Comments on: If Versus loses distribution outlets, what will the health of WEC be?

By: » Blog Archive » WEC 42 Postponed Till Oct 10th, Ben Henderson Injured - 381th Edition

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:28:12 +0000

[...] could it be the possibility of DirecTV dropping VERSUS the day before the event have something to do with it. Dave Meltzer: “I think that what happened is is that um they that they don’t want to [...]

By: Mr.Roadblock

Mr.Roadblock — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:18:52 +0000

I still think it is the Commission and their goofy same day weigh-in scheme. That is worth canceling a show over. Zuffa can’t set the precedent that they will allow a Commission that doesn’t follow the Unified Rules to boss it around.

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:29:18 +0000

Oh no doubt, I mean, who didn’t hear “Youngstown” and go, “eh?”

Hasn’t been a happening place in 60 years, and this is not the best time.

By: Fluyid

Fluyid — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:21:05 +0000

“…it makes me think there was a reason besides an “injury”. Has to be poor ticket sales.”

There’s no convincing me otherwise, no matter what Reed Harris or any other WEC guy says.

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:07:16 +0000

From Dave Meltzer:

“– Regarding last night’s speculation that the WEC show was being moved because there is a chance Versus will be dropped form DirecTV on September 1st, well, that’s not why it’s being moved.”

The way he phrases this, it makes me think there was a reason besides an “injury”. Has to be poor ticket sales.

By: theYiffer

theYiffer — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:39:49 +0000

I’ll address the trouble with prowrestling:

• Both WWE & TNA rarely creates new stars that you would care about unless you’re a hard-core or a constant viewer. The ones they do create, see Evan Bourn, have a habit of jobbing out to other wrestlers or disappearing from the main shows. (Smackdown & RAW)

• Titles in both companies are fought over by the same people month in and month out.

• Tag-team wrestling doesn’t mean sh#t these days.

• Bad and often-times piss-poor booking and storylines. (See 30 minutes of TNA to get a good idea…)

Example: Samoa Joe is suppose to be a bad-ass now in TNA with his “Nation of Violence” gimmick. For weeks we’re supposed to wonder about his “mentor”, who’s telling Joe what to do. (Most everyone who watches already knows…) They finally reveal his mentor on PPV, Taz, who has Joe join up with the “Main Event Mafia” to be Kurt Angle’s bitch. (Even though Joe became the “Nation of Violence” and sworn revenge as a result of Angle’s stable injuring him.) Taz is now a “face” announcer and has said that he no longer needs to mentor Joe. Why the hell would anyone take Joe seriously right now?

• Bad announcing. The concept of having a “face” and “heal” behind the mics is no longer existent.

• Outside of Wrestle Mania, Royal Rumble, and maybe Sumer Slam (which I forgot even happened this past Sunday) wrestling promotions give me no reason to care about PPVs. I can watch the rematch the next Monday or Friday after.

By: Fluyid

Fluyid — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:24:25 +0000

From Reed Harris:

“I can tell you with all honesty that we had absolutely no discussion about that with VERSUS,” Harris said. “The DirecTV-VERSUS thing I don’t know a lot about other than what I read, like you guys. It has absolutely zero to do with what we did. VERSUS hasn’t even really discussed it with us, and VERSUS’ involvement in this whole process was really about a future date, and if they could plug us in on a future date.

“We’ve obviously got a show in November, so we had to do it sometime either at the end of September or early October, but we also had to give Henderson some time to recover from his injury. There was a lot of things that just kind of worked out for this.

As far as ticket sales go, we would never, ever cancel an event due to ticket sales,” Harris said. “We never have; we never will.

Ticket sales are important, but they’re just a piece of what we do when we go do a show. Obviously a major piece of that is the television and our viewers. The No. 1 priority for s when we learned of the injuries was to contact our broadcast partner VERSUS and discuss it with them. We mutually made a decision to postpone it.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/15968/wecs-reed-harris-says-ticket-sales-tv-contracts-did-not-factor-in-to-wec-43s-rescheduling.mma

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:12:43 +0000

Well, even in the “every other week” scenario I outlined, you would have live fights EVERY WEEK during each “season.”

You’d have a free live show every other weekend and a PPV on the off weeks. The show would run every week, just wouldn’t always have live fights.

Run it for eight weeks four times a year, take four months off a year to prevent bake-in, and you’re only talking 32 shows (16 PPV, 16 free).

By: No WEC till October - Fightlinker - MMA, UFC, and other funny fight crap

No WEC till October - Fightlinker - MMA, UFC, and other funny fight crap — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:46:32 +0000

[...] September 1st, which is coincidentally one day before WEC 43 was supposed to air. From a radio show transcribed by FightOpinion: “I think that what happened is is that um they that they don’t want to do that show on [...]

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:38:05 +0000

I don’t think Strikeforce even knows what they are going to do for October yet. They had the Gurgel/Evangalista ShoMMA Event listed on their website a few weeks ago, and now it is gone.

As for the UFC…. I agree, they need to make the better fights live. There is no other way to do it really. Having it live every other week is fine, as long as those non-live fights aren’t that important.