Josh Barnett Reveals Why Bloodsport Is Ending After WWE WrestleMania 42 Weekend
Josh Barnett said goodbye to Bloodsport this weekend, and he finally explained why he chose to end things now.
Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XV took place on WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas. The event ended on a bittersweet note, as fans found out it would be the final event under that banner. Barnett appeared on Monday’s episode of the Ariel Helwani Show, where he explained what went into his decision.
“I wasn’t trying to make a big deal out of it. I didn’t want it to come off as a gimmick or for the purpose of drumming up some interest or that it was insincere.”
Barnett says he had some conflicting feelings about it too, but still feels like he made the right choice.
“Essentially what I said was, it wasn’t for anything negative, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There wasn’t a tragedy or there wasn’t some major overarching bad issue or problem,” Barnett said. “But for me, Bloodsport had an evolution of where it was trying to get to. And that was not going to be a traditional wrestling path. Especially because I don’t think Bloodsport is really made for indie wrestling in the way that a lot of indie wrestling is done.”
Barnett went on to explain that Bloodsport isn’t built for frequency. They also don’t have the talent available to keep that pace. Barnett said they weren’t close to where they needed to be to continue, and wanted to go out while the events are still popular.
“For me, it was better to end it now than to keep going on and quite possibly diminish what the product is, or run it down before we had a chance to get to where I really feel like it would have been at its best.”
Barnett said that he did try to get sponsors involved, but they weren’t able to get it done. Barnett said Bloodsport is “closed” unless things are in place to take the brand where it needs to be and done in the right way.
When asked what he would need to restart the Bloodsport events, Barnett laid out his vision.
“Well, we need more capital, we’d need our own office, we’d need employees. We need a lot of things,” he explained. “It’s going to take a lot.”
Barnett said his vision of Bloodsport needs “a lot more” than most indie shows, and a lot less than a major promotion like WWE or AEW. However, it sounds like a lot of improvements would need to be made. Among some of the changes he’d make, Barnett said he’d want to pay wrestlers more and have things like bonus incentive structures and multiple match deals to create a more compelling product.
