Jim Ross Blogs: UFC PPV Buyrates, Bret Hart Update, Titles, More
Jim Ross has a new blog up at JrsBarBQ.com; here are the highlights?
On Bret Hart: Bret Hart has a Facebook page and he said some mighty nice things about yours truly recently. My relationship with Bret has been built from day one on respect. One of the best nights I've had in my career, off the clock, was at the Cauliflower Alley Club sitting at the hotel bar and shooting the breeze and telling stories with Bret and Steve Austin until about 6 a.m. I've often said that those types of pairings would make for some awesome DVD releases because of the talents' chemistry and the fact that there is so much archived footage that can be utilized.
On Wrestling Titles: An emailer suggested that more titles be added to the seemingly endless list of wrestling titles. Too many titles water down the product and things like a "Legends Title" in all due respect doesn't resonate with me as a fan. If the existing titles were made to be more viable then the talk of adding more gratuitous championships would at least lessen or perhaps even cease for a while.
On Wrestling Books: We've been getting a good deal of emails on wrestling related books to read. I am a major proponent of reading all one can about the business and from a variety of vantage points and philosophies. For example, a friend who attended the Jack Brisco funeral services last week told me that he was reading Howard Brody's book entitled "Swimming with Piranhas" and was really enjoying it. I have the book but haven't started it yet but I will be getting to it sooner than later. If anyone out there has read Howard's book and wants to send us a book review, please feel free to do so.
On UFC PPV: Read an interesting story at Yahoo Sports about UFC's PPV business. UFC dominated PPV in '09 and how well they do in 2010 depends on many factors. One can cite the overall economy, the general PPV marketplace, the frequency of PPV events and other viable criteria. However, the PPV business is and always will be attraction driven. PPV's are great destinations for first time encounters or the rubber match type scenarios we all enjoy emotionally investing. UFC is hot, exciting and growing exponentially and if they can keep their key athletes healthy then I don't see why UFC shouldn't have another great year although matching '09 revenues in the PPV world will be challenging
You can read the full blog at JrsBarBQ.com.