MMA News Forums » MMA Forums » Noob Jack City

[popsicle]

WWE SummerSlam 2008 drew 467,000 buys on pay-per-view, 294,000 in North America, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The event was down 14% overall from 2007 and 15% in North America. The event marked the second straight double digit year over year decline for WWE pay-per-view events after a strong start to the year.

In the same pay per view environment, the UFC has seen 15 to 20% gains in year over year numbers for the same time period. That is an impressive performance when juxtaposed with the WWE’s precipitous declines

For many years I was a huge fan of pro wrestling and noticed that I cant even stand to watch it anymore. It just is not interesting or entertaining. The WWE was at one time the only way I could watch fighting on a regular basis. Even though it was fake, it was still cool to see to men pitted against eachother in combat. Now that real fights are regularly televised I think this has led to a decline in interest (at least for me) in wrestling because I can now see the real thing. Just wanted other peoples thoughts on this. I am assuming a lot of people in this forum were at one time or still are wrestling fans.

WWE, UFC Numbers On PPV Going in Opposite Directions : MMAPayout.com: The Business of MMA

[Salvy_Mic]

I'm still a wrestling fan, but this disparity isn't purely due to the overt awesomeness that is MMA. In general, pro wrestling just hasn't been as good as it was just 5 years ago, let alone 10 years ago.

But I would agree with the general assertion that MMA is taking a chunk of WWE's, and wrestling's, core demographic. Right now, UFC in particular is simply marketed better and has proven to be more interesting than the WWE, but at the same time, these periods of down time for the wrestling industry happen. In a few years, wrestling could very well be on the huge bounce back, but the only difference is that the UFC, and MMA, will be up and here to stay.

[Mac]

I used to be a huge wrasslin fan but don't watch anymore. My biggest problem with wrasslin is not MMA, but the fact that they try to shove guys like Cena, HHH, Batista and others who look horrible in the ring rather than the guys who put on decent matches.

For the longest time I still watched both but overall my disinterest in wrasslin stems from wrasslin not MMA.

[Thaistylist]

its def the john cenas of wwe and not ufc that made me stop watching wrestling.

[ckauffman28]

i agree with you salvy, in my teens and younger i was the biggest wwe fan ever, and would never miss a show or ppv and now im 23 and im just a casual viewer. MMA on the other hand i wasnt really into in its early years but now im a huge fan, i guess i just grew up.

I do plan on going to Wrestlemania 25 in April just for the pure experience of going...

[Bubbles]

I used to love wrestling when I was younger.

WCW was the shit back in the day

[STruC1x]

Time for WWE to create their own MMA league. With all the talent they already have, it'll be impressive start. lol

[krayven]

MMA is giving us what wrestling used to, fresh matchups, "characters" and the aura of unpredicatability. Back in the nWo days or even further back in the Horsemen days you never knew who or what was gonna show up and what would happen.


Things like Rashad KO'ing Chuck and such are what wrestling is missing. The HOLY SHYT!!! moments.

[gsprulz]

Yeh, I use to be a huge pro wrestling fan. WWE isn't the same organization when i grew up watching it. It's a stale product right now. The corporation is in a bubble on the wrestling the wwe style where looks matter more than the wrestling itself. Changes need to not be made by the lack of roster talent but the people behind the scenes. Dana White and Zuffa have a working formula.I wish K-1 would be run differently as well. they put on great fights all the time but its run by idiots. there main goal should be success in the United States, not else where.

[Y2JUBAE]

WWE is screwing WWE at this point. Ratings were highest in the days of Stone Cold/Rock, etc. Rated R wrestling.

Now that John Cena sells so many t-shirts to kids, they decided to go back to PG rated shows (80s era).

I think once you go R, you don't go back. Kind of like starting over for no reason.

UFC isn't the reason WWE ratings are tanking though. The two go together pretty well actually, which is why I don't see why people hate on wrestling so much. One is just a live soap version of the other.

UFC ratings are good because, people are finally realizing, MMA ROCKS!