Ken Shamrock says nobody tested him as a shoot fighter during his WWE run because there was no doubt about his legitimacy.
Shamrock was already a renowned MMA fighter years before he arrived in WWE (or WWF as it was known at the time.) He was the first UFC Superfight Champion, and he also won the King of Pancrase Tournament winner, among other accolades. By the time he transitioned to the wrestling world, he had already established himself as “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
Speaking on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast with Lars Frederiksen of Rancid & Dennis Farrell, Shamrock was asked whether anyone tried to test him as a fighter during his wrestling career. He stated that there’s no question that other wrestlers couldn’t hold a candle to him, given his background with the UFC, and nobody could beat him. Shamrock noted that people were more focused on what he knew.
“No, I think they were more interested in things I knew,” Shamrock said. “Obviously I got to roll with Blackman, I got to roll with some other guys. But anybody that ever rolled with me or ever was with me would tell you that I was legit. There’s no question. In pro wrestling, there was nobody that could hold a candle to me when it came to actual shooting. Anybody that says anything different, that’s that pro wrestling character coming out of them because I don’t think there’s any doubt in anybody’s mind.
“Obviously with me being a world champion in Japan and being a world champion in the United States at the same time, I was the world’s most dangerous man, and nobody could beat me. Going into pro wrestling, I don’t think that somebody that does that career in pro wrestling would have a chance of actually beating me at my game.
The UFC Hall of Famer continued by describing how, in the WWE, everyone was focused on doing business, staying healthy, and putting on good matches. He pointed out that wrestlers testing him might have been a possibility at companies on a smaller level, but his WWE peers were professionals.
“Nobody did that because I think when you’re at that level in the WWF, it’s business, and everybody knows it’s business. So you didn’t have that. I guess maybe on a smaller circuit and you’re going around, there’s somebody who wants to kind of get the best of you and get over in you in a match where they try to make you look stupid, yeah, maybe in lower circuits. But at the WWF, everybody was professional. It was about getting the match over, putting on great matches, and everybody walking out of there healthy.”
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