Yes, it is true. Fox Sports has been looking into starting a professional wrestling group. In the past, they have been admant about letting everyone know that they do not “do” professional wrestling. Well, I talked to a friend of mine who somewhat knows Rupert Murdoch’s associates and it comes about that after Monday night wrestling pulled in 6.9 ratings for two straight weeks, he is seriously considering starting a promotion. While it may be in his best interest to just acquire the services of ECW (WWF is tied to USA for three years and WCW will never leave TNT), there is a lot in starting a promotion.
First, Murdoch would have to get himself some good wrestlers. There are a lot of independent wrestlers who should be in the big two, but aren’t for various reasons. The leading free agents, Sid, Yokozuna, and Ahmed Johnson are the only forseeable “big men” that would join any such company (Murdoch can buy them up). However, one should remember that CBS tried to help out the failing AWF a few years ago and they lost money on that.
After getting some good wrestlers, there would have to be a whole production crew to the likes that I can’t even get into here for lack of space. While paying these guys, there would also be bookers that would be “booking” the matches. While there is a lot of money to be spent here, the benefits may be an overall plus for Fox Sports.
The easiest forseeable way that Rupert can enter the wrestling world with his own Monday night program (he actually wants to run five half hour shows each week which I’ll get into in a minute) and actually have a chance of winning the ratings battle with is by acquiring the services of the ECW. But, due to a fear of extreme violence, this will probably not happen.
Finally, the last thing that poses somewhat of a problem for this new wrestling group (or any national wrestling group) is the length of the show. A half hour wrestling show will attract little to no viewers. Everyone knows that. How can anyone live with thirty minutes of wrestling? Granted that it would be an everyday occurance, no one could fit much into a thirty minute program. Maybe one interview, two matches, and an angle-starter. That’s about it.
Rupert had better think long hard before he decides to jump into a business of which he has little knowledge about.
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