Live television programming has long been an attractive option for networks, but the current television climate has streamers like Netflix gobbling up rights to massive fights between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson and dishing out big bucks for live programming like Monday Night Raw. There's clearly value in rising up as the next must-see live event, and in a world where the major players of UFC and pro wrestling are already established, it looks like the next great warriors to step up will be...professional pillow fighters?
As wild as it may sound, Deadline reports that 2500 Media has secured the television rights for Pillow Fighting Championship along with Sean Perry. If you'll recall, Perry was one of the founders of the short-lived television run of Power Slap, the professional slapping league started by UFC president Dana White that was temporarily halted following his own controversy.
While readers may think these bouts will resemble that Pitch Perfect 2's epic pillow fight scene, the actual product is far more violent. The Pillow Fighting Championships boasts fighters who were former NCAA Division 1 athletes, as well as fighters with experience in MMA combat. While pillow fights are usually a fun affair, the video below shows things can get ultra-competitive and intense when there's money on the line: [
The Pillow Fight Championship is a bit different in terms of how it rates the athletes' performances, and believe it or not, there are specific rules involved. Two-handed overhead strikes are not allowed, for example, and athletes are not allowed to drop their pillow as they fight.
As far as scoring as concerned, here's how it goes, according to the official site:
- Strike to head - 1 point
- 360 strike to the. head - 3 points
- Knockdown - 5 points
- Unbalanced leg strikes - 1 point
- Destroying the pillow - 3 points
In case it needs to be said, combatants are not allowed to strike each other with any part of their body, and can only use their weaponized pillows. While some combat sport fans may find that boring, I think it introduces a technical element that requires specific kinds of strategy and skill. If this sport does happen to take off, I'd be curious to see how the game changes and evolves as more skilled athletes enter the arena.
So, when will we be watching people pummel each other with pillows with a Netflix subscription or on some other streamer or cable network? That remains to be seen, but as we see other major players like Amazon making bigger jumps into live sports, I would think the league would make for an attractive offering for any streaming execs looking to draw in the mass audiences who tune into WWE live events and UFC pay-per-views.
The question I have is whether or not a potential audience will consider Pillow Fighting Championship to be must-see television enough to actually tune into any events live instead of just watching highlight clips. Without any huge "stars" to immediately make the PFC a recognizable force, it might take more of a celeb-adjacent stunt event to draw attention early on.
Perhaps a few former athletes from the WWE, UFC, NFL or beyond could sign on for exhibition matches to lead into other matches. Maybe even two feuding celebrities could use this platform to duke it out, and that could inspire a jumping-off point for this league once a television deal is secured. I'd definitely watch my favorite celebs devastate each other with pillows, assuming that's something that could happen, and if they wanted to throw in a Community tie-in ahead of the feature film, I'm all about that as well.
We'll have to wait and see when the PFC will return to television or streaming, and in the meantime, we can continue to enjoy all that's in store for the 2024 TV schedule.
