The WWE recently floated the idea of creating a King of the Ring style event to replace the Survivor Series. If they want this latest revival to be more successful than the last then they could do worse than look at the success that British boxing has had with its Prizefighter series. Launched in 2008, the nine Prizefighter tournaments have brought back the unique thrill of one-night, single elimination tournaments to professional boxing. Despite the varying quality of some of the competitors all nine events have been successful with sell out crowds and above-average television viewing figures.
The foundation of this success has been Barry Hearn’s inspired decision to turn the greatest weakness of one-night tournaments into Prizefighter’s unique selling point. Just as it was difficult for wrestlers to work three full-length matches in a King of the Ring event it’s simply unreasonable to ask professional boxers to fight three full-length fights in one night. Naturally this forces each individual match to be shorter but instead of being apologetic Prizefighter aggressively markets its three-round, nine minute matches as an exciting novelty. It stresses that the fan will see a style of boxing that may not be of the highest quality but is non-stop, full contact and all action. This difference in style creates a product that has its own identity and grabs the attention of the casual fan. The WWE could easily mimic this successful marketing tactic by having the matches in its tournament have a time limit of (say) ten minutes and instruct the wrestlers to work at fast pace and in a high impact style.
This links into the success of Prizefighter in creating a clear brand for its tournaments. As many have pointed out, the problem with the old King of the Ring events is that people are unwilling to put money down for a PPV when they don’t know what they’re going to get. Simply advertising the contestants and the possible match-ups in the later rounds often fails because people fear they won’t get to see the hinted at matches. Establishing the event as something that’s worth watching irrespective of the match-ups is crucial. If people enjoyed the last event and trust the tournament’s brand then that gives them a reason to watch, even if they end up missing out on the marquee match ups they expected. A key part of establishing this brand is to not run tournaments on a regular basis. Prizefighter is the only elite level tournament in British boxing, which gives it a sense of specialness that few events can match. If the WWE is serious about running a successful one-night tournament as a PPV event then it would be advisable to stop running so many tournaments or quasi-tournament challenges (i.e. Beat the Clock) when they’ve forgotten to build up a challenger for that month. Another thing that Prizefighter does to establish its brand is to run most of its events from the same venue, so ensuring that live fans build a loyalty with the event and television viewers get the same up-tempo crowd atmosphere while watching.
An obvious key to the success of any tournament is the stakes involved as nobody is going to care about a tournament that isn’t important. In all fairness to the WWE they were always very good at making winning the tournament seem important with pretty much all the winners being elevated in the immediate aftermath and many getting a title shot at Summerslam. What the WWE was less focused on was making winning a quarter-final or a semi-final match seem important, with no fighters being elevated by their success in the earlier stages of the tournament. Given that the only matches that they can promote in advance are the quarter-finals, discounting victories at this stage is incredibly self-defeating. This doesn’t simply undermine the credibility of half the card, but it undermines the credibility of the half that the fans know when they are purchasing the event. Compare this to Prizefighter where even though he lost in the semi-finals, Jason Cook still earned a British Light-Welterweight Title shot against Lenny Daws. Having wrestlers be elevated by being semi-finalists will help stress the importance of all seven matches of the tournament and so help get the fans to care about that crucial quarter-final stage.
The need for a range of storylines going into the tournament is crucial. This is something that the WWE has always been bad at, with King of the Ring often being dominated by only one storyline whether its Bret Hart’s redemption, Owen Hart’s revenge or Brock Lesnar’s rise (of course these tournaments were far superior to the likes of 1998 or 1999 where there was simply no storyline whatsoever). In a PPV dominated by the seven tournament matches, if the tournament only has one story then it’s a PPV that only has one storyline (two if there’s a title match on the undercard) as opposed to the seven or eight that a normal PPV has. Prizefighter shows that it’s possible to give a tournament a number of storylines that can generate headlines and grabs fans’ attention. For starters tournaments are a perfect way to bring back fighters that have fallen on hard times or lapsed into inactivity – with the past two Prizefighters seeing the likes of Gavin Rees, Audley Harrison and Jason Cook coming back from long absences. For the WWE a tournament would give them the perfect chance to bring back veterans like Rob Van Dam or Ricky Steamboat for one night only in meaningful matches that not only have a marketable dynamic but will require the minimum of effort to set up. It’s also a great way to elevate new stars with the story of a young and hungry fighter trying to run the table having a natural resonance with all combat sport fans. And of course, it never hurts to book in a few money matches to spice up the tournament (unless you’re Vince Russo in 1999 where you have a Final Four that has three money matches but you strive to book the three penniless ones).
In many ways the WWE event that most follows the successful marketing techniques that Prizefighter has adopted is not the old King of the Ring events but the Royal Rumble. It’s a match that is wrestled in a completely abnormal style and is kept as a rare event. Not only is the overall winner elevated but key performances and moments in the rest of the match are highlighted afterwards. But above all no one dismisses the Royal Rumble on the basis that a third of the PPV is being taken up with a match where fans won’t know what they’re going to get – the Royal Rumble has a clear brand of its own, irrespective of the confrontations that take place during the match or who happens to end up as the winner.
To get a one night, single elimination tournament to that level is the challenge that awaits the WWE if they try to resurrect the tournament concept. While such events have struggled to draw either PPV buys or television ratings in recent years the WWE could have a real winner on their hands if they learn from the successful marketing techniques used to promote events such as Prizefighter. After all, with the dim view that athletic commissions hold on such events, one night tournaments are one of the few sporting concepts that professional wrestling can do that’s currently off limits to boxing or mixed martial arts in North America.
Send us a news tip: newstips@wrestlingobserver.com
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news from this site or from our newsletters, please include a link to www.wrestlingobserver.com
For the most in-depth and detailed news and analysis on pro-wrestling and MMA, always turn to Wrestlingobserver.com/Figure Four Weekly Online, the #1 website of its kind on the Internet. Members receive online access to both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly newsletters and growing archives, Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer three times per week, the popular Bryan and Vinny Show twice per week, additional radio shows including Figure Four Daily with Alvarez, Mike Coughlin's Five Star Radio, the Dr. Keith Lipinski Show, The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare, Tough Talk and the Karl Stern Wrestling History Show, the infamous BOARD, and more! Members also have full access to the thousands of hours of audio in our radio show archives which date back to 2005. For your convenience, we offer secure online payments using your VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover card or PayPal account. Don't miss out on the fun, sign up now! Don\'t miss out on the fun, sign up now!
Want full access? QUICK AND EASY $10.99 SIGNUP!
