The story of the weekend in the MMA world should have been the enthralling Featherweight main event of UFC Utah, however, in typical fashion Conor McGregor once again stole the headlines.
McGregor had been asked about appearing in the WWE at a later date on the #UFC202 conference call, but did not mince his words with his response.
“For the most part, those WWE guys are pussies, to be honest.”
Having riled up the WWE Universe, the current UFC Featherweight Champion then issued a tweet on Sunday which initially looked like an apology, but ended up sparking an even bigger reaction. This time from the WWE roster;
“I didn’t mean no disrespect to the @wwe fans. What I meant to say was that I’d slap the head off your entire roster. And twice on Sunday’s.”
McGregor is clearly a smart minded businessman and you have to tip your hat to his ability to really open up a lot of potential avenues for him post his MMA career. The Irishman is getting into the prime of his MMA career and I suspect its highly unlikely that we see him grace the WWE ring any time soon. But……………………..
While we may be some time away from seeing “The Notorious” make the walk, in typical #WHOATV we have devised a list of five ready and willing opponents to welcome Conor McGregor to the squared circle;
Finn Balor
Finn Balor is almost definitely going to be a superstar under the WWE brand and being drafted in to fight a big named combat sports star like Conor McGregor would definitely help Finn and the promotion to build on that push. Balor is also Irish so if needed they could use that as an angle going in and he is also renowned for his striking which could lead to some exciting exchanges between the pair. Balor isn’t the typical “Vince guy” in terms of appearance and so compared to some others on this list would match up physically a lot better with McGregor. The only downside would be his promo skills which would need working on but McGregor certainly wouldn’t have a problem getting this one sold on his own.
Sheamus
In keeping with the Irish Vs Irish theme, another outspoken superstar who would be a prime candidate to take on Conor McGregor would be Dublin’s own, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. Sheamus is a mid card level guy at the moment but has tasted the heights of winning the King of the Ring (2010), Royal Rumble (2012), and Money in the Bank (a feat shared only by him and Edge). Sheamus is a great heel (bad guy) and whilst McGregor may not be well received initially by the WWE Universe, would most likely be a baby face (good guy) going into this one which would work well with his smack talk and his bravado.
Roman Reigns
Reigns is the former Heavyweight Champion of the World but was stripped of his Title following the failure of the WWE’s wellness policy. That point alone could make this fight very sellable with McGregor going after the fact that the promotion have stuck by Reigns given the failure. Reigns has been one of the wrestlers to go back to McGregor on twitter “You’re the size of my leg. Shut up.” and it could be a great opportunity for the promotion to get the WWE Universe to reengage with Reigns.
Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler has been given a run at the WWE Title and will take on current Champion Dean Ambrose at Summerslam, but I don’t see Ziggler claiming the gold and so a run in with McGregor could be a good option for him. I personally don’t see him as a main event guy and given his comedic routes think that they could be on to something with this one. Ziggler is also of a similar physique to McGregor and wouldn’t overshadow him like Roman Reigns or Sheamus would and I think that these two could definitely build a solid pre fight build up.
Floyd Mayweather
So in my mind this is probably going to be the only possible option to see these two in a combat environment, albeit a staged one. Mayweather has history with the promotion having competed and won at Wrestlemania twenty four against the Big Show and you have to feel that these two would definitely need a stage like Wrestlemania to host this one. Could you just imagine the interest from all types of sports fans in this happening? Don’t get me wrong it would be an absolute shambles of a “wrestling match” which would not interest the smart marks of the wrestling world but the money generated from the build up and hype to this one would definitely be of interest to Vince McMahon.