Josh Barnett explains why Bloodsport is ending & won’t return under another name
After making the surprise announcement Friday that he was ending his Bloodsport series, Josh Barnett went into further details as to why, confirming that it’s not a hiatus and is “closed unless something is done to get us where we need to go.”
Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show Monday, Barnett said there was no tragedy or bad thing that caused him to make the decision but that in order to go forward with his vision, Bloodsport would need more capital, more employees and an office — more than an indie promotion and a lot less than WWE or AEW to be fully realized for how he views it.
“For me, Bloodsport had an evolution of where it was trying to get to, and we’re just not there—we’re not close. For me, it was better to end it now than to keep going and, quite possibly, diminish what the product is,” he said.
He said he had been considering the shutdown for quite sometime and something he had thought “very deeply and heavily about.” He had looked at sponsors “and some outside elements to help with building toward the ultimate example is. We weren’t able to do it,” he said, joking about a nice pitch deck he made for that effort.
“I had a timeline and we didn’t meet those goals,” he said.
He said when he made the announcement, he wasn’t trying to make a big deal out of it and didn’t want it to come off as a gimmick or to be insincere. He admitted to conflicting feelings in his own heart about whether that was going to be the case or not, but “I feel like I made the right choice.”
Asked if Bloodsport could go on without him, he shut that down quickly, saying it wouldn’t be revived under any other name, noting “It’s my show, my concept.”
He also said WWE had no influence in how their talent is booking on his shows and that both Paul Levesque and Nick Khan want their talent to get better and to get reps. He said he was backstage for Saturday’s WrestleMania 42 card.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.