Since the first event to carry the name back in 2018, Bloodsport has become one of the most popular shows Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) produces. Usually scheduled close in timing and proximity to WrestleMania or another major card like AEW All In, Bloodsport shows look like a cross between the 1988 John-Claude Van Damme classic and the early days of MMA. Matches take place on a canvas mat with no posts, turnbuckles or ropes, and can only be won by knockout, submission, or referee stoppage.
All but
one of GCW’s 18 Bloodsports were billed as “Josh Barnett’s”. The exception was the first, which was “Matt Riddle’s” just before he signed with WWE.
The last one, Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XV, was this past April outside Las Vegas. All had been quiet on the Bloodsport front since then, until Monday (Nov. 9) when Barnett appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show and said that he was looking for investors that could help him take Bloodsport to another level:
“We have been shopping it around a bit and trying to find some investing. We’ve had some good bites, people with a lot of interest in it. We’ll see what we can put together. The thing is, it’s not an insanely expensive project to actually put together when you look at putting together produced content for streaming, or media, television basically.
“But still, you need somebody to give you that money. If we can find that investor or that group that wants to get with us, we’ll get going full speed and we’ll get to work on putting all the essentials in place. It’s not running at the moment. I would rather it sit buried than do anything less than what I’m trying to do. Because otherwise, it’s just not going to work. It’s not going to be the product that it can be and should be.”
Barnett’s also been critical of other attempts to recreate the Bloodsport concept in the past, like WWE’s Raw/NXT Underground. He returned to that while talking to Helwani about Bloodsport’s future:
“I understand what it takes to make a show like that. As many people, I don’t want to call them copycats 00 that have tried to emulate our process, nobody has succeeded. And many have made some of the worst professional wrestling products you will ever see. This is not something that can just be laid in the hands of anybody.”
Reads almost like a warning, which is may have been. Hours later Monday night, GCW announced the next chapter of Bloodsport. No date yet, but Barnett’s name was nowhere to be found. That and the warning made more sense after Barnett told another X/Twitter user he hadn’t been consulted about GCW’s “Reborn” efforts.
Today, the man the whose name was on that first show chimed in. Riddle shared the poster for the 2018 Bloodsport with his name on it, and said the whole concept was his idea:
I’m very happy and proud of where blood sport went after I got signed to WWE but the rules, the idea and even the name all came from me. It was my show and my vision and WWN and GCW made it possible along with all the talented wrestlers that participated. One thing I can say with 100% certainty is Josh Barnett did not create or even help with the original bloodsport and then tried to take it for himself, even when I saw him at wrestlemania this past year he said there wouldn’t be anymore blood sports then I replied “that’s not your choice, you don’t own blood sport”. And that was said with a smile and no malice but at the end of the day blood sport will continue and I can’t wait to see what happens next 🤙🏻
So far this is all just talk. If GCW or Riddle does own the brand, it’s hard to see what choice Barnett has but to come up with another name for his project.
Let us know what you make of this dispute, and if you have any thoughts on the future of Bloodsport, in the comments below.
