« Malice at the Palace Sept 9th results | Home | Weekly Fight newspaper collapses »
Random PRIDE thoughts
By Zach Arnold | September 11, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Thoughts after watching the Saitama event…
- There are no Japanese Middleweight or Heavyweight “aces” left in this company. The promotion has done an enormous job of staying afloat with all gaijin talent. This is the exception, not the rule. However, eventually it’s going to catch up with this promotion in a big way. PRIDE was hoping that Nakao would fill-in and be a star because of his stunt with Heath Herring, but that hasn’t worked out. Kazuhiro Nakamura has now become the second version of Yoshihisa Yamamoto in terms of the diehard fight fans just booing him unmercilessly throughout his fights. Outside of Hidehiko Yoshida, this company has no one – repeat – no one with Japanese blood who will ever likely become an ace in their top two marquee divisions. Pancrase only lasted a few years doing this, and they did it on a much smaller scale than PRIDE is trying to stay at.
- As Fight Report noted, PRIDE has major problems after New Year’s Eve. I predicted the Saitama show would do fine, and it did just fine. Even with their supposed mega backer in Las Vegas, I don’t see that show doing very well at all. First off, they are running at a 20,000-seat building (Thomas & Mack Center). Second, it’s not attached to a casino meaning PRIDE is paying for the costs up front (as opposed to the casinos paying UFC a “site fee” for each show). Third, I was talking with someone who is in the Las Vegas area and he stated that the whole town is UFC mania. You walk off the plane at the airport, there’s ads for UFC. You go around town, it’s UFC. Boxing isn’t drawing a lot of attention there (apparently) and nobody is talking about PRIDE at all. I don’t know how PRIDE will fare going into UFC’s home turf and trying to draw from a large population. I don’t think it will do well at all. You can get away with charging $700 for front-row tickets in Japan (because of who specifically buys them – make your own guess there), but that won’t fly in Las Vegas. More importantly, what plan does PRIDE have after New Year’s Eve? It looks that they are going throw everything but the kitchen sink against the wall for New Year’s Eve to try to stay relevant as a major player in the fight business. You’ll have Fedor vs. Cro Cop II, you’ll likely have Barnett vs. Nogueira II, and then Yoshida vs. whatever big-name gaijin they can muster. What’s the future for matchmaking after these dream matches happen? You can only book so many dream matches before people start to get tired of them, no matter how great they are. The fight quality in PRIDE is not diminishing, so let’s not argue against that statement. However, where are the new stars? The new cast of characters? MMA does share one similarity to pro-wrestling in that you have to be able to make new stars and be able to refresh the talent base every few years. I don’t see that happening at all with PRIDE. They’ll likely lose big in Vegas, do OK on New Year’s Eve (but be completely overshadowed by K-1 and perhaps Koki Kameda on New Year’s Eve), and then have to figure out what they are going to possibly be doing in 2007.
- What PRIDE is doing right now is really racing against the clock. They are rushing to try to get a broadcast TV as soon as possible before the bottom falls out of the promotion. Most people now know about the rumors of TV-Asahi showing some interest, with an idea being floated around that PRIDE would change its code name to “Condor.” However, there’s one big problem for PRIDE for getting back on TV – Japanese stars. Takanori Gomi isn’t going to be a super-ratings grabber for them. Hidehiko Yoshida is the single man they have that could pull a good TV rating. Gaijin vs. gaijin matches long-term don’t draw high TV ratings. It goes back to problem #1 for them. PRIDE does need a broadcast television deal, even if it is with TV-Asahi (a network not viewed as strong as Nippon TV or Fuji TV or even Tokyo Broadcasting System in some respects). Any sort of deal with Fox Sports Net is not going to make up for what they were earning with Fuji TV. Fuji TV was pouring in millions of USD and making sure to put enough money into the PRIDE project that it was a big-deal investment. Will they get that same kind of deal with another TV network? Highly unlikely.
- When PRIDE lost their Fuji TV deal, Luke Nicholson asked me how long I think it would take before PRIDE started falling off the radar. I told Luke that like most things in Japan, it will take a while before anything even dies. It is not a process in which a company vanishes overnight, but rathers dies a longingly painstaking death. This company desparately needs TV in Japan in a hurry to maintain what they have going. Now, if they get back on broadcast television, suddenly everything changes back in their favor. They can quickly erase whatever erosion has happened behind the scenes with one TV contract. The big question to ask right now is if you are a potential financial backer or a potential sponsor, do you want to put money into PRIDE? Do you believe that PRIDE is a viable operation that will give you enough exposure and enough return on your investment? Without TV, it’s a hard argument to make. Outside of Don Quijote, what are the major sponsors of PRIDE right now? Compare PRIDE last year to this year in terms of visible corporate sponsorship. In Japan, it’s hard enough to get blue-chip companies to become sponsors of any fight organization because of the yakuza stigmatism. Without TV exposure and the stigmatism? Very difficult. This is why I believe that PRIDE is desparately trying to make it in the United States, because they want to present a strong enough image while they can still do it to find an American (or foreign) money mark (a sugardaddy if you want to use that term) in Vegas to keep propping them up. Short-term, it sounds like a great idea. Long-term, even money marks don’t like losing big amounts of cash.
Bryan Alvarez has compared PRIDE’s situation in relation to UFC similar to what TNA is facing with WWE in the American marketplace. Each company has their own set of fans, but the dynamics of the fan base are not going to change. Nothing is going to increase for TNA or PRIDE in terms of their viewership and support outside of the hardcore fans. Let’s look at the TNA comparison for a second. TNA is a company that has lost an estimated $30-35 million USD (according to various wrestling writers), but is a company that will continue to operate for a while to come because the financial backers have invested so much money into it that they believe eventually they will win the race against time and start increasing their market share. In the case of PRIDE, their overhead (fighter salaries, production costs) is significantly higher than anything TNA is facing. TNA is paying top workers maybe $1,000 per TV taping, whereas you have fighters in PRIDE making $300,000 USD or more a fight. The margin for error with PRIDE is significantly smaller.
A more apt comparison, in my opinion, would be to compare PRIDE’s situation to New Japan. In the mid-1990s, New Japan was making up to $60 million USD in their peak years. A few years after a decline, they were still making $30 million USD a year. Then things got real bad after their wrestlers lost in shoot fights, and the New Japan company had plenty of supporters going online saying that everything is fine, there’s nothing to worry about. When New Japan was undergoing it’s precipitous fall, I clearly felt that this company was in major danger unless something drastic happened. They were losing millions of USD and you can only go so far, even in the yakuza-infested waters of the fight industry, before you have to pay the ultimate price. If it wasn’t for Yukes taking over New Japan in 2005-2006, that company would likely be dead by now. Here was a company in New Japan that went from making $60 million USD in 1995 to being nearly dead 10 years later. In early 2006, Yukes came out and admitted what non-partisan observers already knew – New Japan was in bad shape. Yukes announced that when they bought New Japan (an estimated $2-3 million USD), the sinkhole of a company they bought was at least $12 million USD in debt (with unaccounted margins on merchandising, sales, and other corporate aspects).
We have seen many pro-wrestling companies go into massive debt before the ‘black society’ calls to collect on the debt. The All Japan Women’s group was estimated to be $30 million USD in debt before they finally closed down (and one Matsunaga brother committed suicide by leaping off a building). FMW was at least $3 million USD before Shoichi Arai took out a life insurance policy and killed himself so that his family wouldn’t have to endure aggrevation from debt collectors. So there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Japanese companies, because of the business climate in the fight industry, can and will lose significant amounts of cash before having to wave the white flag. This is exactly how I see PRIDE heading in terms of future direction unless a TV network signs a deal with them, allowing PRIDE to be restructured as an organization. Otherwise, PRIDE will run (on the surface) as business-as-usual but be in a situation where the debts start to mount.
- I think PRIDE will run at least two more “big scale” shows (with some Bushido and Hustle shows integrated into the schedule) before reality starts setting in (in regards to what the company can or cannot do). What makes this an interesting story is that K-1 itself is not a very interesting product. They have managed to differentiate with other brands (World MAX series and HEROs) in order to try to diversify their organization. Without the acquisition of Sakuraba and TV, K-1 wouldn’t be a serious player. Their corporate model is based entirely on their television deals, whereas PRIDE was always based on live show gates. This is why PRIDE has not folded up shop yet, whereas K-1 would have likely folded quicker without TV.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Outside of Don Quijote, what are the major sponsors of PRIDE right now?
You missed Caesars Palace.
Allen – in the Bushido 8/26 show recap (the FSN version), I noted that they had Caesar’s Palace. However, they are not a Japanese-based sponsor. Don Quijote certainly is (they sponsor both PRIDE & Yoshida). Other than Quijote & Caesar’s and an FSN logo (along with a PRIDE fan club logo), there isn’t much left.
Very good article, I just wanted to point out that what TNA is doing isnt really futile. I look at the WCW/WWE(F) relationship back around the early 90s. Back then the fan bases were very different as well and it looked like if u were a WWF fan u will always bea WWF fan and vice versa, and at the tiem WWF was kicking WCW’s ass in eevrything ratings, marketing, etc,….but then in came NWO and WCW blew up! Whose to say that wont happen for TNA or for PRIDE. I mean u can look at the relationship between PRIDE and K-1 and their new years ratings; last year PRIDE finally beat K-1. Granted the whole Yakuza thing is really screwing PRIDE hardway BUt u never know PRIDE could find some way out of it.
They could strike gold with a new Japanese star (as u pointed out they need) BUT they really dont need to look towards the Heavyweight divisdion because no offense ( I am full blooded Japanese BTW) Japanese people are just NOT that strong compared to the rest of the world. Ive been an avid fan of K-1 for years and realize from watching that, that there will probably NEVER be a japnese K-1 WGP champion…its just not physically possible. Just like it would be impossible for a japanese fighter to beat Fedor (maybe Crocop…but defnitly not Fedor). I dont see why u feel Gomi wont stay as a viable star, and even if he didnt there are other lightweights japanese fighters that can be marketable..Ishida is a beast and a very good looking guy which can be very marketable. Kawajiri is just as talented. Minowa for the Welterweight division is marketable..I mean that dude is crazy over. I dont think the Japaense should be focusing on a heavyweight fighter when they have some perfectly marketable light/welter….I mean tech isnt that why the Bushido shows started to focus on them and Gomi?
But again those are just debatable minor issues, again the article was a very good read. Again I agree with most of what u stated, though I HIGHLY doubt without Yukes that NJ would cease to exist today…but thats a compeltly different argument. 😉
Very interesting reading. Very informative as well.
Thanks for the article.
I don’t see how you come up with the idea “You can only book so many dream matches before people start to get tired of them, no matter how great they are.”
What are you talking about?
With Pride’s talent pool if they can keep the top guys around they still have at least 2 years of main events just with the guys currently on the roster.
In the past couple of years, they were able to mix in Sakuraba and Yoshida. They mixed in Nishijima for the Hunt fight, but it didn’t do particularly well in ratings on a one-week delay on Fuji TV.
The end game for PRIDE isn’t simply about match quality – it’s about match quality with Japanese blood involved in the mix, and they need Japanese talent fast if they want to secure a TV deal.
Ah I see what you’re talking about now. I thought you meant dream matches in general.
Roadblock – a great example is Ogawa vs. Yoshida. That was, for the casual Japanese fan, considered a “mega dream match.” And Fuji TV sure paid out like it was, considering it was the most expensive MMA fight ever booked at a whopping price tag of nearly $5 million USD.
One of the factors that people miss out on regarding PRIDE on New Year’s Eve is that the NYE shows were a concept born from television. They were the ultimate events on free television if you didn’t want to watch a music festival on NHK. Free television exposure on such a high-level meant mega sponsors coming to the table. This year, if PRIDE doesn’t have their New Year’s Eve show on broadcast TV, they will be losing out on significant cash flow that they were able to depend on in the past. It cannot be overlooked, because PRIDE will certainly make an all-out effort to compete against the other fight shows on New Year’s Eve. The question is will anyone at home really be watching the show (other than the folks live at the building). Throw in the possible factor of Koki Kameda boxing (along with K-1 having a show) and it really jumbles the picture.
Do you think Pride can try to use the live show model in South Korea and China to supplement their income? What about running shows in Europe.
From a fan’s perspective I think Pride has the best roster and that their titles “mean” the most/have the most respect. It would be bad for MMA to have Pride go under and their HW & LHW talent be spread across the fighting world with no true champions.
China is almost a closed-door situation for MMA. K-1 has tried, and tried, and tried to run there but because of their corporate structure (read into it what you want), it is difficult due to regulation from the Chinese Government. MMA is also not known as a sport in the country, as they look at different martial arts (including Sanda) as dominant disciplines (rather than MMA). Green Hornet (who sometimes post here) is from China and could tell you better about the situation on the mainland.
South Korea is becoming a nightmare due to the mafia groups in that area that have given promoters fits in terms of getting money from the actual gates. I know that despite having many backers, K-1 has had some trouble getting their money out of the shows they’ve ran there. Japanese MMA seems to draw better ratings on TV than it first did, but it’s not translating to live gates. If South Korea was such a hotspot and safe to run, K-1 would have increased their schedule there already.
Europe is a difficult question. Some of Fedor’s management team is in Holland and they have tried running shows under the “Bushido” banner, only for them to not be that successful in Rotterdam. Holland, on paper, should be a market they could run, but I seriously doubt they could do it well with the current people they have.
I don’t think your analysis on the Pride invasion of America is especially convincing. First, a lot of people (myself included) are going to make the trip from another state to Las Vegas for the show, so I don’t think the UFC advertising campaign in Las Vegas is that big of a deal. And considering their only major in country pomotion for the event so far was an in store in California, I don’t think Pride does either.
I also don’t believe that there are two sets of fans for the UFC and Pride. I think it’s more accurate to say that there are UFC fans (Thanks to the reality tv show) who haven’t braodened their MMA horizons, Pride elitists and just fans of MMA in general. I’ve yet to come across anyone who was just a UFC fan and who then watched a Pride event and thought the UFC was better.
And after seeing Arlovski versus Sylvia and then Barnett versus Nog, I’m not sure how anyone with sense… or just eyes could.
And that’s why the TNA/WWE analogy is really spurious. TNA is an indy fed desperately trying to be the WWE down to making the same booking mistakes and even the nepotism. Pride is not a small promotion trying to be like the UFC. Pride is still the elite organization in MMA (I think this where your NJPW analogy falls apart as well, since IMHO, AJPW and then NOAH were offering a superior product—Also, there was also obviously more competition in the pro wrestling industry than there currently is in MMA), virtually everyone has their top fighters at the top of top whatever lists, most of the FOTYC come from their organization, etc. It’s the place to be for serious fighters.
I think the show will be fine attendance wise considering all of the Pride fans across the country making the trip, the Japanese businessmen and the yakuza (allegedly). I imagine it’ll be an intersting crowd. I can’t wait.
Personally, my only concern is that the “Pride lite” rules wont translate as well and people will be dissapointed. I think their success and future forays into the states will depend on how well recieved the show is with the modified rules. However, with the way the card is set up so far it kind of seems like they’re going to feed people to their stars, so it’s not a major concern.
By the way, is Pride even attempting to get a better tv deal (The shows on FSN are not worthwhile) in America? Your posting a while back on Dana White trash talking the head of HBO made me wonder if he might sign a different promotion just to spite White. Assuming White isn’t lying again and HBO is actually interested in MMA. Even though Pride is obviously not as popular as the UFC in the states, they also don’t suffer the stigma UFC has from its early days (I don’t think the Yakuza is significant to the US) and the fact that it takes place in a ring might make it more palatable for him (The HBO boxing fan guy) and HBO viewers who are more inclined to watch boxing and who might initially mistake the matches as boxing matches and get drawn in.
If the show in Vegas is a success, I hope they’ll seriously pursue this option in addition to a tv contract with a Japanese station. I’m actually surprised another cable channel hasn’t already joined the MMA bandwagon after the apparent success of the various UFC events.
Wow, sorry for the length of this…your analysis (even if incorrect. Heh. ) was obviously thought provoking!
Has Coke vs. Pepsi taught us nothing? People need to realize that being better, as Pepsi tried to convince us, doesn’t necessarily translate to success. One of the laws of branding is to be first. Just like Klennex and Xerox define their respective products, UFC = MMA in North America.
Elitist either for Pride or UFC need to get off their high horse and understand that being better doesn’t automatically convert people. If that were the case, Iraqis wouldn’t be condeming the US and all the Red Sox fans would be Yankees fans.
Fight fans in North America want to see American and Canadian fighters (which the UFC has clearly accomodated). They aren’t going to jump off of Liddell’s bandwagon even if Silva beat him six ways to Sunday. I agree with Zach. I don’t see Pride making much of dent in Vegas.
Pride should have went to Cali where there are more Asians and they need to stop doing the urban hip-hop graphic design in their FSN broadcasts and play up their Japanese origins. Anime is super popular here and Pride would do well for themselves to tap into that culture.
Great discussion….this is so depressing…
In reality this is why I’m shouting so much for UFC to truely become the home to the best MMA fighters in the world. Clearly not the case now, even if Mike Goldberg keeps repeating it.
I’d like to see the UFC expand internationally, maybe a UFC Europe, a South America UFC, and maybe even a UFC Japan (Nihon UFC!). Can you just imagine? And then the best of each division/region could meet once a year at the new year’s eve show!
If White wasnt so phobic about UFC in America, he feels threatened by any other organizations, WFA, IFL…etc, maybe he could grow the UFC to the next level. Then again, UFC may need someone else than White to bring to that next level.
I truely dont want Pride dying for the fighters themselves…where would they go? K1? Hero? I hope not…K1 bores me as much as boxing.
I have to argue with Ryan that in the figth game people will jump off of a person’s band wagon once they start losing (look at Pedro Rizzo, Vitor Belfort and a whole mess of former UFC tough guys). If Lidell gets schooled by Silva I am 100% possitive he will lose a whole chunk of the casual MMA fans…and to be honest those are the fans that matter. Granted Its great being an insider MMA net fan but the majority fan base are the casual fan and once they see Liddell go down they will jump on the guy who beat them. The world is very well runned by the bandwagon mentality…thats why there are alot more Red Sox fans now (they did win the Series and everything). Though I do hate to agree that PRIDE si going to have to do ALOT to make a dent in the states…BUT if they ever get a chance to have a UFC vs PRIDE showdown again I guarntee that the casual fan wil turn on UFC so quickly once the PRIDE fighters beat the shit out of UFC. IMO thats one of the many reasons the interpromotional events will NEVER happen.
Hi Bryan,
You and I know about PRIDE, but I don’t think your casual MMA fan in America knows about them at all. When they had that Bushido special on Fox Sports Net, I only knew about it because of the PR online. I spend more time online than the average person at home, who may be online an hour a day and watch TV the rest of the time. It takes a lot of money and time to really promote a new product in a fickle marketplace like America.
Oh, I believe that there certainly are separate fans. If you allow for anecdotes to be used, Jason Gatties (of http://www.knockoutzone.com fame) falls in that category. I think our own Erin Bucknell also falls into it. Because PRIDE & UFC have different rules, different ring environments (wrestling ring vs. cage), and just a different feel, it’s very possible to have separate audiences.
I don’t necessarily buy into the TNA analogy, but New Japan is an apt analogy. New Japan used to move the needle in terms of garnerning big amounts of media coverage for shows. However, as things declined, the media decided to cover them less because they didn’t see enough opportunities to make money covering New Japan. PRIDE is in a situation where they can continue to run shows, but they will lose money if they continue on a larger scale without TV.
Ultimately, what will impact PRIDE are the unified rules in America for MMA. Remember, PRIDE is going into the lion’s den of UFC by running in Las Vegas, having to cooperate with a Nevada State Athletic Commission that is very comfortable in working with UFC. As you stated, “PRIDE Lite” may not sell well. Neither would Mike Tyson working an exhibition boxing match. Now, if PRIDE had used the Vegas show to air on free TV and had Tyson as a loss leader to get eyeballs on their product, then I’d be more confident about this event.
Josh, first, Belfort and Rizzo never had the kind of mainstream popularity that current top UFC fighters have. Second, both of those fighters destroyed their own reputations over a series of piss poor performances. You also seemed to forget that the Red Sox were losers for the better part of a century before winning the World Series. Did they have no fans before that? Fan and brand loyalty is funny thing.
A better example would be Couture and Sakuraba. Both suffered to HUGE loses to Liddell and Silva respectively, but did people jump off thier bandwagons? Were they exposed? Both are still very popular fighters because they demonstrated courage and have character in the past and people tend not to forget those qualities.
Fans LOVE Chuck. Losing won’t change that over-night. And the same goes for the UFC.
Lack of japanese stars is a problem for PRIDE, indeed. But then again, it can’t possibly be all negative if they are as desperate to get into the US as they seem to be.
It was definately noticeable how little of a reaction the three JP Bushido aces got at the show compared to the biggest reactions of the night.
If they run a NYE show, it’ll be fine and dandy, what with Henderson vs. GP Winner, Fedor vs. Cro Cop, Shogun vs. Coleman, Silva vs. Arona and whatever they can come up with for Yoshida to do all highly likely to materialize. And there’s always Ogawa, of course.
I have to call you on your earlier claims(after the Fuji-droppage) that PRIDE’s production would go dramatically haywire. Having watched the SkyPerfecTV broadcasts of both Bushido 12 and OWGP Finals, the standard is still way above PRIDE 2000, and does not stand back to anything UFC does. The opening video and fighter parade they did for the GP Finals was magnificent. Yes, the screens/stages are smaller, and the on-screen graphics during entrances etc are gone, but they have downscaled in the smartest of ways so far, maintaining a ‘big’ aura. Which also makes me think of TNA – they don’t have a clue about these things.
I personally think both PRIDE and HERO’s will flop in the States, and that PRIDE will have to make some big financial cuts next year. But then again, big cuts in wages, for instance, might only bring them down to UFC’s level, no?
Couple of questions on my mind:
Is Chuck Liddell a bigger name draw in the US than Brock Lesnar?
Any futher updates on Bob Sapp’s situation(yes, I am thinking Sapp vs. Ogawa or a rematch with Fujita on NYE…)?
Is there any chance at all that UFC’s Dec 30th-show will be tied in with PRIDE(as in being a cheaper tape delayed NYE show for the latter)?
Aaaaand, did the US PPV hype Arona vs. Overeem as a #1 contender match like the Japenese did?
I want to correct Zach on one thing. The PRIDE ring is NOT a pro wrestling ring. It’s a boxing ring. Four ring ropes (boxing) as compared with three ring ropes (wrestling). ANd the canvas on a boxing is harder than a wrestling ring.
Ryan- U make a great point but the Couture/ Sakuraba analaogy isnt all that accurate. First of all Couture DECIMATED Liddell as well as had a career that NO ONE could argue about the legitmacy of (c’mon he is the only UFC fighter to hold 2 different weight titles in the UFC). Plus many people are still very critical over “Thumbs McLiddell” and how he beat Couture the last two fights. So its not like Couture’s losses to Liddell would affect his fan base.
And Japanese fans are an ENTIRELY different breed than the American fans IMO. American casual fans are fickle and IMO if Sakuraba was a fighter in the US he would be more like a Vitor Belfort (or maybe more like a Jens Pulver). In Japan Saluraba achieved god like status from beating the Gracies…he can honestly lose to akebono, Bobby Ologun and Bob Sapp and he would still be considred a god in the MMA ring.
But lets go back to what I mentioned..look at Jens Pulver. The guy is undefeated in the UFC but has strung a series of losses…is he still super popular? Even Yves Edwards, once a highly renouded lightweight isnt nearly as popular as he use to be. If its an issue about mainstream appeal…hell Im going to point out Mir and Arvloski….Im sure they are NOt going to have nearly the reaction (actually Mir already has lost all heat) with UFC fans and they were champs at good points of UFC popularity.
Also just wanted to throw in….Sure boston had fans…they were all IN BOSTON….. and yet I saw ALOT of people HERE in LA toting Boston caps after the Sox won the Series…(then again LA is notorious for being bandwagon jumpers)
A lot of the production equipment used is what they had in the past, specifically since Sakakibara’s background was in production. That doesn’t surprise me that they are using what they had there.
The Japanese PPVs… they are running a three-man broadcasting crew with Yano (of Pancrase commentating fame), Takada, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (who seems somewhat shy as a third-man on the microphone) and the graphics are OK, but nothing stunning. Given what SkyPerfecTV is having to do to even broadcast the shows, I say the PPV network has stepped up their game.
What Fuji TV brought to the table was not only a futuristic slickness to the product, but they had an enormous staff on hand for all the shows and they were able to manage the small details, things that you wouldn’t at first pick up on but really were impressive.
We’re talking about Fuji TV’s equipment and production values, along with their reach to millions of viewers at home. SkyPerfecTV PPV… we’re talking maybe 60,000-90,000 buys maximum. You can maintain a “big” aura but if the audience reach isn’t there and you don’t have a free TV network pushing your product to drive up the PPV sales, it’s tough to maintain the same level (or even close to it) of production values from the past when PRIDE had a relationship with Fuji TV.
If that’s a true boxing ring, it must be a real hard surface for the Hustle workers to bump on for wrestling. It’s certainly possible that they have it extra spring-loaded for wrestling (similar to the “new age” rings that All Japan claimed to purchase a couple of years ago).