Ben Askren currently fights in ONE FCWill the league be successful? Will it be "good for wrestling"?
As a point of reference, the success rate for non-professional American wrestling leagues is zero. As in, literally not a single wrestling league still exists in the United States. If you want to make money starting a business you'd have a much easier time opening a vegetarian restaurant in Billings, Montana, than you would starting a wrestling league in the contiguous forty-eight.
Why?
Hubris. Each major wrestling league attempted over the past twenty years has thought they could do it better than what was already available to the public and used a hybrid set of rules. Real Pro Wrestling couldn't connect with fans despite having a number of popular stars and top-notch production quality. Agon built their matches into existing events and had live streaming, and still they sit on the wayside of the discussion in either prolonged hibernation or early extinction. Both these leagues had money and with that created new rules, which is akin to creating a new sport.
There are successful wrestling leagues in other countries, in both traditional and Olympic styles. Last week, I watched yokozuna sumo wrestler Hakuh? Sh? -- along with thirty other competitors -- compete at the Ryougoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo. There were 7000+ people on hand to watch him wrestle, which is not bad for a Saturday at 4 p.m., however it's more impressive when you consider that the same number that show up every day for 15 straight days, six times a year. They do so because Sumo it's simple, it's popular worldwide and, objectively, awesome.
Olympic styles enjoy prosperity, too. Bundesliga is wildly successful at marketing freestyle and Greco-Roman in Germany, with wrestlers from around the world being placed on teams and competing in front of rowdy fans. The Iranian Wrestling League features freestyle wrestling and pays out large sums of money to winners from Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and other countries. Attendance usually crests 10k fans per event.
Can't America do the same?
Flo is arguably the wealthiest wrestling entity in America in terms of revenue earned and that's not a small thing. By wading into a professional league they could change the fortunes of professional amateur wrestling in America. Except the current model isn't appreciative of the existing realities and ignores historical precedent, current successful leagues in-play around the world because they are choosing to proceed with a league that is neither American folkstyle nor an Olympic style.
According to their release, the FPL will use "Tirapelle Rules," which were developed by 2001 NCAA champion wrestler Adam Tirapelle.
"The rules bridge the gap between freestyle and folkstyle," Askren wrote to me this week. "I think it allows us to use post-collegiate athletes who don't compete in freestyle as well as MMA fighters."
The main thrust of the rules comes from the distaste for international rules which Askren thinks change too often, and Tirapelle thinks can be improved. By creating a third brand of wrestling the hope is that the league can attract big names after they're done competing in folkstyle and freestyle, namely MMA fighters like Bubba Jenkins and the horde of assistant coaches around the country. From those ranks he believes the new style will create something sustainable.
That won't happen. Most fighters are not in wrestling shape (the indomitable Askren excluded) and won't invest in the proper training to excel in the new style. Serious, attention-grabbing freestyle wrestlers are better served training and competing in overseas events to help their chances come September. Most assistant wrestling coaches are too busy teaching moves, recruiting and filing paperwork to give much time to the strategies necessary to excel in a new sport.
The Tirapelle Rules also ignore the wild popularity of the new freestyle rules and the increased attention being paid to Olympic-style wrestling. Askren says he still believes that freestyle rules are too complicated for Americans to understand and that his style will be easier to follow.
Again, the logic is flawed since the fans they're targeting are behind the Flo paywall. These are lifers and if they watched even some of the recent World Championships must understand the freestyle rules. Askren maintains that they do not.
A league with a third set of rules won't work. The premise of a third set will immediately eliminate the potential for compelling post-World's international matchups, limit the number of current top freestyle names from the USA willing to compete and not provide the benefit of real simplicity (takedown-only), which would appeal to a true general audience.
If the FPL wants to increase the competitiveness of America's freestyle wrestlers, engage with more fans and create a sustainable long-term model then they should move over to freestyle rules. The events would help educate the American audience, attracts big name international wrestlers for major events (Denis Tsargush vs. Jordan Burroughs) and in doing so make Flo a more competitive international presence.
I wish the FPL, Askren and Flo the best of luck and I will likely tune in for a match, but a third style of wrestling in the United States is still not an economically viable option for growing a wrestling league. Unfortunately, this league, like the dozens before it, will unceremoniously fold and fade into history, leaving Americans without a professional outlet for the world's greatest sport.
To your questions ...
Q: What do you think of Conor McGregor? Great fighter and an Irishman on UFC 178!
-- Lance K.
Foley: McGregor is, for the weekend, my least favorite creature on the planet. Anyone seen smacking his or her gum in a wide-jawed mastication for attention should for now on be whacked across the nose with a faucet handle. Also, offenders of the no sunglasses indoors rule should have their eyelids taped shut as middle school girls toss rotten cabbage at their head. He has done both, and incredibly he did them in simulcast.
McGregor is the (new) Great Irish Hope, and though I too enjoy the benefit of Eire-founded surname, I don't know that I've ever wanted to see someone freed of his or her right to consciousness as I do this gel-thwacked Lilliputian.
I know that professing hatred and hyping a fight is precisely what the UFC wants me to do, and that I'm carrying their saliva-spun water also angers me. But I really do want to see this troll's sneer turned downward and his pretentious affected beard speckled with his own self-righteous, self-aggrandizing DNA.
Q: What are the rules regarding the use of headgear in international competition? I've seen video of guys like Ed Ruth and David Taylor wearing it in practice, so it seems odd they don't wear it in competition. Is it prohibited?
-- Bryan R.
Foley: Not prohibited, as you will see some of the USA female wrestlers wearing them in competition.
Headgears are an American anomaly. I've never seen a foreign opponent wear one in practice or competition. That's not to say that stuck somewhere in the Ural Mountains there isn't a self-conscious wrestler who has ordered a pair of Tornados online, but the likelihood is slim.
Headgears are another in the long line of Mom Inventions, the single greatest voice of reform on the planet. Mothers don't like injuries (for good reason) and in protecting their sons from a future of malformed noise-catchers, began insisting on ear coverage in the late 60s and early 70s. They were ubiquitous by the 80s.
As a side note, there is a legend (almost certainly apocryphal) that during the height of the Soviet Union -- when masculine strength was an important aspect of civilized life -- men who didn't wrestle would slam their ears between doors to attain cauliflower. True or not, that the story persists gives you some indication on how Russia and much of the former Soviet Republics view cauliflower ear, and it's not the same as a mother in Palo Alto.
Multimedia Halftime
#MaxPower
Metamorsis 5: Renzo Gracie vs. Kasusari "Gracie Killer" Sakuraba
Q: Where is Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan? We haven't seen much of him since he won the Olympic gold medal in 2012. I thought there was a chance we might see him at the Worlds this year. Has he retired? Injured? Didn't make the team? Do you think you we will see him again in 2015 or 2016?
-- Mike C.
Foley: One of the first Azeri's to win a gold medal for Azerbaijan, Asgarov received an embarrassment of riches upon his return to Baku after the 2012 Olympic Games. Considering his chosen profession and age -- he was 19 when he won gold -- Asgarov was made a wealthy man overnight. The gold and the wealth lead to Azeri idolatry of the young wrestler, both of which also made him content.
Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan won an Olympic gold medal at the age of 19 at the London Games (Photo/Larry Slater)Asgarov did compete at 65 kilos in this year's European Championships, but lost first round to Bulgarian wrestler Boris Novachkov and hasn't been seen since.
Q: Do you know why Reza Yazdani didn't compete in Uzbekistan? Was he the favorite at 97 kilos?
-- Andrew F.
Foley: He was one of the favorites and did compete, losing in the quarterfinals to Samil Erdogan of Turkey, 8-0. Erdogan would later lose to Abdusalam Gadisov in the semifinals and eliminate Yazdani's repechage chances.
Comment of the Week
By Mike C.
Jordan Burroughs is a tremendous competitor and great ambassador for the sport. He's humble and a great champion. It bothers me when U.S. wrestling fans make excuses for him not winning a World title this year. It does a disservice to Burroughs. I realize Burroughs was injured in his first match, but saying he would have won a World title if he would have been one-hundred percent healthy is disrespectful toward Denis Tsargush and the other competitors in the weight class. It's almost as if U.S. wrestling fans can't come to grips with the idea that Tsargush might be a better wrestler than Burroughs.
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