Ken Shamrock advises people to watch one infamous segment before they call wrestling fake.
On an episode of Raw in 1998, The Rock hit Ken Shamrock square in the face with a brutal chair shot. This was exactly by design, as Shamrock instructed The Rock exactly how he wanted the attack to go.
He told the People’s Champion to hit in the face in order to avoid a concussion. In the end, he “barely felt” the hit. It has gone down as an iconic moment from the Attitude Era in the WWE.
Ken Shamrock spoke to DJ Vlad in a recent interview (H/T to Fightful for the transcription) about the infamous chair shots he took from The Rock in 1998.
He warns people who call wrestling fake to watch those chair shots. Shamrock argued that you cannot watch the brutal chair shots he took and still call wrestling predetermined, or fake.
Ken Shamrock on chair shots
“Oh, no question. But let me explain this in a way that I think that visually people might have a better understanding on why pro wrestling and people get physically beat up in pro wrestling is that I want people, if you haven’t ever seen it yet, but to go watch it, I want you to go and look at the most famous chair shot that has ever been thrown in a WWF match, and that is with Ken Shamrock and The Rock.” Ken Shamrock said.
“When you see that chair shot, you tell me that the ending is predetermined. Tell me that this is stuff that happens in a wrestling match. Whereas that in the end, and because of the ending is predetermined, that wrestling is fake.”
Given his previous admittance that the chair shot went exactly as planned, it does take away from Ken Shamrock’s point slightly.
