If it wasn't obvious before, it is now: Dana White idolizes Vince McMahon and loves to borrow from his playbook. According to Sherdog, he's about to lift one of the classics, as the planned UFC Ultimate Fight Night card on Spike TV that will oppose Strike Force's CBS special from Nashville on April 17th may take place in...Nashville.
Back in the late '80s and early '80s, running against major shows from Jim Crockett Promotions and then (after JCP was bought by Turner Broadcasting) World Championship Wrestling was something that McMahon had down to a science. The WWF would get prime tenant status for wrestling in major arenas, forcing JCP/WCW to run in a smaller or less desirable building.
For example:
- In the Chicago area, the WWF would get the Rosemont Horizon while JCP would get the UIC Pavillion.
- In Philadelphia, the WWF would get the Spectrum (where they had been running for a long time) and JCP would get the Civic Center.
- In the New York metro area, the WWF had an exclusive with Madison Square Garden, so JCP and WCW were stuck either going to the Meadowlands or Nassau Coliseum in the suburbs or getting creative and running the 5,000 seat theater in the MSG complex.
This would often lead to both promotions running the same city in the same day/night, though sometimes, especially in Philly, both would draw great crowds.
As PPV events became more important, McMahon got more creative. The night before a WCW PPV event, the WWF would run a house show in the same city. If it was possible, they'd use the same arena. These shows would run incredibly long so as to hurt the walk-up ticket sales and keep the fans from getting lively at the PPV event, giving the impression of a dead show. If the shows were in the same building, then the WCW crew would be delayed in setting up the building.
What're the odds that Dana's next big move is to demand a higher percentage of PPV revenue from In Demand, TVN, DirecTV, and Dish Network?