10. Success Of Ultimate Fighter Off The Back Of Raw
The ignition of UFC's hottest period of business started off of the back of WWE's Monday Night Raw. Literally. In 2005 Spike TV and UFC launched 'The Ultimate Fighter' reality show in the time slot immediately after Raw, gaining a 57% retention rate of Vince's audience. The ratings for TUF grew and grew, proving a catalyst for the boom in UFC interest over 2006 and onward. In The Ultimate Fighter Tv show, White had finally found the story telling device he needed to apply meaningfulness to the UFC. It wasn't just about fights, it was about human stories. This is what Vince has been doing for two decades, and all of a sudden, sports entertainment fans found themselves preferring UFC's version of conflict narratives. The reason? Pretty clearly because UFC was real human stories against McMahon's increasingly far fetched narratives that involved boogeymen and lepreachauns. The new 2014 WWE Tv deal could see this shared evening scenario yet again. Why would the Network schedule them together? Because they're both sports entertainment with a shared fanbase.