5 Character styles WWE could steal from the UFC
The world of WWE has always been one that steals or borrows elements of its characters from elsewhere, whether it’s movies, video games, or other sports. Since the rise of MMA and the UFC in particular around a decade ago, WWE has most certainly attempted to borrow quite liberally from that world, too.
Take Vladimir Kozlov for instance, a stoic Russian character who was supposedly a master in Sambo and striking. Doesn’t that sound like Fedor Emelianenko, who was hugely popular at the time of Kozlov’s arrival in WWE?
Or the team of Sylvester Terkay and Elijah Burke, who basically ran what was a pure MMA gimmick, although it wasn’t very successful.
Over the last few years, though, the UFC has become an absolute powerhouse in terms of selling PPVs and drawing ratings, while WWE’s ratings have plummeted and its PPV business is basically dead in the water now due to the advent of the WWE Network.
Part of this is to do with the fact that UFC produces characters that pique the interest of the fans, while WWE has clearly struggled in this area recently. In my opinion, some of the UFC’s biggest stars have characters ripe for the picking for a handful of WWE superstars. Here are five of them, and five wrestlers that could use them to great effect.
#1 HHH as Dana White
Okay, so Uncle Dana isn’t exactly a popular figure with the hardcore fanbase these days, but there’s no denying that he’s an effective character as well as a fantastic promoter.
Since he stepped into the spotlight in 2005 when the first season of The Ultimate Fighter was broadcast, Dana has become one of the UFC’s most recognisable stars. He cuts amazing promos; both putting his talent over and throwing them under the bus, he makes the matches people want to see, and slams his competition in vicious fashion.
Basically, he’s a massively effective authority figure because while his shadow looms large over the company, when it comes to the fights he takes a step back and it becomes all about the fighters.
WWE meanwhile is clinging onto the 90’s trope of the “heel authority figure” that was introduced by Vince McMahon for his feud with Steve Austin. Austin vs. McMahon worked brilliantly of course, but that was almost 20 years ago now. These days the authority figure is simply a booking crutch for lazy writers. It’s time for that to change.
With HHH being positioned as the “creator” in NXT, everything is basically set for this change anyway, so why not make it now? Why not turn HHH into a Dana White figure?
After all, both men practically look the same these days with their shaved heads and tie-lacking suits.
Rather than using an authority figure for the wrestlers to feud with, WWE could turn HHH into Dana; a man simply concerned with putting on the matches that fans want to see, who then steps out of the spotlight once those matches are made.
If he followed in Dana’s footsteps completely, he’d even be able to bury talent if he had to! This would freshen up the programming massively and would finally rid WWE of the tired authority figure as we’ve known it for the last two decades.