Mixed Martial Artists and Ultimate Fighting Championship

[HAB]

Never having been to a GP I'm not in a position to comment on the suitability of any particular question. I'll just say that WWE's defenders seem to have hugely over-estimated its popularity. A few minutes on Google have shown me that the viewing figures are less Premier League football and more World Indoor Bowls, way below most major sports. More significantly it's, quite rightly, never reported in newspapers or news websites which, I imagine, are an important source of most people's sport knowledge. The same can be said of UFC, although MMA is at least a sport, albeit an awful one.

I don't think I live in a particularly rarefied environment, but I'm convinced I know far more people who know Bazille than Rey Mysterio or Georges St-Pierre.

[Chris]

Thanks 'HAB', we're interested in all views and just 'cos you don't attend GPs doesn't mean your views should be discounted. Indeed, in some ways your views are valued since you've no axe to grind, so to speak.

Cheers, and maybe we will see you one day....

[HAB]

Cheers, and maybe we will see you one day....

You certainly will, as soon as it is feasible.

[jhoney1977]

Daniel, many thanks for the tips on where to find information about the various wrestling formats.

[DanielFullard]

Daniel, many thanks for the tips on where to find information about the various wrestling formats.

Good little overview of important matches here http://bleacherreport.com/articles/8955 ... ory/page/4


One think to bare in mind for anyone researching this.....WWE as it is called now was once called WWF. It changed from WWF in 2002 due to a legal battle with the World Wildlife Fund.People are probably aware of this but if you are new to wrestling it might get confusing

[Brutalstack]

Hi guys,

Never been to a GP (and admittedly never even posted on here before!) I regularly played the online league on the previous version of this site.

I'm also a big MMA fan and enjoy pro wrestling - a few years ago I was even a columnist on it for a number of websites, so I have found this debate fascinating and if you'll indulge me would like to throw in a couple of cents myself.

Professional wrestling (as opposed to amateur) is NOT a sport, it is a form of live action, almost pantomime-type entertainment presented with a sporting theme. They are (mostly) terrific athletes, in many cases coming from college basketball (Paul "Big Show" Wight), amateur wrestling (1996 Olympic Champion Kurt Angle) and professional careers in American Football (Bill Goldberg, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), and whilst the results are pre-determined and the action scripted or choreographed in a way to illicit an emotional response from both live and TV audiences alike, what they do at the highest level still requires great physical prowess. Recruitment for professional wrestling tends to be teaching athletes to act (using the term loosely I admit, but that's the philosophy) as opposed to teaching actors to wrestle.

I personally find the mix of sports-based action, psychology, characters, interaction with the audience and story-telling a fascinating combination. It's not everyone's cup of tea of course - it's often hopelessly cheesy, sometimes the writing is poor which hurts its credibility and the fact that it once presented itself as real but now openly admits it isn't can cause a lot of sneering from non-supporters.

It has a large global following and the UK is considered one of the WWE and TNA's (their nearest rival) key markets. It has however also been on the decline in its established markets over the last ten years. The business is cyclical and has its peaks and troughs. In my opinion this should perhaps be monitored by question setters because I believe there are a new generation of wrestlers coming through who may just help make it more mainstream again - time will tell! If that's the case then maybe over the next 5 years there would be a case for putting more questions in.

With regards to UFC / MMA however, this sport (and yes, this one is real!) is continuing to grow every year. As I believe has previously been discussed, it is selling out bigger arenas, attracting more PPV buys and growing it's TV audience globally compared to just a few years ago. There is a growing train of thought that the UFC and WWE are competitors despite the fact one is real and the other isn't. Both are combat based, both encourage their participants to be big characters and both sell their shows for a PPV audience. Where the WWE is sports entertainment, the UFC is more an entertaining sport.

A few years ago I once read a Q&A on the BBC sport website which did ask why there was no MMA coverage there (I wish I could find the link, but not to be), to which they basically responded budget cuts and it not quite being big enough yet. But I did find this story from Barry Hearn about the rise of MMA against the decline in boxing. MMA has continued to grow since then and they do the odd MMA based article occasionally.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7668498.stm

Overall in my opinion professional wrestling on it's own should be more in entertainment, but because it is also considered a rival product to the other two despite being "fake" maybe it should stay where it is?

Also, whatever the feeling about what's currently there being too much or too little, don't be surprised to see one or more rise again over the next few years, pushing up their potential to appear more regularly in quizzes - they all have great publicity machines behind them!

Contentious subject, but the UFC was only founded in 1993 and in less than 20 years has already got enough of a following to appear in these GP Quizzes - imagine what it could do with 20 more!

[Chris]

Cheers. Thanks for the fascinating comments. I pretty much agree that WWE is 'entertainment' while MMA is absolutely a sport (not one I want to watch, but a sport nonetheless).

[DavidHesp60]

In my view professional wrestling should be in entertainment,MMA/UFC etc should be included in sport although fairly infrequently.There are a number of sports in which I have only a quiz interest, and I suppose that MMA will have to be added.However, I think that a wider issue is the way in which far too much of the Sport genre is based on things that happened yesterday,and far too little reflects the wealth of sporting history in the main British and world sports.

[DaveBill]

Well after much discussion on here - I hope you all got Deleted[hidden till Monday night, as some are yet to do the Hot 100, tx Ed.] yesterday!!

PS. Wrestlemania 28 tonight, from Miami in case you're revising.

[DanielFullard]

Well after much discussion on here - I hope you all got Deleted[hidden till Monday night, as some are yet to do the Hot 100, tx Ed.] yesterday!!

PS. Wrestlemania 28 tonight, from Miami in case you're revising.

Just in case anyone faces it in a quiz the results from last night....

The Rock defeated John Cena in the "main event". No titles or anything just two of the biggest stars of the past 10 years in a match they have built up for over a year. Silly business move to have Rock win but that may come up.

And the other big news from the night....The Undertaker beat HHH making the Undertaker 20-0 at Wrestlemania events. Shawn Michaels was the guest referee and all three superstars look like they have retired. Three of the biggest names ever in the business going out in one night.