We gather here today to mark the end of D-Man and ICs Championship reign as the best two debaters on WrestleZone Forums. Naturally, I am never so cocky or arrogant going into a debate. Phoenix and I generally like to let our argument do the talking but in this debate we have certainly been given the gift of being able to choose the side that we affirming. Firstly though, let me wish the best of luck to both IC and D-Man, who are fantastic posters, debaters and people on the site. I know that they have worked hard to get where they are right now and that position is coveted. Being the best debaters on the site is a fantastic achievement. With that being said, I think that we should have a cracking debate and I am very much looking forward to testing my skills against you.
Now, with the formalities out of the way, I can move on and give you an good opening to what promises to be an exceptional debate about something that all four of us are passionate about. Now, this is the matter that is at hand:
WHICH POSES A GREATER THREAT TO THE LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF THE WWE? TNA WRESTLING OR MIXED-MARTIAL-ARTS?
Now, I know that all four of us have been immersed in wrestling for years now and I know full well that our esteemed opponents have a world of wrestling knowledge to steer them through this debate but this is definitely a different kettle of fish. You see, history does not play a major part in the sustainability of the WWE. In fact, it is the present and more importantly, the future that holds all of the answers. However, as fans, we are free to speculate as to who will be the main challenger to the WWE crown s the number one brand in sports entertainment. The debate has waged on for years now and as the world of Mixed Martial Arts becomes a huge deal around the world, the question is always raised as to who poses the best threat of challenging the WWE. You see, this debate is not necessarily about the WWE. In fact, it is more about who is in the better position to challenge it out of TNA and MMA. For myself and Phoenix, MMA is the far and away winner.
When you break down the aspects of the world of sports entertainment, many different aspects of the WWE juggernaut have elevated it to the number one brand in recent years. However, in more recent times, both TNA and the world of MMA have become a huge challenge to WWE, with MMA becoming more of a legitimate rival to the sustainable success of the WWE. Let us take a look over what exactly makes the WWE such a huge name the world over:
The stars:
WWE Since the inception of WWE and its other pseudonyms, it has relied on stars and talent to get it through the best and worst periods of time and help it to overcome the hurdles that have been thrown in front of it. Right now, the WWE has a wide array of talent ranging from well established talent to rising young stars and it has copes with the removal of the Attitude Era stars. Triple H, John Cena, Edge and Randy Orton have become absolutely massive and like any other venture that deals with entertainment, they have come into their own. However, the WWE are not alone in having great stars and personalities in their industry.
MMA - The world of MMA has never been so spoiled for choice in the history of sport. Never before has MMA seen the wide array of talent and stand out personalities that it enjoys today. You need look no further than the former UFC world Heavyweight Champion to find one of the most intriguing and interesting personalities in the sport of MMA. Brock Lesnar has been a phenomenon in MMA and the UFC must be rubbing their hands every time one of his fights come calling. However, you could look at Strikeforce and see Fedor Emilianenko to see another of the sports stand out talents. Of course, the talent that is on show in MMA is not just in the Heavyweight category. No, all over the board MMA has a huge talent base that is unrivalled by TNA for sure. GSP, Anderson Silva, Shogun Hua, Nate Diaz, BJ Penn, Frank Mir, Michael Bisbing, Bobby Lashley, Randy Couture, Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. The list goes on and on, absolutely stacked with exciting and wonderful fighting personalities that fill arena after arena every month.
You see, a great strength of the MMA world is that they take every class of fighter at the same level and respect the titles equally. You dont always have the same people headlining fights and the Heavyweight Championship is not always the last fight on the card. The world of wrestling is very stale in regards to how stuck in its ways it seems to be and it is never more evident than with the WWE, who seem to have realised that people want to see them follow the MMA way of business and seeing different faces in the main event matches.
TNA For me, the world of TNA does not have the same stand out stars as the MMA does. To my mind only AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley have any real notoriety outside of TNA and to any great extent. There are other competitors that are dynamic and exciting but for the life of me, I could not name any outside of Daniels and Amazing Red. The bottom line is that TNA does not have anything near the vast masses of talent that both MMA and UFC does.
The stability:
WWE For decades now, the WWE has been one of the most reliable entities in sports entertainment. It has branched out and had varying degrees of success at the ventures it has tried. However, the point remains the same, the evolution of WWE has been constant and very rarely has the companies stability been called into question. Everyone who reads this will very likely remember the Monday Night Wars and the effect that it had on the world of pro-wrestling. The WWE weathered the storm and put a better company than TNA out of business. It was more stable, had better performers and a much better roster. Since then, the WWE has been in cruise control and has had sustained growth and now seems to be in cruise control until another pretender attempts to take that crown.
MMA Over the last few years, the world of MMA has boomed. UFC and Strikeforce have come to the forefront of the MMA world and have led it into prosperous times that it has never seen before. All the pieces have been falling into place and since the very first show, the UFC has been more and more of a blooming flower. Let us take a look at what the evidence of this is. UFC 1 was purchased by around 86,000 people and UFC 100 was purchased by around 1.6 million people. That is a tremendous achievement and shows that the world of MMA is becoming more expansive and the marketing strategy that has been employed by MMA and the UFC in particular has been flawless. They have managed multiply their fanbase almost twenty times onto itself and its growth is still blossoming as we speak.
TNA TNA has gone from strength to strength in terms of growth since its inception too. It started off as an idea in an ex-wrestlers head and has flourished into a nationwide wrestling promotion in a small number of years. However, the constant power battles have ravages TNA and the buy rates are not fantastically pleasing to look at in all honesty. This years Bound For Glory was up 40 percent on No Surrender and you may think that this is great news except for the fact that No Surrender was the lowest scoring PPV for TNA this year. Of course Bound For Glory is going to up it. It is the main PPV of the year for TNA and even then the numbers are not outstanding. As mentioned before, TNA has been torn apart by scandals and power struggles between ego driven maniacs that are power hungry to the core. The do not care about the company but rather their own personal gain. This is hugely frustrating from a wrestling point of view and although the world of MMA promotes this idea, it does so in a way that is controlled and unbiased. MMA makes this sort of competition work in its favour and does not have a huge hindering effect that TNA seems to. The constant struggles between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett have done nothing but mar my viewing pleasure and the booking has suffered due to the power struggles that lie within. These problems are not evident in MMA. People generally get what they deserve and work for in MMA.
Public Opinion:
WWE There is no getting away from it, WWE is the best thought of name in sports entertainment. It has been that way since the demise of WCW and the last competition to ever really take WWE close to the edge. Yes, it is true that in some parts of the world, the sports entertainment scene is looked down upon. People generally have a preconception about wrestling fans and this misconception has caused a lot of wrestling fans to hide it away. However, the WWE is probably the best thought of name in pro-wrestling and TNA doesnt really come close to that yet. It is my opinion that the WWE has never been thought of as badly as what it is now. People are disenchanted by constant sexism, racism, fat jokes and midget court segments. People are looking for some real action and MMA delivers that.
MMA The shared public opinion of MMA is pretty positive in all honesty. People are not afraid to call themselves MMA fans and the popularity of the sport has really increased since its inception. It has taken everything that is good about wrestling and incorporated it with other martial arts and created something that cannot be written. It is unpredictable and explosive. People tune in because they know that anything could happen. They tune in to see some of the biggest names in the world of MMA take on some of the most promising athletes to step into the arena. The same cannot be said of TNA and WWE, who have polluted their main event scenes with the same old people recreating the same overused storylines that have been done a million times before. There is no writing in MMA and it is a test of skill rather than who is better thought of by the creative writing staff.
TNA TNA is a growing company for sure. However, they are nowhere near the same popularity that the WWE is on. TNA had 2,600 people at its showpiece event this year and when you compare that to WrestleMania 25, which had over 72,000 people, try and tell me that it is even close. At UFC 100, the UFC even managed to quadruple the number of people that seen Bound For Glory with over 10,000 people cramming into watch the event. When it comes to popularity, TNA is not even close enough to be considered a contender.
Branching out:
WWE: The WWE has branched out with multiple efforts over the years and still do. They have brought out a reasonably successful game series that allows the player to step into the shoes of their favourite superstar. However, they have not all been winners. Hands up if you remember XFL
Thats what I thought. The WWE is not invincible and XFL was a pretty piss poor attempt at rivalling the experts. Of course the NFL was going to crush them and as the WWE have learned before, they are not infallible. The XFL was doomed to fail and as WWE branch out and try to put out more and more pretenders to other people thrones, they are being beaten at every turn. The WWE would be mad if it did not try to take advantage of the growing popularity that MMA has seen and it is my opinion that if it attempted to take some aspects of MMA and incorporate them into the WWE, it would fail once more.
MMA In the topic of video games, the UFC Undisputed has been a whirlwind success. GamesRankings (one of the best places for games to be rated fairly) gave UFC Undisputed 84% and gave Smackdown VS Raw 2010 82%. Now, call me insane but beating your rival in your realistically first attempt at making a great game with a good developer is not that bad going. Considering that SVR has been going for years. You then have the fact that UFC Undisputed bested SVR once more in the Spike VGA awards for best individual sports awards. It is clear to me that THQ sees the UFC as a money maker and the formula is instantaneous. The game was incredible and was not rehashed like most of the SVR series is. You may be asking yourself what this has to do with how it is in a better position than WWE and TNA in reference to branching out but we have to consider all aspects of what makes a company successful and video games are big sellers for fans. Otherwise they would not exist would they? Branching out is crucial to sustainability and UFC has been pretty damn good so far. Its acquisition of Pride has been great for the brand and has brought MMA all over the world to another level.
TNA *Cough* Didnt the company who made TNAs games go out of business? How ironic.
I think I will leave it there for now and wait until my esteemed opponents have had their rebuttal heard. Personally, I think that MMA has been growing rapidly and will continue to do so over the next few years and beyond. For me, this is not a question of which company will take WWEs place but rather which company is better suited to take on the challenge of the WWE and it is undoubtedly the world of MMA, led by the flagship UFC brand. TNA does not meet a lot of the criteria that is necessary for it to be considered a massive threat to WWE.
