The World Wrestling Federation back in 1998 was a very odd place, which is a fair comment when you look back at some of the utterly baffling things the company got away with in the Attitude Era. One of those aforementioned acts was the Brawl for All tournament, which was a mixed martial arts/boxing based event in which Superstars took place in legitimate fights.
It was a single elimination type of competition with a whole host of mid-carders taking part, and the unpredictability of the whole thing was expected to enthral members of the WWE Universe. Unfortunately, they reacted extremely negatively to the whole thing, with Bart Gunn surprising everyone to win the event before being knocked out at WrestleMania by Butterbean as a result.
It was odd, it was confusing and it was baffling - but above all else it was fun. Nobody had really seen anything like it in the world of professional wrestling before, which might be why it was such a flop, as even WWE itself didn't know what to expect out of the whole thing. Either way, it didn't work out quite the way they imagined and as a result, it was never done again.
Because of this, we're here to run down five reasons why WWE should indeed do another Brawl for All tournament.
#1 Unique
Say what you will about the whole tournament but there's nothing quite like it in the world of professional wrestling. TNA attempted something vaguely similar with the Impact Grand Championship but it pales in comparison to the Brawl for All, simply because nobody else has the grapefruits to try it. The rules and the nature of the competition are truly fascinating.
Plus, that's exactly what WWE fans have been claiming they want - new, unique and different things on a weekly basis. Sure you'd get a string of doubters and haters, but it's a while now since the company stuck their neck out on the line for this. It may not be as big or important as the WWE Network, but it'd certainly get people talking.
Speaking of which, let's talk about the relevance of the whole thing.
#2 Relevant
The world of mixed martial arts and the UFC, in particular, is bigger than ever right now, with people from every corner of the globe gathering to watch the events on a weekly basis. Whether you believe that to be because of Conor McGregor or not, there's no denying that the UFC is about as relevant as a sporting promotion could hope to be in the modern day.
So with that in mind, why not capitalise on the hype?
After all, the WWE is renowned for selling their souls to the devil in exchange for profit and ratings, so there's nothing new about this procedure. Sure many may not like it, but so long as you ensure that the segments don't last too long in comparison to the wrestling, everything should work out alright.
Onto a topic which always creates debate.
#3 PG criticism
We may indeed be slowly moving away from the PG era, but that doesn't negate the fact that legions of hardcore fans still despise the product simply due to those two letters. No matter how often WWE will try to push the boundaries, they'll always go back to the PG criticism, stating that it's holding the company down and that they need to return to the ways of the Attitude Era.
As annoying as that may be, bringing back the Brawl for All tournament could go a long way in shutting them all up for good. It adds a huge sense of realism to the product and will likely remove all doubt that WWE is no longer in an era of PG-related content and even if it continues down that road, the BFA will be a good distraction.
Moving on to the fans that a lot of people hate.
#4 Casual fans
Casual fans are the ones who love to watch WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and the occasional SummerSlam, but they won't tend to watch Raw and SmackDown Live on a weekly basis. They'll fondly remember the old days, whilst also questioning why people like the newer talent and as frustrating as that can be, casual fans provide a big market for Vince McMahon when it comes to the most profitable shows of the year.
So why not bring a whole host of them in with a tournament like this?
The odds are that fans of this nature will also watch the UFC, and even if they don't, there's a natural attraction to the idea of two guys beating the hell out of one another. Whilst that doesn't say much for us as a race, it does mean money, which has always been one of Vince's main sources of motivation.
We conclude with a point we've raised quite a few times in the past.
#5 Potential crossover
Right now, the working relationship between WWE and UFC seems about as solid as we could hope for it to be. With the Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar appearances in the last few years, there's obviously some kind of communication on both ends, which can only be a good thing given how popular both products are in the modern day.
However, we could ramp it up to the next level by having the UFC sponsor the Brawl for All tournament in some way, shape or form. It would offer both companies great publicity and would likely draw a lot more money in for the WWE because let's face it - the MMA fanbase is growing with each passing day.
Out of all the reasons to do the tournament, this could be the most important of all.
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