I want to see some evidence of PRIDE pulling in big dough...
There's rumors of financial troubles constantly swirling around DSE, and the former pres. of the company committed suicide a while back due to money issues.
I really don't think they make high margin, but that's just me.
I think Solitary Zen does sum up the general feeling that most Americans would have.
Pro Wrestling does still have a cultural cringe associated with it.
I think when proving yourself as the best MMA promotion, Pride will find it difficult to get traction with a pro wrestling spin on their event.
And they will go with this angle because the 'sportive' aspect of MMA has already been attempted and met with only partial success by UFC.
IT remains to be seen though. I think ultimately the more MMA round the better, I'm just speculating on how the Pride 'product' will sell in the US. I wish them luck.
If UFC keeps showing 5 fights then Pride should have little trouble taking over the US market. Pride needs to change its name first though
It's true that this rumor has surfaced many times, but there are still reasons why it might be true and why PRIDE might pull it off.
For the most part, the UFC is said to have short term or no term contracts with the fighters that they use, so there shouldn't be any legal problem for PRIDE to get UFC fighters, and PRIDE is said to pay their fighters much much more than the UFC.
I suspect that if PRIDE started to air their fights live on widespread Pay-per-view channels rather than delayed by several weeks, the number of viewers that would purchase it would increase.
Personally, I don't think that having another well financed major MMA promotion organization in the US is a bad thing for the fans or the fighters. The more exposure, the better for the sport.