By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Former WWE writer Paul Heyman said in an interview today that he warned WWE CEO Vince McMahon in 2005 about the potential rise of UFC that would eventually affect WWE's business.

During an interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani today, Heyman recalled a 2005 meeting with McMahon and WWE management where the topic of "The Ultimate Fighter" following Raw was brought up.

At the time, WWE Raw was on Spike TV. WWE was set to return to USA Network and Spike was trying to create its next big cable TV franchise to replace Raw. Heyman said today that WWE had the option to veto the first season of UFC's "Ultimate Fighter" following Raw on Spike before WWE left for USA Network.

"I was there in the room when we decided whether to let The Ultimate Fighter come on after Monday Night Raw. They had the right to approve or decline any programming that followed them," Heyman said. "I told (WWE), they better not let (UFC) on... Yeah, I'm the a--hole that almost turned it down."

Heyman recalled telling Vince McMahon, "You should be afraid of anything that will take away from your pay-per-view dollar. They are going to reach into your pocket, rip it open, and all those dollars are going to flow right there."

Caldwell's Analysis: And to this day, WWE maintains that UFC does not affect their PPV business despite (a) WWE PPVs following a Saturday UFC PPV typically not performing well and (b) WWE's steadily declining PPV buys (even before they raised the price by $5 this year) coinciding with UFC's record-breaking numbers. Part of that is how WWE markets and promotes their own PPV product, but UFC is offering former wrestling fans/older adult pro wrestling fans a more realistic product for their PPV dollars, complete with pro wrestling-style promotion. Who knows where each company's business would be in 2010 if WWE vetoed TUF following Raw.

Further Reading: MMATorch editor Jamie Penick breaks down the topic even further on how the respective businesses might be different.

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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