5. Both Use "Reality TV" To Create & Build Up Storylines
The UFC's Ultimate Fighter reality competition show started in 2005 and has produced a lot of great moments. They use current UFC fighters as coaches for up & coming fighters. It started with Chuck Liddell & Randy Couture, who went on to have a big fight. That's when the company really began to grow. Over the years they've used the Ultimate Fighter to build up fights like Ortiz/Shamrock, Jackson/Evans, Rousey/Tate and so on. In WWE, they don't have a traditional reality show anymore since they stopped doing Tough Enough and thanks to budget cutbacks it's not likely to be back any time soon. However, they do have Total Divas, which is a show full of real life events mixed in with some ridiculous storylines like a whole episode about how Cameron had a tough time watching Natalya's cat. It's dumb, but it's heading into the third season this fall and is a money maker for WWE. The current WWE diva storylines are likely going to be featured on Total Divas and treated as "real" because that's what they do. While Ultimate Fighter isn't a scripted program, they are using the basic premise of pro wrestling to build up their fights. Whether the fighters legitimately hate each other or not, they're still being used in a way to set up a fight on a weekly television show just like we're used to seeing in WWE. Going back to Jackson/Evans, once their fight was over they admitted that they were playing it up for the camera. Real fighters can be "workers" too.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
