Don’t be at all surprised to see Conor McGregor in a WWE ring come 2017.
Rumours have circled for over a year now that he was on the radar of the world’s preeminent professional wrestling organisation and never has McGregor’s drawing power been at such a high.
‘The Notorious’ made UFC history last weekend when he added the lightweight title to the featherweight crown he held since unifying the championship against Jose Aldo.
He’s quite simply the biggest star ever to pull on a UFC-branded glove and, apparently, representatives from the WWE were present at Madison Square Garden to witness McGregor’s most recent bout of brilliance in the Octagon at the expense of Eddie Alvarez.
Veteran pro-wrestling and MMA journalist Dave Meltzer, who has written about both realms for decades and also lectures on the business aspects of both, has revealed that the early stages of talks are underway to get him signed up for an appearance at WrestleMania 33, in spite of the fact that he’s stirred up plenty of bitterness with his comments on the WWE roster.
Conor McGregor's "apology" to WWE fans only winds them up even more https://t.co/xbp6QiVt80
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 7, 2016
Meltzer had the below to say when asked about the interest that those in Stamford, Connecticut have in the UFC’s most reliable cash-cow.
Reddit user MagnumPear transcribed what Meltzer said on his show F4Wonline and it makes for interesting reading.
“Triple H wants him, if you were in the crowd you’d want him too. There is no deal right now, but as far as I know is it being talked about? Absolutely. Probably a Wrestlemania appearance (April). I can’t see him learning the wrestling thing… I mean why would he? They can’t pay him $40m a year, but they can pay him for a Wrestlemania appearance.
“There would be a lot of locker room resentment because of it, but the guy is a star. He insulted their business, but the WWE guys of all people should know he is a worker like them and not gotten so mad about it. But I don’t see that being a hold up to it, I think they’ll make him an offer
“But it will take a lot of money. He ain’t gonna sell himself short, that’s for darn sure. It might actually be a bargaining chip the UFC would have over him, since they would have to approve it. But they very much want to work with WWE, that has been clear for a while now. But they still have to work out a financial deal, they’re not gonna just give Conor to them because they’re nice guys.
“Conor’s gonna want to get paid a lot, the UFC is gonna want to be paid a lot, and Wrestlemania doesn’t generate the money that it used to. But they could still pay him ~$2m. They already have Shaquille O’Neal booked for Wrestlemania and you don’t want it to be overkill either, but Conor is so hot right now it would probably be the right move.”
