YukonJordan]

Wow people on here hate Vince McMahon. Reading some of the comments here has forced me to throw some education in here.

Everyone seems to rip on Vince for the XFL when in reality it was crushed due to pressure from the NFL on CBS. You think its a coincidence that CBS got a sweet deal from the NFL right after the XFL ended? Ironically the NFL adopted some of the production techniques that the XFL innovated. Lets be honest here, most XFL games were more entertaining than a Raiders-49ers game.

Vince did not try to "buy" Goldberg from the UFC. He realized that JR wanted to step back from announcing and had to find a new announcer. There's nothing wrong with him offering Goldberg a contract.

The WWE might use some Pride airtime to promote their own content. SO WHAT? Promoting across mediums and genres is commonplace in American media. Other sports do it, the UFC does it, why should Pride be any different?

As far as Vince being a hinderance to MMA's struggle to be legitimized as a sport, I don't forsee a problem. Vince isn't dumb. He knows that MMA's biggest selling point is legitimacy and he won't damage something he is invested in just to massage his giant ego. One positive thing about Vince is that when faced with stiff competition he generally produces an awesome product.

[chungt79]

Originally Posted by YukonJordan

Wow people on here hate Vince McMahon. Reading some of the comments here has forced me to throw some education in here.

Everyone seems to rip on Vince for the XFL when in reality it was crushed due to pressure from the NFL on CBS. You think its a coincidence that CBS got a sweet deal from the NFL right after the XFL ended? Ironically the NFL adopted some of the production techniques that the XFL innovated. Lets be honest here, most XFL games were more entertaining than a Raiders-49ers game.

Vince did not try to "buy" Goldberg from the UFC. He realized that JR wanted to step back from announcing and had to find a new announcer. There's nothing wrong with him offering Goldberg a contract.

The WWE might use some Pride airtime to promote their own content. SO WHAT? Promoting across mediums and genres is commonplace in American media. Other sports do it, the UFC does it, why should Pride be any different?

As far as Vince being a hinderance to MMA's struggle to be legitimized as a sport, I don't forsee a problem. Vince isn't dumb. He knows that MMA's biggest selling point is legitimacy and he won't damage something he is invested in just to massage his giant ego. One positive thing about Vince is that when faced with stiff competition he generally produces an awesome product.

I have to agree. Vince isn't dumb. He will give the market what it wants.