WWE News: Breaking Down Triple H's Moronic Rant About UFC

Triple H was recently subject to a newsworthy interview with AOL Moviefone, and in the wake of historically low ratings and a sour wrestling product, Triple H caused more reason to believe in a possible wrestling Armageddon.

The new day-to-day authority in the WWE responded to a question about MMA (namely UFC) the only way a WWE higher-up seems to know how these days—with shear ignorance. 

WWE's continual in-house denial of UFC as competition speaks to growing problems that have led to the company taking a severe step back in terms of intrigue and relevance in 2011.

Booking pay-per-view caliber contests between two personalities is one of the main similarities these not-so-secret rivals share.  This similarity is the bottom line for each promotion's business.  UFC has mastered the art over the years while the WWE ignores both the UFC and their proficiency in promoting must-see bouts the same way the WWE once did. 

Said Triple H about the WWE's chief competition (admittedly or not): 

"

I don't see us needing to evolve to what UFC does because quite frankly sometimes the fights are long and boring, guys lying around and sometimes the fights are fast and over in five seconds. I've always thought one of the things about us, if you look at us solely from a sports standpoint, is that we always give you a good show.

"

Whether or not the WWE always puts on a good show is debatable, and isn't really relevant to what's wrong with this argument.  The problem resides in the fact that the WWE is in a position to build up matches through storytelling that is usually best done with no physical contact leading up to the match in question. 

Once the WWE has that match, they have the perceived advantage of booking a pre-determined finish that would be best for business.

Unfortunately, the WWE has demonstrated impatience in getting to the bottom line, often blowing off main-event caliber matches on television to pop a rating as well as over-accelerating angles only for them to be blown off prematurely and in unspectacular fashion.  The main event liquidation in turn sacrifices valuable pay-per-view dollars.  In all fairness, UFC could run into the same problems the more their new marriage with FOX takes form. 

Triple rambles on:

"

I think if anybody needs to evolve, it's them. Give more of an entertainment standpoint. Give more form; they just have fighters who walk in in t-shirts and shorts and just stand there and then they fight and then they win and then they go 'thanks, I'd like to thank my sponsors' and then they leave.

"

Such a quip disqualifies Triple H's stance on MMA as anything resembling an informed opinion.  If he seriously thinks that UFC's success is built on a pair of nameless "fighters who walk in in t-shirts and shorts," he is completely missing the boat.  

Apparently, the names Chael Sonnen, Tito Ortiz, Josh Koscheck and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson bear no meaning in the WWE bubble that Triple H & co. live in. 

UFC's most successful pay-per-views have been built around talents like Brock Lesnar (who was left off of the aforementioned list as Triple H is well aware of him), who talked people into the building with half of the UFC patrons paying to see him lose (a point Triple H goes on to accurately address).  Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva did good business because of promos like this, and this.

There's a reason Brock Lesnar received a heavyweight title shot three fights into his UFC career.  There's a reason for the "Knockout of the Night" bonus.  The entertaining and charismatic rise to the top of the MMA heap while the uncharismatic Jon Morrisons Fitch's of the world tread water despite an otherwise impressive 23-3 record.  Walk out tees be damned.    

Stop me if all this begins to sound familiar. 

Triple H resembles a more coherent stance towards the end of his rant when speaking of good friend Floyd Mayweather as well as former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar:

"

The whole world was up in arms when Brock (Lesnar) was flipping people off and was cussing at the beer company because they didn't give him any money  and everyone thought, 'Oh my God, he's disrespectful.' The whole world was talking about it. They couldn't wait to see him get beat up. And then he did well, and he beat some guys and then people jump on his bandwagon going 'Brock's the greatest.' I'm good friends with Floyd Mayweather and Floyd would be the first to tell ya, 'I make the most money in boxing and I have the biggest buyers because I have the biggest mouth.' He'd be the first guy to tell you that. That's what it's about. Sports is entertainment.

"

By finishing with his "sports is entertainment" sermon, Triple H largely contradicts the logically porous arguments that preceded it. 

The fact that the WWE is not a sport should not exempt it from being compared to "real" sports like UFC or even the NFL (which airs on Monday nights opposite RAW and is therefore competition). 

WWE can learn from red-hot sports like UFC and the NFL based on aspects as basic as cohesive commentary and long-term storylines that lead to conflict resolution. 

Sports really is entertainment, and right now WWE is painfully ignorant to its own shortcomings in the latter. 

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