mteub, you don't think that it would be unscrupulous/dirty for WWE to pay him to not fulfill a contractual obligation without even the courtesy of a phone call? That's warped.
I would guess that Goldberg's decision was based primarily on the following factors: 1) a fundamental distrust for WWE/McMahon; 2) a fear of wrecking his CV as a credible sports announcer; 3) a vague embarrassment about being associated with WWE; 4) onerous travel schedule; 5) exclusivity clause makes him quit a lot of cool gigs.
I would bet that any financial inducement on the part of the UFC was not eye-popping and was not the primary driver. Remember, in terms of compensation, it's not UFC vs. WWE, it's WWE vs. all his other gigs.
This flies in the face of Lucious Larry & Barrister's claim that McMahon is set to buy UFC from Zuffa in the next couple weeks. If that was so than this wouldn't make any sense at all.
"due to the fact that Ross has Bell's Palsy and is not as physically "attractive" as WWE would like"
Ross has had Bell's Palsy for years and has been unattractive for ever. This does not make sense as the rationale.
...WWE was ready and willing to pay Mike Goldberg a one-time bonus in the high five-figures (possibly even as much as $100,000) simply for the act of no-showing the UFC event without notice..."
Assuming that Goldberg had a contract with UFC, this is prima facie tortious interference with a contract.. a strategy like this would carry significant legal exposure. I dunno...
sounds reasoning Barrister, but such hubris and pettiness have been McMahon's stock in trade for decades. I don't guess that lawsuit would be easily explained at the shareholders meeting, though.
Barrister, separate sources confirmed the whole story to both the Observer and to MMAWeekly (with MMAWeekly having the exclusive on WWE offering Goldberg five-figures extra to backstab the UFC). If you don't think Vince McMahon would do something like that, then you know nothing about Vince McMahon.
Goldie was on a local sports talk station here today in Minneapolis. I missed the beginning of the interview, he didn't go into details about the offer just that it was a large sum of money. He did state that he was worried about how being connected with the WWE would effect his credibility as a sports announcer. He said ultimatley his loyalty to the UFC and love for MMA was a huge factor. He also makes money announcing College Football. I know we miss him here as the Wild Announcer. Props to Goldie!!!!!
Goldie just gained major respect in my eyes. At least he works for an organization that doesn't revolve around script writers and how much mic time they can get their rastlers between matches.
Maybe Vince should send some of his talent into the UFC and see what real fights are all about. I'd pay to see someone like Angle try his toe hold...I'm sorry, ankle lock on a real fighter and see what happens.
"the ufc should sue mcmahon for tortious interference with business practices...if goldy was under contract to perform the ufc--its not my area of law--but seems to be an open and shut case..."
Actually, if he was under contract the scenario would be tortious interference with contract. I'm probably wrong (lol), but to me this kind of stuff reminds me of all the rumors that used to get stirred up (probably from the inside) between the WWF and WCW... and we know how that turned out.
When the WWE bought WCW no one new about it till WCW went live and Shane O' MAC was on air hosting the show. Sounds like Vince has a history of trying to make examples of others he views as a threat.
"actually, i just looked it up and i guess the technical term is "tortious interference with business relations"...so i guess we were both wrong"
No, just you (j/k). Actually, "tortious interference with business relations" is a separate cause of action in most states (which does not require the existence of a contract).
It's a proven fact that Vince takes advantage of wrestlers all the time. He signs them (and basically makes them sign there life away because he is the only game in town). Then once they make it big, he owns there asses. For example, "The Rock" no longer really wrestles and doesn't really need the WWE anymore right. He has starred in a number of movies and now that is his primary source of income. Well the only way "The Rock" can star in any movies and use his nickname (which everyone knows him as) is for Vince to be made an executive producer and therefore a cut of the movies profit. Maybe he is a good business man but that does not make him less of an asshole.
Its funny but the real props go to the WWE.Lets face it UFC is small time compared to WWE.That is why Macahon is as rich as he is.This stuff happens in everyday corpurate america.So if the UFC thinks they can compete with Vince well they should consider the following:
Vince is a BILLIONAIRE vs UFC FEW MILLION.
WWE is a household name vs UFC isnt
WWE HAS its decades of legends and followers VS UFC is fairly new.
WWE has its VERY BIG CORPURATE sponsors vs UFC NOT may if any apart from RIGHT GAURD"
Finaly the most important one is Vince Beat another billionaire a few years ago,Rememeber yes TED TUNER he owned WCW vs the UFC they will eventually have to sell
The truth hurts, kind of.
The UFC, and the WWE are two different programs.
One is real, and one is scripted.
One one hand Vince is a Billioniare, and he can buy Dana White's ass, and sell him faster than Whitey used to sell Kuunta Kinte. However, why would he want to?Like said before, the WWE product is established, and has been for almost a century. There are household names coming out of the woodwork, but its all just entertainment The UFC is a real life sport, and its doing its best despite what everyone may say about Dana, or how he runs his business. It is growing, and WE are watching.
And honestly the only thing Vince can steal, or recruit from UFC are announcers, or maybe Ken Shamrock. I can't see any of the UFC talent porting over to the WWE, and being marketable.
Anyway, did Vince really think that Goldberg defecting over the the WWE would make THAT much of a difference. Its not like we were all going to be flooding the boards about it for months to come.
Its Mike Goldberg for crying out loud. Not Kimbo Slice.
Now that would make some noise.