9 Ways WWE Owes A Debt To UFC

Literally, in this case, because the WWE were never stupid enough to allow idiocy like the Brawl For All to take place again.

I’ve already gone into a fair amount of detail about the tournament itself, which was conceived in 1998 as an attraction, nothing more. Scuttlebutt (like gossip with a good right hand) had it that it was created to get incoming wrestling legend ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams over quickly with the WWF crowd, in order that he could be slotted into a feud with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.

That’s something that all the boys felt, anyway, although it’s been strongly denied by those who worked in the office at the time.

With the rising popularity of mixed martial arts and the UFC, the Brawl For All was originally intended to be similar to an MMA-style set-up, although it was quickly decided to change a good deal of the rules in order to avoid falling foul of the local athletic commissions that were giving the UFC such a hard time in those days.

It ended up being a lot like a local ‘Toughman’ competition: the ‘rules’ (if you can call them that) allowed for one minute rounds and points for takedowns, with no submissions allowed. The boys wore massive 16-ounce gloves, which made anything more complicated than basic brawling-style grappling an impossibility.

Even today, people are divided over how much of the scoring was worked, with participant Bob Holly recording in his memoir The Hardcore Truth that he was convinced that, if the fight was legit, then none of the judge’s scoring was.

Regardless, the whole idea was a horrible mistake. It’s saying something that the guy that proposed the Brawl For All to Vince McMahon, professional wrestling muppet Vince Russo, still thinks that it was a great plan and would do it again tomorrow if he had it over again, while everyone else involved still can’t believe it was greenlit to begin with.

When Russo likes it, it’s a guaranteed turkey.