McMahon vs. Sports: Round 2

We've talked previously in this space about the time that an arena in Denver was double-booked, with both a WWE show and an NBA playoff game happening at the same time. That issue was eventually worked out, with McMahon taking his boys to Los Angeles and having a nice little time in the public eye for about a week. And we, for the most part, agreed with him on that issue.

Now, however, we have another instance of WWE having to change their plans on account of the sports world. The annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view was scheduled for January 24th, 2010. Seeing as how it's the second most important show of the year (we suppose an argument could be made for SummerSlam, so maybe it's a 2-a and 2-b situation), it seems like nothing could really mess with that, right?

Wrong.

Apparently there's something called the NFL. We've heard of it.

Like this, but with an "N."

Within the NFL, there's these things called "conferences." Kind of like wrestling promotions, each with their owner players and their own champions. Those "conference champions" are decided during games called, interestingly enough, in things call "conference championship games." We hope you're still with us.

So these games fall this year on the same date planned for the Royal Rumble, which is to be held in the city of Atlanta. Doing a little research, we've discovered an NFL team by the name of the Atlanta Falcons. This situation is a little different than the previous sports-related dispute, in that:

1. WWE is not holding their show in the Falcons' stadium.
2. Atlanta isn't going to the conference finals.

The uniform of the Atlanta Falcons

Really, this thing was all about viewership, so WWE could maximize that key demographic that watches both football and professional wrestling: the 18-35 year-old, Dominos pizza-eating Busch light drinker who weighs at least 250 pounds. Vince didn't want to have to compete with two NFL games on the same night, and we understand that. However, we can't help but wonder about the stunts he would have pulled if that happened.

For instance, Vince could pitch a poorly-cast fake Roger Goodell the idea of a brand new football league. When the fake Goodell balks at the idea, Stone Cold Steve Austin comes down and stuns he and Vince both and then drinks a lot of beer.


There could be a tag match with the faces dressed up as the Atlanta Falcons and the heels as division rival Carolina Panthers. And then a team from the AFC could come in and beat them both.

And of course, there could be a dog collar match. It is Atlanta, after all.

So Vince, we beg you to reconsider. We know you loved all that time on ESPN, anyway.