When I heard about Conor McGregor’s initial rant against WWE performers during the pre-UFC 202 media call recently, the first thing I thought was that he was saying those things intentionally in an effort to land a WWE appearance at a big show like Wrestlemania similar to Ronda Rousey last year. When he followed up on those comments with a second rant during a media day at his gym the following week, it confirmed my opinion.
I’ll say it straight up – I think Conor McGregor is a WWE fan. I think that in reality he doesn’t have negative feelings about the WWE talent roster, and was simply trying to ruffle some feathers and drum up interest in a crossover appearance -- much like how he “cuts promos” on his UFC opponents with regularity in an effort to maximize PPV buys. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if part of WWE’s agreement with UFC in the Brock Lesnar/UFC 200 deal was to get a fighter like McGregor to appear on a future WWE event.
Upon entering the cage last Saturday night at UFC 202, McGregor did his best Vince McMahon impression as he strutted around the cage just like how the WWE boss walks down the aisle on Monday Night Raw. And just in case you think that that’s coincidence, check out a video that Sean Ross Sapp posted on the site that shows McGregor prior to another fight not only doing the same walk, but also singing McMahon’s “No Chance” entrance music.
Furthermore, it has been said quietly now for a couple of years that McGregor created his UFC persona by studying and emulating the gimmick of the legendary Ric Flair. The expensive suits, the sunglasses, the fancy cars, the pretty girl on his arm, all characteristics of the “Nature Boy”. In fact, during McGregor’s second rant as part of his media day, he referred to Flair as a legend even as he trash-talked other performers such as John Cena.
Speaking of Cena, McGregor sure seemed to know a lot about him, making reference to his orange shirts and “you can’t see me” catchphrase. Certainly those are details you probably wouldn’t know unless you’ve checked out WWE programming on occasion.
And on top of everything else, while McGregor had no problem ripping on WWE talent and calling them “dweebs”, he referred to the higher-ups in the company like McMahon and Triple H as “dons” which is a reference to the top guy in an organized crime family. He made sure to be complimentary to the guys that would sign his paychecks should a deal be brokered.
Even though I thought that McGregor performed well on Saturday night and was admittedly surprised by his effort, I’ve always believed him to be a smart yet very beatable fighter. What impresses me about McGregor though is that he “gets it”. He understands that while the UFC is a real sport, it is still show business and the fighters that make the most are the ones with the ability to entertain the crowd and get them to buy tickets. He has done an outstanding job at “talking the people into the building” and has broken box office records in the process. And in my opinion his recent anti-WWE rants were nothing more than another day at the office for Conor McGregor. He was asked a question about WWE, he capitalized on it, and it will be no surprise to me at all if he ultimately appears at Wrestlemania 33 next April in Orlando.
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James "Jimmy Van" VanderLinden is the Founder of Fightful.com. He is a former online wrestling writer and reporter, having previously owned JimmyVan.com which he ran from 1997 to 2006. He is also a former independent wrestling promoter in Ontario, Canada, as well as the author of the book "Wrestling's Underbelly: From Bingo Halls to Shopping Malls" released in 2005. He is currently co-owner of a marketing and development company in Toronto.
