Triple H And Stephanie McMahon Say UFC Is Not WWE Competition

There was a "Fireside Chat" with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, along with WWE CFO George Barrios, hosted by Laura Martin at the Needham Interconnect Conference for investors in New York City. It was done as a way for WWE to talk about their business with potential investors. The chat was available for users that logged in on Tuesday although there really weren't a lot of interesting things discussed. For those of us that are wrestling fans, it was likely a case of WWE going over the same stuff they always say about the WWE Network being $9.99 per month, all PPVs are available and so on. When Triple H received a question about the UFC as competition, that's when he went on a bit of a rant talking about how they really aren't competing with them. While he makes some good points, he is off base on a few things. Here's the full quote courtesy of Cageside Seats followed by some analysis as well.

"They aren't really a competitor to us and I explain this to our talent this way in the Performance Center and every time I say it people will say to me oh, that made it very clear for me: people like UFC, they like boxing, but it's completely different from what we are. We are like the movie Rocky. We're a story. We're a great story that just happens to take place sometimes in the wrestling ring, so if you think about us less of Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match which you'll watch one time and on pay-per-view and then once that fight's over it's kind of done, you know, and you're really not going to go back and watch it a bunch of times unless you're a connoisseur of boxing science, you're gonna watch it one time. But Rocky the movie you will watch over and over and over again. It's the story, it's the characters. Boxing is irrelevant to the movie really. It's a triumph story, it's a love story, it's all those things and that's what we do. We create characters that you gravitate towards, that you connect with, that you passionately engage with, you believe in on a visceral level, whether you hate them or love them. We put them in unique storylines with creative passions and good guys and bad guys and the drama and sometimes love throws. We were married and divorced once on TV long before we did it for real, you know? It was a dry run, that's why it works so well, we got it out of our system. You know, you have all those components, but that's what makes us so successful and at the end of the day that's what makes the Network successful because while a sport, who is gonna go back to watch the Superbowl from '84? Yeah, right, unless you're a massive technical football fan! Or who's gonna go back and watch boxing from five years ago, you're not, or UFC, it's the same thing, it's the same component. But our product is evergreen, because its the characters and the stories that you engage in, that's what makes a passionate fan of the WWE and it's lifelong, because even if you move away from it, even if you become a lapsed fan, you get out of college, you don't have a lot of free time anymore, you get a job, you have kids, you do all those things, and now all of a sudden your kids start to watch, and you get on the Network and you start to watch the Attitude Era or the '80s, that Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior that you watched when you were a kid and all that emotion comes flooding back to you and it's something that you don't put down, that you don't walk away from, it's always there and it's very easy to get hooked back into it to watch it again."

While he makes some valid points in terms of saying that WWE's product can last forever, what he's missing on is that WWE & UFC did compete for the PPV audience for many years just as they did with boxing. Think about it as a consumer. If you have an average WWE PPV on the Sunday and that Saturday also has a great UFC card, people are going to decide on what they want to spend their $40-50 on to order it. A lot of people aren't going to watch both because they don't want to spend the money on two PPVs on the same weekend. In that sense, WWE & UFC competed. That game has changed a bit since WWE Network started and PPVs became more affordable, but it's silly to act like that competition didn't exist. The point about WWE being a show that people can re-watch over and over for years is a good one. Some of us might re-watch stuff more than others and thanks to WWE Network they've made it really easy for that to happen. That's why there's a lot of praise from people that have WWE Network. It deserves it. One point that could be argued is about characters. While UFC doesn't "create" characters like WWE does, they certainly try to encourage it and try to paint things a certain way. There are definitely fighters out there that come off as heels because they know it can make them money. Plus, the Diaz brothers talking trash to people in a way that makes them heels to a lot of people is a much stronger character than a Fandango or Adam Rose, that's for sure. Here are some comments from Stephanie McMahon about UFC:

"In addition to that with UFC you can pay money to watch a pay-per-view and it can be a terrible fight. Right? The guy you were really rooting for that UFC has been building as a star gets knocked right off and suddenly that person doesn't really matter anymore and all that investment is lost. You never have that with WWE. We strategically build all of our Superstars and characters and we know when they are going to win and we know when they are going to lose. Uh, we do! And we build characters and make them these megastars, it's all very intentional and you're guaranteed to get your money's worth. It might not necessarily be the outcome you want, but you're guaranteed to have a great match, to have a great pay-per-view and you're guaranteed to be entertained."

It's not like all WWE PPVs are "great" although in Stephanie's mind they probably are. There have been a lot of average ones this year. Usually they're not that bad though because they have a talented roster that gets more time to wrestle on PPVs. Also saying "you never have that with WWE" is pretty naive considering how Cesaro ha been booked in recent months. He looked like he was on his way to a main event role and now he's losing two minute matches nearly every week. It does happen in WWE where they end pushes suddenly. Her point does make sense, but to just ignore when WWE does it is pretty silly. After browsing around a few MMA sites, it looks like Hunter's comments have riled up the UFC fanbase a bit. It's not like he said anything that bad. It's just that he took a bit of a shot at how they run things in UFC. At least he didn't mention people going back to watch Katie Vick. Thanks for leaving that name out of it, Hunter.