I Like the WNT But....

B

BasementDweller

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I like what Matchroom has done with 9 ball. Their production is really good and the tournaments are enjoyable, but I'm afraid the WNT is going to peter out. Ultimately, I think they made a mistake going all-in on one game. I'm a fan, but I'm finding their tournaments are all having the same feel, and it's hard to distinguish one from another. The same setting, the same gray cloth, and the same players, doing the same thing in a different location.

I don't really like 8 Ball, but maybe they could have added more variety to their calendar by adding the other disciplines, or at least a single 8 ball tourney and maybe even 10 ball. Either that, or they need to figure out a better way to differentiate their tourneys. I could be totally wrong, and they are just running into the limitations intrinsic to pool. Plus, I do understand that there are competing organizations. I also do think 9 ball is a great game for professionals. But -- if I'm losing interest as a fan, surely there's something they could do differently.

Anybody else feel like all their tourneys are just bleeding into each other?
 
BasementDweller said:
I like what Matchroom has done with 9 ball. Their production is really good and the tournaments are enjoyable, but I'm afraid the WNT is going to peter out. Ultimately, I think they made a mistake going all-in on one game. I'm a fan, but I'm finding their tournaments are all having the same feel, and it's hard to distinguish one from another. The same setting, the same gray cloth, and the same players, doing the same thing in a different location.

I don't really like 8 Ball, but maybe they could have added more variety to their calendar by adding the other disciplines, or at least a single 8 ball tourney and maybe even 10 ball. Either that, or they need to figure out a better way to differentiate their tourneys. I could be totally wrong, and they are just running into the limitations intrinsic to pool. Plus, I do understand that there are competing organizations. I also do think 9 ball is a great game for professionals. But -- if I'm losing interest as a fan, surely there's something they could do differently.

Anybody else feel like all their tourneys are just bleeding into each other.
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They're doing just fine imo. More tournies in the U.S. is great. Go back to the traditional ball colors would be a big improvement. The new colors bleed together.
 
I think that pool fans are the worse fans in the world… nothing is ever good enough 🫩

The pro snooker tour play just snooker, same game, same table, same cloth color, same players, just different location and it works great.

In fact in all the sports, they play the exact same game by the same players in different locations… Tennis, basketball, football etc.

WNT = World Nineball Tour
It’s doesn’t make any sense to play any other game.
 
Wow, the fan who enjoys multiple disciplines has never had it better!

WNT offers great 9ball events all over the world. Predator's PBS offers great 10ball events all over the world. For those who prefer 8ball, there's the Ultimate pool tour, the English 8ball Tour and Heyball. Even one pocket fans have a new tour to watch in the south.

I don't see the need for each of these tours to diversify into disciplines other than their primary one.
 
sjm said:
Wow, the fan who enjoys multiple disciplines has never had it better!

WNT offers great 9ball events all over the world. Predator's PBS offers great 10ball events all over the world. For those who prefer 8ball, there's the Ultimate pool tour, the English 8ball Tour and Heyball. Even one pocket fans have a new tour to watch in the south.

I don't see the need for each of these tours to diversify into disciplines other than their primary one.
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And Predator does 8 ball events too
 
I prefer the predator viewing product myself but I also just don't like matchroom in general. I hate what they've done to the us open (laughably short races for starters I could go on), what they've done to commentary and their insistence on the hideous balls as a standard. Only good thing matchroom has done is gotten away from the ridiculous tournament blue that has always been bottom one since it came out, the gray is a terrific upgrade. If Ray Hansen would get away from the 40' away wide camera view of the room and set up to focus more on the tables, he could really do something but he believes the background and spectators need to be seen for some reason. Meanwhile you can't see an angle from that far away makes it not worth watching to me. Too bad because Ray puts on some great events.
 
feels to me that WNT is still the big thing. production is better, prize money is better, fields are always tough as hell. i like predator too but i'm not big on the jack and jill tournaments and the other sideshows that make their events drawn out.

i would like to see WNT have a shootout style event once a year. not race to 1 like the snooker shootout and maybe not 10 second shot clock either but definitely short shot clock. more like the ultimate pool shootout than the snooker shootout. i'd like to see who comes out on top when you have to think fast.
 
I had to turn off the audio of some of the WNT/Matchroom US Open coverage because they invited the 'great guy' Joe Rogan to sit with the commentators and make inane comments. At the beginning of one of the matches he even referred to FSR as SFR, before I turned the sound off. I have no idea how much worse it got after that.

Speaking of that coverage... does anyone know of a place where I could watch the end of the FSR v. Capito final? The ESPN streaming service cut off the broadcast when ESPN2 switched to a different event, and the score was 9-8 FSR I think.
 
kpfleming said:
I had to turn off the audio of some of the WNT/Matchroom US Open coverage because they invited the 'great guy' Joe Rogan to sit with the commentators and make inane comments. At the beginning of one of the matches he even referred to FSR as SFR, before I turned the sound off. I have no idea how much worse it got after that.

Speaking of that coverage... does anyone know of a place where I could watch the end of the FSR v. Capito final? The ESPN streaming service cut off the broadcast when ESPN2 switched to a different event, and the score was 9-8 FSR I think.
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So I'm curious, besides the SFR gaff, what other horrible inane comments did Joe Rogan make?

As for the original post, what other major sports tours play different games besides the one seen on TV? I know Tennis does doubles but even that doesn't draw as much as the regular singles tournaments. What, car racing?

Anyway, the only thing I do not like about the WNT is the grey cloth and the dull looking balls. It literally makes everything look dead around it. Even still, they are doing fine at what they set out to do and like sjm above mentioned, if you enjoy other disciplines, there are plenty of other entities holding tournaments for them. I love watching Ultimate Pool and would watch it over any WNT event.
 
skor said:
I think that pool fans are the worse fans in the world… nothing is ever good enough 🫩

The pro snooker tour play just snooker, same game, same table, same cloth color, same players, just different location and it works great.
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This is the model. As a cue sport fan, I have the same problem with snooker.
skor said:
In fact in all the sports, they play the exact same game by the same players in different locations… Tennis, basketball, football etc.
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There's WAY more variety in other sports. Tennis plays on different surfaces, golf on different courses, and team sports play at unique venues and rotate between teams.
skor said:
WNT = World Nineball Tour
It’s doesn’t make any sense to play any other game.
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Correct with that name. I like the PBT model better, but of course that failed.

I won't deny Matchroom knows what they are doing.
 
sjm said:
Wow, the fan who enjoys multiple disciplines has never had it better!

WNT offers great 9ball events all over the world. Predator's PBS offers great 10ball events all over the world. For those who prefer 8ball, there's the Ultimate pool tour, the English 8ball Tour and Heyball. Even one pocket fans have a new tour to watch in the south.

I don't see the need for each of these tours to diversify into disciplines other than their primary one.
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Of course you're right. I'm totally fine as a fan. It's this diversity that is competing with the WNT. Maybe they could have casted a wider net.
 
skogstokig said:
feels to me that WNT is still the big thing. production is better, prize money is better, fields are always tough as hell. i like predator too but i'm not big on the jack and jill tournaments and the other sideshows that make their events drawn out.

i would like to see WNT have a shootout style event once a year. not race to 1 like the snooker shootout and maybe not 10 second shot clock either but definitely short shot clock. more like the ultimate pool shootout than the snooker shootout. i'd like to see who comes out on top when you have to think fast.
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That's sort of what I'm getting at. It's not that they aren't trying to add diversity. They do the World Cup of Pool, the two team events, and the Premier League thing. I just hope they keep working at it.
 
jay helfert said:
All things being equal I prefer watching Predator events for one big reason. They use traditional ball colors! Makes for easy viewing of matches, no squinting to figure out which ball is which. It actually makes a huge diiference! I enjoy watching a helluva lot more.
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Predator really does bring a very high level of production quality. If Matchroom hadn't come along at the exact same time, Predator may have built the exact tour I'm envisioning.
 
Positively Ralf said:
So I'm curious, besides the SFR gaff, what other horrible inane comments did Joe Rogan make?

As for the original post, what other major sports tours play different games besides the one seen on TV? I know Tennis does doubles but even that doesn't draw as much as the regular singles tournaments. What, car racing?
Click to expand...
You can't compare the variety found in all those other sports mentioned to pool. It's the viewing experience. When you produce an event now, it is not just competing against other live events, but against all other events ever produced and made accessible for viewing! The events need to stand out. When searching for a recent US Open match, I ended up watching a 2025 match instead.
Positively Ralf said:
Anyway, the only thing I do not like about the WNT is the grey cloth and the dull looking balls. It literally makes everything look dead around it. Even still, they are doing fine at what they set out to do and like sjm above mentioned, if you enjoy other disciplines, there are plenty of other entities holding tournaments for them. I love watching Ultimate Pool and would watch it over any WNT event.
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That's interesting that you'd rather watch Ultimate Pool.
 
jay helfert said:
All things being equal I prefer watching Predator events for one big reason. They use traditional ball colors! Makes for easy viewing of matches, no squinting to figure out which ball is which. It actually makes a huge diiference! I enjoy watching a helluva lot more.
Click to expand...

i couldn't agree more!! Like I mentioned in a previous post the fan shouldnt have to think about the order of shots while casually watching. For most viewers the traditional ball colors are so ingrained that you are always looking for the purple ball after the red ball.
 
BasementDweller said:
You can't compare the variety found in all those other sports mentioned to pool. It's the viewing experience. When you produce an event now, it is not just competing against other live events, but against all other events ever produced and made accessible for viewing! The events need to stand out. When searching for a recent US Open match, I ended up watching a 2025 match instead.

That's interesting that you'd rather watch Ultimate Pool.
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I am a fan of Ultimate Pool too, it's very entertaining, things happen at a quick pace, there's no sitting around watching the chalk dry on the cue tip. Players don't have time to view every straight in shot from 9 different angles.
 
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