The UFC just completed a deal in England to have it on local channels. The U.S. can’t be far behind. Many make the argument that it takes away senior level wrestlers from training full-time and gives the U.S. weaker World and Olympic teams. That argument can go on and on with both sides having valid points. Whichever way you feel is a personal opinion ... and one that I’m not here to argue. But my question is, “When is a professional wrestling league or organization going to step up and expand the sport?”
Why isn’t someone modeling what the UFC built in 2005 under Dana White and the Fertitta brothers? The formula is working and the sport is growing at a rapid pace. Fans spring up from everywhere to watch cage fighting. Why hasn’t a league formed for professional wrestling? I’m not talking about the failed Real Professional Wrestling (RPW) league.
In the UFC, there are weight classes and individual fighters. Why aren’t there a set of weight class and individual wrestlers making a living in the sport they love? If we can fill arenas for the NCAA Championships and collegiate dual meets between powerhouse programs, there is no reason to believe that we can’t fill an arena once a month, or once every six weeks, to see the best wrestlers of this era go head-to-head.
Wrestlers could finish their college wrestling careers, join a wrestling club, like the Sunkist Kids, Gator Wrestling Club, or New York Athletic Club, and then prepare for a run at a championship belt. Can anybody past or present within 30 pounds beat Cael Sanderson? Do techniques that worked in the mid nineties still work in this day in age? Are wrestlers now or then more fit? Here’s one way to find out.
We need great owners and venues. We need to model the MMA system. And we need to let wrestlers be individuals and make money from apparel, sponsors, and camps. You can’t tell me that Iowa can sell out Carver Hawkeye Arena for college wrestling dual meets, support the Barnstormers Arena Football League team and the Iowa Cubs minor league baseball team, but couldn’t host and sell out pro wrestling cards filled with intriguing matchups?
Imagine Henry Cejudo vs. Shawn Bunch. Or Jamill Kelly vs. Trent Paulson. Or Cael Sanderson vs. Mo Lawal. We would settle the age arguments. It would give wrestlers a career and a job outside of coaching. A wrestler could coach, like the MMA fighters do, and train at the same time. Wrestlers could open up clubs and camps for wrestlers of all ages, from high school wrestlers preparing for college, college wrestlers training for collegiate wrestling, to pro wrestlers gearing up for pro matches.
MMA clubs are the biggest things going on these days. They have a great slogan, 'Why spend $80 a month at a pretentious health clubs with mirrors everywhere? Instead, come to our club and we can train you in fine martial arts.' There must be thousands of former high school wrestlers who gave the sport up for a career and/or to start a family, or weren’t good enough for college wrestling, that would love to roll a few times a week and gladly pay gym fees.
Take a look at the latest payouts to former wrestlers on the UFC 102 card:
• Mike Russow: $20,000 ($10,000 to show and $10,000 to win)
• Jake Rosholt: $26,000 ($13,000 to show and $13,000 to win) (He also won Submission of the Night, netting him another $60,000)
• Mark Munoz: $24,000 ($12,000 to show and $12,000 to win)
• Aaron Simpson: $18,000 ($9,000 to show and $9,000 to win)
These are only the fighter purses. They also get sponsorships money, UFC pay-per-view money, insurance for injury, plus other bonuses through the UFC. The fighters I listed are former wrestlers just getting started in MMA and they are making good money. Why can’t wrestling adopt something similar? Maybe we won’t have great pay gauges at first, but looking at MMA, it shows us that there is room for this kind of venture. These fighters can only fight three or maybe four times a year. A wrestler could compete up to once every month ... or every other month. Opportunity is staring the wrestling community in the face.
You’re telling me that a sport that only starting running correctly in 2005 can grow at this rate and wrestling can’t even get off the ground? Wrestling is the world’s oldest and greatest sport. It can work. It should work. So why isn’t there anything going on yet? Let’s not debate whether MMA is good or bad for wrestling. Instead, let’s get this thing going and show the world what wrestling is really about.
Bring pro wrestling to life!
Stay tuned for Tony Nguyen’s preview of the wrestlers fighting on Wednesday's UFC Ultimate Fight Night card. He will break down all the wrestlers on the card, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they can win. You can also follow Tony on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TonyNguyenMMA.
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