The WWE’s Impact on Mixed Martial Arts
By SJ Jarapa
The WWE has been a stellar catalyst for change in athletes looking to alter their fortunes in terms of harvesting support or simply drawing attention to their respective sporting platforms. We have seen NBA Legends Dennis Rodman – then of the Chicago Bull’s – take on Utah Jazz’s Karl Malone in WCW’s squared circle. More recently, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, JR., has given his Pay-Per-View ratings a vast improvement with his stints on the WWE.
Performing in it seems to be a great way for building a public guise that one, if done correctly, can market productively and with a good deal of ease – as proven by the likes of Brock Lesnar and Ken Shamrock, it is an effective springboard for immediate attention and success by way of numbers once they step out of its make believe stage and into the theater of actual combat.
With his popularity being constantly dwarfed by the charms of Royce Gracie and other more charismatic fighters, Ken Shamrock’s appeal in the MMA public’s eye was at best 65% and did not merit much thought despite his stature of being one of the best at the time. He had dissenters and for some reason rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. When Senator John McCain succeeded in derailing MMA operations in various states in the U.S., a move to Entertainment Wrestling seemed the wiser, more profitable choice for Shamrock.
And it was.
Still in his prime, he walked away from the sport of real fighting to pursue a career in Pro Wrestling. The move made him an instant superstar, becoming a true fan favorite in the process, and for years paraded as “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” under the banner of the then WWF, with a signature, almost comical act where he would snap out of his wits, screaming like a rabid mental patient bent on massacring anyone he comes in contact with, while he was in such a zone.
The move from Real Fighting to Scripted Fighting was a brilliant one on Ken Shamrock’s part.
When his dormant urge for real fighting awoke and beckoned to him again after quite a long hiatus, and the time and opportunity for him to return to his origins came, the results of his hard labor in the World of Pro Wrestling could not have been more apparent than when he returned to the UFC in a settling of old scores match up with the then UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz.
Ken Shamrock’s long-time MMA supporters coupled with his newly acquired Entertainment Wrestling fan base turned him into one of the biggest ever draws in MMA history. He was akin to a colossus who bore a whole planet full of cult-like followers on his wings that seemed almost untouchable by any UFC fighter to date at that point in time.
Unfortunately, the outcome of that fight and the rematch that later followed were not as attractive as it had been for Shamrock’s pockets, as he was literally razed flat on the pavement, brutally torn down, and simply destroyed and ravaged by the young bulldozer that Tito Ortiz was.
Shamrock’s move to Pro Wrestling was both rewarding and damnatory for his well-being. He suffered many injuries through the mores of its demanding system of labor. It took away his agility, his reflexes, more significantly it took away his precious fighting insight. Not only did the WWF steal his prime years from him, the enormous amount of sweat and blood the outfit required from one performer to another robbed him of his potential to re-attain the form which made him one of the most dangerous fighters in MMA.
The result of the Tito Ortiz fight was much expected if one knew what was going on behind the doors, was aware of the whole story, and was alert as to the kind of fighter the Ken Shamrock who showed up in the octagon had been. That is not saying Tito Ortiz would have lost if the situation had been a little different. However, it is only fair to state that, given Ken Shamrock’s impressive set of skills, in-ring wisdom, and sheer deftness, the fight might have taken a different course even if he were to lose in the end.
Fast forward to present and we seem to have a similar case in the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar – like Ken Shamrock, is a former Pro Wrestling Superstar. News of Brock Lesnar’s illness hit the waves like Swine-Flu in the latter part of last year. The illness has effectively removed Brock from his mandatory title defenses, leaving the UFC management confused as to what they’ll do with the title – either they set up an interim heavyweight title match or wait for the big guy to recover, which could take longer than anyone might expect. To this day it remains a question whether he would be able to fight again or that he is out for good.
Like how it was for Ken Shamrock, the WWE Way of Life was just as punishing for Brock Lesnar. “It was painful for me,” he stated in one interview. Could it be that his current illness is an after effect of his rough days in the WWE? He was doing well until he came to the UFC, so I guess that rules out this question. But how do we know if it isn’t an old injury he suffered during those days that did not really heal, one that worsened through his MMA training?
Judging from how things are transpiring now, we appear to have a trend going on with Pro Wrestling, with its Superstars seeking to break into the MMA scene. Bobby Lashley for one, another former WWE Superstar, is causing buzz in the MMA public outside the UFC. Athletes, especially college and Olympic wrestlers, have found a great launch pad to stir interest in their careers once they hit the podium of professional sports. This is a trend that – with all the intense support they could muster in it – I see budding ever more in the near or distant future.
Only, how can we be assured that these athletes would be a hundred percent healthy when they tackle on the truly dangerous realm of Mixed Martial Arts? Perhaps there ought to be a more thorough physical examination on every fighter looking to enter the sport – a better assessment tool than what is presently on the table before they are allowed to fight even if it’s only purpose is to protect the fighters from themselves.