RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Sports and Wrestling 20 million dollar payday for Mayweather at WrestleMania?

Mayweather to try wrasslin' as part of WWE's WrestleMania
The Associated PressPublished: February 26, 2008



LOS ANGELES: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a champion boxer and has tested his moves on "Dancing With the Stars." Now the man many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is preparing to drop the gloves and do some wrasslin.'

A $20 million payday awaits the undefeated WBC welterweight champion when he takes on Big Show as part of WWE's "WrestleMania XXIV" at Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on March 30.

"It's entertainment. You have a chance to just be you and do what you want to do," Mayweather said Monday after a chaotic Staples Center event that masqueraded as a news conference.

The boxer nicknamed "Money" clearly likes the way WWE does business.

"Wrestling takes care of business right on the spot," Mayweather said. "Whatever they say they're going to do, they do it right on the spot. There's no waiting three, four, five months. Quick results, quick money. Quick big money, too."


His manager Leonard Ellerbee and WWE executive Shane McMahon confirmed Mayweather's eight-figure payday for the outdoor match to be shown on live on pay-per-view.

Mayweather incited the couple hundred of already hyped fans at Staples Center by whipping out a thick wad of cash and repeatedly tossing $100, $50 and $20 bills into the crowd that had nearly as many women as men.

A mad scramble ensued, with a light pole nearly getting knocked over and two small children caught in the chaos. One lucky man emerged from the pileup clutching six $100 bills.

Mayweather played to the frenzied crowd after appearing from behind a black curtain wearing a New York Yankees jacket and cap. Fans shouted insults and the name of hometown hero Oscar De La Hoya at Mayweather.

"I run Vegas and I run L.A. and I will run the WWE," he boasted.

At 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, Mayweather gives up big numbers to the bald Big Show, who stands 7-feet and weighs 430.

"I weigh three times as much as he does," Big Show crowed. "It's not fair, but I'm a businessman and I see an opportunity for business."

Then he picked up the wooden podium and tossed it to the floor, where it splintered and the attached two mics lay like broken sticks. Clearly, Staples Center officials hadn't expected the move.

Mayweather hopped onto a chair and exchanged glares with Big Show while WWE regulars Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H and Edge looked on, witnessing a newcomer who clearly understands the theatrics of modern-day wrestling.

"WWE is the biggest it gets," Mayweather said. "This is going to be an event like none other."

Ellerbee scoffed that hard-core boxing fans won't take Mayweather seriously after his WWE antics.

"After March 30, when Floyd goes out and takes care of his business at WrestleMania, he's still going to be the best fighter in the world and the face of boxing," he said. "Tell me what changes about that? Nothing changes."

The wrestling gig is another part of Ellerbee's carefully crafted plan to expand Mayweather's fan base.

"Either I'm going to be a genius with this or I'm the biggest idiot," he said. "Boxers have such a short window of opportunity. He can't become any bigger in boxing."

That's why Ellerbee snagged Mayweather a spot on ABC's reality hit "Dancing With the Stars." Mayweather didn't win the disco ball trophy, but he wasn't the first one voted off, either.

"It crossed him over and took him into the households of many middle-aged Middle Americans and turned him into a mainstream superstar," Ellerbee said. "Now when Floyd goes into the grocery store, the first thing 65-year-old ladies say is, 'You're Floyd from 'Dancing With the Stars.'"

Mayweather plans to train with WWE Latino star Ray Mysterio, who wears a mask on his face.

"I'm outside the box," he said, lapsing into the third person. "Floyd Mayweather is not just a fighter, he's an entertainer. That's what the world must know."

But he hasn't forgotten his night job.

Mayweather alluded to a possible rematch with De La Hoya in September. De La Hoya lost a split decision in their last bout May 5.

WWE pins down distrib deal at Fox
Studio gets first-look at wrestler pics

By MARC GRASER

World Wrestling Entertainment has found a tag-team partner in 20th Century Fox, inking a first-look deal that gives the studio rights to distrib pics headlined by the company's pro wrestlers.

Beginning next year, WWE Films plans to develop, finance and produce at least one theatrical release and up to four direct-to-video titles annually, with Fox receiving a distribution fee should it release the pics in theaters, on homevid or digitally. It's similar to the pact comicbook giant Marvel Entertainment has with Paramount and Universal on the upcoming "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk."

Going forward, though, WWE will focus on making movies across all genres that appeal to a broader audience and land a PG-13 rating, vs. the hard R it had been going after with its previous pics.

"We had to refocus where we wanted to go," said Michael Lake, prexy of WWE Films, a former Village Roadshow exec who took the post in October, and quickly began reworking the company's development slate. "There's a strong audience base that is ready for movies that star our guys. A lot of our audience is in the PG-13 area."

First pic out of the multi-year deal with Fox is "12 Rounds," an actioner toplined by John Cena that bows in 2009 and will be released under the Fox Atomic label. Production on the pic, with Renny Harlin at the helm, begins this month in New Orleans.

WWE is looking to spend around $20 million for theatrical releases while direct-to-DVD titles would be made for around $3 million to $5 million.

The wrestling org has had mixed success since forming its film division in 2002, releasing three pics, "See No Evil," featuring Glen "Kane" Jacobs; "The Marine," also with Cena; and "The Condemned," with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Fox distribbed "The Marine" in 2006, WWE's biggest earner to date, that collected $22 million at the worldwide box office. Lionsgate handled the other two releases. While ticket sales were less than expected, the pics performed well on homevid, which has proved a lucrative revenue generator for the company.

Fox sparked at the chance to work with WWE on "12 Rounds" because the Fox Atomic label is essentially going after the same young male demo that WWE has been able to attract to its live events, pay-per-view broadcasts, TV shows and DVDs.

The Fox Atomic banner won't necessarily release each WWE pic.

Either way, the films would be promoted across WWE's various properties, putting them in front of millions of potential moviegoers.

"This partnership allows Fox to capitalize on this global audience and the WWE brand's continued expansion into the filmed entertainment medium," said Tom Siegrist, senior VP of production for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

WWE's hoping to use the pics to raise the profile of its stable of stars and entertain existing fans, while attracting new auds and boost its bottom line.

The film deal comes as the WWE finds itself facing increased competish from mixed martial arts and leagues like the Ultimate Fighting Championship that are winning over wrestling's fanbase.

WWE enjoyed a surge in popularity with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who succesfully made the transtion from the ring to the bigscreen.

"There's a real depth of talent we can use," Lake said. "These guys are action stars anyway. We want to fashion movies to fit their personalities. We've got to establish these guys not to our audience so much but to the other moviegoing audience, so that they cross over."

I should've held out for at least TWO sandwiches!

-Butterbean

Floyd Mayweather's recent plunge into the world of professional wrestling was not an immediate headline-grabber, but when a news conference officially announced his March 30 appearance at Wrestlemania XXIV -- and, more specifically, his $20 million paycheck -- the latest boxer vs. wrestler farce finally received some coverage.

The payday is undoubtedly an exaggeration. WWE head Vince McMahon did not build an empire by offering people $20 million for a one-time appearance. (Although that could explain why Pete Rose kept coming back to get dropped on his head for several "'manias" in a row.)

In fact, some wrestling insiders guess Mayweather's take will be closer to $1 million.

Still, various news outlets, including some reputable ones that should've known better, reported it as fact.

Chalk one up for Floyd and Vince.

Whether the paycheck is real or not, the story illustrates the surprising turnaround of Mayweather's career. Two years ago, he was literally weeping after beating Carlos Baldomir because he felt unappreciated; now, he's part of an annual pop culture event that attracts approximately a million viewers.

The story also shows how far the wrestling business has come. Either wrestling has raised its profile, or the mainstream has lowered its standards because "sports entertainment" is no longer the nadir of show biz.

For Mayweather, Wrestlemania could mean that he has finally made it. But for some us, there is only a sense of "Here we go again."

Did we not learn anything in 1976 when Muhammad Ali met Japanese wrestler, Antonio Inoki?

Unable to agree on a plot line, Ali and Inoki were boring together.

Antonio Inoki
Ali, left, received over $6 million to wrestle Japanese star Inoki.
"Fighting Inoki was an incredibly stupid act," Ali's physician, Dr. Ferdi Pacheco, told Ali biographer Thomas Hauser. "To subject a legendary fighter to a carnival atmosphere like that was wrong."

Ali ended up in a hospital with blood clots in his legs from Inoki's kicks.

A far more entertaining a spectacle was when, in order to hype the Inoki bout, Ali squared off with rotund wrestling journeyman Gorilla Monsoon, who hoisted Ali in the air and plunked him onto the canvas. To this day, some still maintain that Monsoon's airplane spin was legit.

New York Times columnist Red Smith understood Ali's wrestling venture, writing that, after all, "Boxing is show business … maybe it's unrealistic to expect more of a champion than a succession of pratfalls on the burlesque circuit. Nevertheless, some do mourn for the Sweet Science."

Nine years later, Ali appeared at the first Wrestlemania as a referee.

Andre the Giant, Chuck Wepner
Mayweather isn't the first boxer to meet a giant in a WWE event. In 1976, Wepner, right, wrestled Andre the Giant in New York City.
Fighters have been participating in wrestling shows since the late 1890s when Bob Fitzsimmons horsed around with European wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. Boxing promoters often ran wrestling shows along with boxing -- McMahon's father did exactly that -- and customers wondered if boxers could beat wrestlers, or vice versa. The pugs and grapplers would get together to take our money and keep us wondering.

The McMahon brain trust whipped up an angle in which Mayweather would face WWE's resident dinosaur, Paul "The Big Show" Wight. But if the McMahons are counting on the boxing audience to add significant viewers to Wrestlemania XXIV, they'll need to put De La Hoya in the ring, too. Mayweather's 2007 bout with Oscar De La Hoya drew a record 2.15 million viewers. Mayweather didn't draw those numbers by himself, and if De La Hoya isn't interested, the Golden Boy should note that greater fighters than he have done it.

"There just can't be any bigger thrill than belting a wrestler," Jack Dempsey told a Pennsylvania newspaper in 1940. "You can really tee off on those babies."

Retired from boxing, Dempsey earned pocket money by refereeing wrestling bouts. When a brute named Billy Edwards tore Dempsey's shirt in January 1931, the ex-champion cracked him on the jaw. Soon, Dempsey was popping wrestlers all over America. Dempsey worked in wrestling well into his 50s.

To his dying day, Dempsey insisted the wrestlers he faced were really gunning for him, but he never worried. "They can't punch a lick," he said.

But after a 1940 mixed match with Detroit wildman Bull Curry, Dempsey left the ring with a puffed ear and a bruised rib. The Chicago Tribune's Stewart Owen wrote that seeing Dempsey in a wrestling ring, sitting between rounds on an upturned milk crate, was like seeing the great horse, Man O' War, "hitched to a garbage wagon."

Newsweek columnist John Lardner wrote, "Mr. Curry held Jack in a headlock until the great man's face turned mauve."

After Dempsey "knocked out" Curry, he explained to Lardner his motivation: "To be very frank with you, boy, I am doing it for the dough."

Still, Dempsey's rough image was a good fit for wrestling, and he enjoyed the action.

When Joe Louis tried wrestling, there was no joy at all. Louis donned the tights because he was in deep debt with the U.S. Government.

George McLeod, an Arizona sportswriter, recalled Louis' wrestling days for a 1961 article: "He must have weighed 275 pounds; he couldn't move his feet in the ring. He couldn't grasp the tactics of show sport. He was not an entertainer in the wrestling sense and he knew it."

The Brown Bomber's mat career ended when a clumsy grappler landed heavily on top of him, causing serious damage to Louis' heart. Doctors ordered Louis to find a new line of work.

Floyd Mayweather
Would McMahon let the monstrous Big Show lose to a 147-pound boxer?
Unlike most fighters who appear on wrestling shows, Mayweather is wealthy and in his prime, which provides some intrigue: a fighter in Mayweather's position wouldn't allow himself to be humiliated, and McMahon wouldn't allow his gargantuan star to lose to a 147-pound boxer.

So what should we expect?

The bet here is that Mayweather becomes a "good guy" by Wrestlemania XXIV and, with some help from other wrestlers, topples the giant Wight.

But does it matter?

If boxing is, as Jimmy Cannon called it, "the red light district of sports," what does that make wrestling? The week Mayweather made his debut in WWE, McMahon was on the same program spanking a dwarf with a belt.

"If ESPN is doing a story on it, then WWE has already accomplished what they wanted to do," said Stu Saks, publisher of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. "You won't see Mayweather take any bumps. His people were worried he'd get hurt on 'Dancing With The Stars,' so he's definitely not getting hurt on March 30. But he has piqued your interest; that's all they wanted. They duped the world again."

Boxers like Tony Galento, Primo Carnera, Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Ali, Chuck Wepner, Leon Spinks, Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson, Butterbean and Evander Holyfield all took their turn in a wrestling ring.

Mayweather may not be entering the WWE in the same sorry state they were in, but when it's all said and done, he will have something in common with those other fighters: Win or lose, his Wrestlemania gig won't be remembered as a high point in his career.

Source: PWInsider

The brawl that occurred at the end of the Big Show, Floyd Mayweather weigh in segment on Raw last night, erupted in to a full blown shoot according to several sources.

The scheduled fight between wrestlers and the boxing crew went sour when Mayweather's boys went into business for themselves and tried to legitimately show their toughness to the wrestlers.

Although camera shots were poor, the WWE stars gave back to the posse and one wrestler commented "they got their asses handed to them." The company was said to be 10 seconds from a legitimate breakdown happening on live TV.

Shane McMahon even got knocked down in the commotion, which caused some tension backstage.

Although it was basically a shoot, nobody is holding grudges and it was reportedly all a spirit of the moment thing

Oh, my God! Did you see Raw? Melina's gonna get cunt slapped one day for stealing ODB's line about being more than just a pretty face! That would be a Wrestlemania moment! She'd fuck her face up so bad that even the Boogeyman wouldn't spit-feed her any worms! *jumps up and down*