WWE COO Says MMA Doesn't Have Real Stars

[Welfare Willis]

Meh it's a COO looking to boost her company.

I'd hate to tell her, but my two brothers are in that prime young male adult category that advertisters crave and can easily name more MMA stars then WWE stars. Hell the younger one wants to train to be an MMA fighter.

[Joekishi]

Last year the biggest ppv draw was Brock Lesnar. The only fight he didn't outdraw was Pacqiao/De La Hoya.

MMA has headliners, but she's right a guy loses and his aura of invincibility is gone. unless they are a hard fighter like Forrest, the audience won't buy into their hype anymore.

[AriadosMan]

If MMA's PPVs get 8 times the buyrate that the average Double Double E one does, does MMA really need stars?

[Joekishi]

Jun 9, 2009 18:04:00 GMT -5 Spankymac is sick of the swiss said:

Jun 9, 2009 18:02:10 GMT -5 Bubble Lead said:

I don't see why MMA would need storylines or manufactured drama to take away audience share from WWE in the first place. It's a real sport.

Football, basketball, etc. don't have any storylines yet WWE often likes to cite those as reasons for ratings drops.

But here's the thing, take any two random guys from UFC, let's say Chuck Liddell and.....Random UFC guy #142, and they're in a fight. Why? Why should I care who wins or loses? Especially if a belt's not on the line?

Same reason you'd care about a Boxing match, to see two guys test each other's will in a real fight.

[dh03grad]

Top 10 North American PPV buy rates, 2008

1. Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, Dec. 6, 1,250,000

2. UFC: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, Nov. 15, 1,010,000

3. Wrestling: WrestleMania, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul “Big Show” Wight, March 30, 670,000

4. UFC: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch/Lesnar vs. Heath Herring, Aug. 9, 625,000

5. UFC: Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Feb. 2, 600,000

6. UFC: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin, July 5, 540,000

7. UFC: St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, April 19, 530,000

8. Boxing: Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr., Jan. 19, 500,000

9. UFC: Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, Sept. 6, 480,000

10. UFC: B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk/Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, May 24, 475,000

[B.A.]

Jun 10, 2009 11:46:44 GMT -5 dh03grad said:

Top 10 North American PPV buy rates, 2008

1. Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, Dec. 6, 1,250,000

2. UFC: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, Nov. 15, 1,010,000

3. Wrestling: WrestleMania, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul “Big Show” Wight, March 30, 670,000

4. UFC: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch/Lesnar vs. Heath Herring, Aug. 9, 625,000

5. UFC: Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Feb. 2, 600,000

6. UFC: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin, July 5, 540,000

7. UFC: St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, April 19, 530,000

8. Boxing: Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr., Jan. 19, 500,000

9. UFC: Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, Sept. 6, 480,000

10. UFC: B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk/Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, May 24, 475,000

if all this is true, it doesn't matter what the lady said, MMA in the USA is bigger than WWE. it'd be interesting to see how the attitude era would do vs. the current MMA era

[Bo Rida]

Jun 10, 2009 0:12:42 GMT -5 Cela said:

Put any current baseball, nascar, soccer, hockey, boxer other than DelaHoya, or basketball player other than Kobe and Lebron in front of me and I can't tell you who they are. If you don't follow the sport, you probably won't recognize who is in it.

Sums it up perfectly, I couldn't name one MMA star that hasn't been in WWE.

Most sports have at least one mainstream star that transcends their sport, the type nearly everyone in the western world has heard of even if they've never watched it in their life (Pele, Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth etc.

I don't think MMA has this yet, at least not outside America.

Whereas most people would have heard of Hogan or the Rock, possibly others like Andre the giant and the Undertaker too.

I think that's all the COO meant.

[derrtaysouth95]

Really WWE? MMA doesn't have real stars?

Their champion is YOUR former champion!

[Bobafett]

the one thing I would suggest to UFC and other MMA folks is allow more leeway with attire, any clip of ufc i see is guys in black longish shorts fighting, I'm sure there are ways to vary it without making it look too gimmicky

[Bobafett]

Jun 10, 2009 0:12:42 GMT -5 Cela said:

Put any current baseball, nascar, soccer, hockey, boxer other than DelaHoya, or basketball player other than Kobe and Lebron in front of me and I can't tell you who they are. If you don't follow the sport, you probably won't recognize who is in it.

hmmlets test that theory my good man?

know who THIS is?

[bretclark]

Jun 9, 2009 17:47:52 GMT -5 Snitsky said:

WWE COO Donna Goldsmith spoke at the Noble Financial Emerging Growth Equity Conference on Tuesday morning. Here are a few notes:

Donna claimed that the last five WrestleManias drew over a million buys each.

Donna said that WWE is now hoping to tour China in 2011.

Donna stated that MMA isn't much of a threat to WWE because MMA doesn't have real stars or storylines. "Somebody gets knocked out and they're hurt and that may be the last you ever see from them again" while WWE can repackage it's superstars.

Donna mentioned that WWE is working on extending one of it's TV deals in Mexico.

Donna's presentation. Go to prowrestlingevents.tk

COO=Chief Operating Officer

Somebody gets knocked out and they're hurt and that may be the last you ever see from them again" while WWE can repackage it's superstars

sim snuka says hai

Let's see, all the cool kids are wearing Tapout shirts and constantly talking about the UFC, while WWE is doing what again??

- bretclark

[longtimecoming]

Jun 10, 2009 18:05:47 GMT -5 Bobafett said:

Jun 10, 2009 0:12:42 GMT -5 Cela said:

Put any current baseball, nascar, soccer, hockey, boxer other than DelaHoya, or basketball player other than Kobe and Lebron in front of me and I can't tell you who they are. If you don't follow the sport, you probably won't recognize who is in it.

hmmlets test that theory my good man?

know who THIS is?

Kind of an easy test when the guys name is part of the image url...

P.S. Schumacher Michael (that's right, I cheated!)

[YellowJacketY2J]

Did anybody stop to think that maybe the COO made the comment since she's trying to protect her business?

Any business would do this. You try to make yourself look better than the competition, in hopes of gaining new customers.

People are blowing this way out of proportion.

[Rorschach]

Jun 11, 2009 1:03:31 GMT -5 YellowJacketY2J said:

Did anybody stop to think that maybe the COO made the comment since she's trying to protect her business?

Any business would do this. You try to make yourself look better than the competition, in hopes of gaining new customers.

People are blowing this way out of proportion.

*hrrm*

I agree, and yet disagree. The MMA defenders are absolutely right in what they're saying, as they're for the most part defending their sport which has had a catty comment flung it's way by the homecoming queen hopeful who only came in third.

Sorry Little Miss WWE...the stud QB isn't taking you to back to his hotel room; he's taking Miss MMA, who is much more popular than you are because her tits are bigger and she's twice as nasty as you are in bed.

(I hope that analogy came across the right way...what I meant was that MMA is luring in more young males because in an era where WWE is a PBS afterschool special, THEY'RE delivering the goods in terms of violence and bloodshed.)

I get what you're saying though. As COO, she has to try and make her company look better than whatever else is out there. It's a lot like when NBC had Friends and ER and Seinfeld, and they were SLAMMING on CBS for being an old folks network, who's stars were all geriatric. Or for that matter, like when Vince was bashing Turner for having over the hill wrestlers. This is the same thing.

[Mecca]

As someone who's watched both I can tell you straight I'd never pay for an MMA show...if I dropped 50 bucks to see a guy lose in 30 seconds or a 2 guys look like they're dry humping on the mat for 20 minutes I would be pissed.

[M. Dirrty]

Jun 10, 2009 17:14:38 GMT -5 @derrtaysouth95 said:

Really WWE? MMA doesn't have real stars?

Their champion is YOUR former champion!

yea and WWE making his name is the reason he is champ with a 4-1 record.

if he had no fanbase or star quality that WWE made for him before going in, he would be a another beast having to climb the ranks of MMA like everyone else, and possibly getting overlooked on the way. (see: Cheick Kongo)

[longtimecoming]

Jun 11, 2009 1:57:23 GMT -5 Mecca said:

As someone who's watched both I can tell you straight I'd never pay for an MMA show...if I dropped 50 bucks to see a guy lose in 30 seconds or a 2 guys look like they're dry humping on the mat for 20 minutes I would be pissed.

$50 gets you a decent seat at a Mets game and maybe a soda. Just wished they didn't suck so much ...

[Rorschach]

Jun 11, 2009 1:57:23 GMT -5 Mecca said:

As someone who's watched both I can tell you straight I'd never pay for an MMA show...if I dropped 50 bucks to see a guy lose in 30 seconds or a 2 guys look like they're dry humping on the mat for 20 minutes I would be pissed.

LOL....and see, I understand that. But you never really DO know when that sort of thing will occur. Freak KO's happen in UFC about the same amount as freak submissions do. Sometimes, a guy just gets caught just right, and it's over.

On the opposite side though, Mecca...I have to say that as fellow person who's paid for both, I think paying good money for WM25 pissed me off even more, and was a bigger waste of money than *ANY* UFC card I have ever paid for. I at least got competitive matches from the UFC cards, whereas I got fully ONE enjoyable match out of WM25...one and a half if you count MiTB, and that ran me $55.

Guess which company's PPVs *I'm* not buying anymore? And go look up WWE's PPV numbers vs. UFC's PPV buyrates and you'll see I'm not alone in that thought