Written by Gene Zarnick
| 23 September 2009
People love watching other people fight. I don't know if it's because of the violent and aggressive nature of the fight or just that it's the epitome of a duel. Just two people fighting fist versus fist to see who the stronger individual is. One man wins, one man loses, there's no middle ground; except if you're watching a boxing fight where most of the judging seems ridiculous. We also love entertainment. Anything that combines sports with entertainment week in and week out can garner a lot of fans. The two companies that have done the best at attracting these two audiences are the UFC and the WWE. The UFC brings us the real life fights that we love to see while the WWE brings entertainment and storylines to a well crafted, planned out, athletic display of ability during its program. Each company have large audiences, both have great pay-per-view buy rates, but both companies are lacking one thing that the other has. The WWE is missing the unexpectedness of not knowing the fight's result and the UFC is missing the weekly storylines that keep the viewers excited to see the ensuing fight. This is why a company needs to be formed that combines both UFC and WWE attributes to create Mixed Martial Entertainment.
People watch wrestling even though they know the outcomes decided because they love the entertainment of the storylines. The twists and turns that are sometimes seen far in advance and the ones that no one sees coming are what makes millions of viewers watch the WWE weekly and buy their pay-per-views monthly. The UFC on the other hand attracts their fans based on the outcome never being decided beforehand and the brutal nature of a chance to witness a knockout. By taking the best parts of both companies a new type of fighting entertainment could evolve. Now I'm not going to change what the WWE does best or what the UFC does best. You are still going to see mixed martial arts, never predetermined, but now you gain excitement from the buildup that is done by using the storylines that the WWE excels at. Each week there would be a live weekly show with storylines to build up towards the pay-per-view. Fighters could still have their monikers, their costumes, and some could be faces and some could be heels. So many people hate Brock Lesnar, but he plays his role so perfectly and it makes you want to watch him and root against him. There would be stables where groups of fighters would team up and talk negative against the other teams. Of course you wouldn't have the fighters who are in the PPV fight during the week, but they would still be seen every week, talking negatively about what they are going to do to the other fighter, or talking positively about what they are made of. The other fighters in the main events stable could fight one another during the week, which could add drama for one team versus the other at the pay-per-view. You still have to have the entertainment. There will be storylines where one fighter steals another fighter's girlfriend, a fighter could steal another fighter's belt, you can have managers, signing of contracts, run-ins, and most of the other storylines that the WWE uses to continually keep the show fresh. You would still have live fights each week that not only entertain in a fighting sense, but also creates buildup for matches down the road.
The best part of the entire idea is that the storylines are dictated by the outcome of the fight. The fighters that win their fight, not only improve their record, but now the writers can use that victory to push them and build them up to more exciting fights. I enjoy watching the UFC undercards, but I don't know the fighters very well. The storylines will create rivalries that build up and make you want to watch every fight on the card, while still allowing the realness during the fights that the UFC fans are looking for. There are so many options and ideas that could make MME work, while still allowing fans of the WWE and UFC to keep the aspects of each company that made them as successful as they are today.
