WWE & UFC Crossover Good For Business?

wwetvsports21
Jun 9, 2016
2 min read

Brock Lesnar recently announced his return to UFC for a ppv event in July against Matt Hunt. It is quite a unique situation because Vince Mcmahon who runs the WWE has loaned Lesnar to UFC. Critics of WWE who follow UFC may have issues of mainstream audiences getting the two genres blurred. WWE have been popular for decades until UFC came around and took a chunk of their audience due to UFC having that legitimacy that WWE lacks. Brock Lesnar being from the world of WWE originally and a super athlete from his collegiate days helped make WWE's image when he became UFC Champion.

When Brock Lesnar first became WWE World Heavyweight Champion in 2002, the WWE was in a "Ruthless Aggression" Era where athleticism and credibility was front and center. but when he left the company went to "Family Friendly" PG Era. During that time, Lesnar went into other athletic endeavors such as UFC. It seems they took a hit from some of their hardcore fans for the change which is why Lesnar was courted back into the squared circle a couple years back. John Cena now ruled the roost being popular with children, but he was not respected with hardcore audiences or the mature crowd such as The Rock and Brock Lesnar were. It is no coincident the two were brought back at the same time to help fill that void that was missing.

The WWE in recent months have been on a mission to push their women as equals in terms of being superstars in the ring like their male counterparts. They got rid of the WWE Diva Championship and brought back the Women's Title at this year's record breaking WrestleMania. So what other motive could the WWE have other than crossover publicity by having Brock Lesnar compete in UFC?

It seems the WWE is trying to leverage this deal to have Rhonda Rousey make her WWE debut inside the squared circle according to Forbes. She has appeared at WrestleMania before as a surprise guest with The Rock, but it is a different can of worms seeing her against the women of WWE such as Charlotte Flair or Sasha Banks. The WWE who is low on dream matches would surely get a boost out of Rousey appearing at WrestleMania 33 in Florida.

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