Endeavour, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) listed in the top three potential buyers for the WWE.
WWE and the UFC Similarities
For many, there are little to no comparisons between the UFC and the WWE. However, the relationship between the two goes deeper than what meets the eye. One of the UFC’s biggest stars, Brock Lesnar, began his career in WWE before making the transition to mixed martial arts. Other stars who have crossed over include Cain Velasquez, Ronda Rousey, CM Punk, and Matt Riddle. An integral part of being a professional wrestler is the ability to make fans care about matches and rivalries. The same could be said about the UFC. When fighters engage in trash talk during press conferences and start rivalries, this leads to a large increase in pay-per-view buys.
Many fans watch the UFC for fights only. But what draws the biggest crowds and attention to the sport is the “WWE- like characters” fighters portray. The UFC’s biggest-ever star is Connor McGregor, his rise in popularity came from his ability to out-talk his opponent and showing his exaggerated personality. Fighters like Colby Covington, Paddy Pimblett and Sean O Malley are the most recent examples of adopting this style of personality. Some may say without WWE. The UFC would not be as mainstream as it is today.
Vince McMahon Leaves WWE
News recently broke of a scandal involving Vince McMahon, which eventually led to his departure ad a full-time WWE executive. Following this, news has recently come to light about the interest in selling the company. The top three potential buyers as of late are Endeavour, Comcast, and Amazon. These companies must be careful before purchasing, as Stephanie McMahon stated that her father’s scandal “hurt sales last summer”. This, and the Dana White altercation recently, would be something Endeavour must thoroughly think about.
President of Endeavor speaks on buying WWE
Endeavour president Mark Shapiro recently spoke on the “Town Podcast” and was asked about potential comparisons between WWE and the UFC. He stated the following:
“We’ve shown the street (Wall Street) and frankly, everybody else in the industry that cares, what we can do when you put the UFC on top of the Endeavor platform. There are just all kinds of levers we can flip. When it comes to WWE? Yes, that would be something interesting and it would be worth exploring. Would we buy it? Who knows? Last time I checked; it isn’t for sale. But is it something we’re interested in? We are interested in anything in the owned sports properties segment.”
NBC Universal currently shows Monday Night RAW and streams the WWE Network on their subscription service- peacock. As they already have an existing relationship, it is thought that they are currently the front runners. However, the thought of the UFC and WWE being under the same ownership is interesting and could make for an exciting future.
Let us know your thoughts! Do you think it would be a smart idea for Endeavour to purchase the WWE? Comment down below
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
