Ken Shamrock Looks Back On Breaking WWE Hall Of Famer Vader's Nose

When Ken Shamrock first traded the brutality of the UFC's early days for the bright lights of WWE in 1997, one of the first feuds he had was with Vader. Their hard-hitting bouts earned Shamrock respect amongst fans for being able to go toe-to-toe with one of the most feared men in the company at the time. But in their first bout at In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell, Shamrock went a little too hard on Vader and broke his nose.

Shamrock was a recent guest on Chris Van Vliet's "Insight" podcast, where he was asked about the injury, to which Shamrock recalled trying to do what came naturally to him. 

"I'm a fighter, and I just tried to go in and do what I thought was normal. So, normally, I'm used to just sparring, right? You spar, but you don't hurt guys, and that's kind of what I did with Vader," Shamrock said. "I guess I ended up breaking his nose, didn't know it."

In response, Vader gave him a shot with some extra sauce on it in retaliation for breaking his nose. However, while some people may have winced when they watched it, it was a sign that he truly belonged in WWE. 

"I find out later on that he gave me a receipt when he hit me hard, I went down real hard. That's like the chair shot, where people look at it and go, 'Oh, Vader really nailed him, he must have p*ssed Vader off.' I'm thinking to myself, 'What? What are you talking about?' And then I watched him and I was like, 'That's awesome.'"

Ken Shamrock revealed that after proving that he could withstand the punishment of Vader, he wasn't happy with his performance. However, when he got back to the locker room, Bret Hart gave him some words of praise. 

"When I walked back into the locker room, I remember Bret Hart was the first one I looked at. He went, 'Dude, that was good.' I'm thinking to myself it just didn't feel right. I've been fighting all this time and I wouldn't do this, and just didn't feel right," recalled Shamrock.

If compliments from Bret Hart weren't enough, Vader too thought Shamrock had a strong performance. 

"Vader came up to me and says, 'Bro, good job, man. Good job.' He said, 'I think you broke my nose.' And I was like, 'Huh?' He goes, 'When you threw the knee.' I was like, 'Oh, sorry.' He goes, 'Bro, don't worry about it, man, it was a good match.' I was like when I did it, I didn't feel that good about it. But then when I watched, I was like, 'Damn, that was good, that wasn't bad,' and that was my actual very first one, really going and working with someone like that."

Shamrock and Vader continued to feud throughout 1997, which included a rare appearance in the FMW promotion in Japan when WWE had a brief working relationship with him. They also fought in an Ultimate Rules Steel Cage match, where Vader picked up the win over Shamrock after the former UFC fighter won their first bout at In Your House.

Please credit "Insight" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.