Oh no. Bad news for MMA....

[Divide Et Impera]

http://www.mmauniverse.com/news/SS1173

WWE to Add MMA Branch

This weekend has offered a fantastic fountain of rumours. Here is another that we originally heard from www.FightOpinion.com.
There has been much talk of Pride’s semi-clandestine meetings with bosses at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) but little notion of what it could mean. According to “a well placed source who wishes to remain anonymous” WWE are looking to add a fourth member to their phenomenally successful family of Pro Wrestling shows.

According to these rumours, soon to be joining RAW, Smackdown and ECW will be an MMA themed event. The show is expected to be a gateway between the worlds of Pro Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts, who have traditionally shared a modest cross-over in terms of fans and fighters.

In the past MMA fighters such as Ken Shamrock, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Bas Rutten have sought out new directions in the world of Pro Wrestling, while Pro Wrestlers have also permeated the MMA scene. This is most apparent in Japan but is happening more and more in the USA. Pro Wrestlers like Daniel Puder, Sylvester "The Predator" Terkay and Giant Silva have fought in the major leagues of MMA, with more major stars like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar reportedly in training for a 2007 debut.

WWE entering the world of Mixed Martial Arts is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand WWE will bring a spectacular big budget presentation but will also bring unwelcome undertones of match-fixing.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Any self serving MMA owner, who has any modicum of respect for the sport whatsoever, needs to tell Vince McMahon to pound salt.

Honestly, this sport has come way too far in the United States for it to be ruined and tainted by McMahon.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

http://www.mmauniverse.com/news/SS1173

dont think it will happen.

 

[CorporalCardinal]

......I think I'd rather get bit by a rattlesnake.

 

[Louis]

Any self serving MMA owner, who has any modicum of respect for the sport whatsoever, needs to tell Vince McMahon to pound salt.

Honestly, this sport has come way too far in the United States for it to be ruined and tainted by McMahon.

Hasn't WWE always had a relationship with the MMA world?

Dan Severn, Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock, all have competed in pro wrestling.

Former WWE stars are in MMA type sports now.

Kurt Angle wanted to fight Tito Ortiz (IIRC) while under contract with the WWE but wasn't allowed.

The WWE hasn't had a lot of successful when trying to branch out (XFL).

I'm excited to see the product they could bring.

It was only a matter of time before WWE went real.

 

[100%CardsFan]

I would LOVE to see some of these wrestlers really fight. Sorry but watching Kurt Engle vs Tito would be fun to watch.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

I agree, but ONLY if it's a REAL fight and not the scripted, testosterone ballets that WWE is. That is why I think that ultimately this could be trouble for MMA....

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Hasn't WWE always had a relationship with the MMA world?

Dan Severn, Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock, all have competed in pro wrestling.

By the point Shamrock and Severn wound up in the WWE, the UFC was pretty much in a state of near extinction, thanks to people like Senator McCain. Then again, back then the UFC was a whole different world.

Former WWE stars are in MMA type sports now.

They compete in Pancrease, which is considered a work shoot. This is exactly what I DON'T want to see a major MMA promotion become.

Kurt Angle wanted to fight Tito Ortiz (IIRC) while under contract with the WWE but wasn't allowed.

Because Tito would have worked him

 

[Louis]

Angle is an Olympic champ on steroids. He could handle his own.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

In an actual MMA fight, the fight would never be sanctioned in America because Angle couldn't pass any state athletic commission drug test between the roids and pain killers.