Ken Shamrock On Why He Turned Down WWE Brawl For All Tournament, Creative Freedom In Impact
Ken Shamrock has decades of experience both in the ring with pro wrestling and in the Octagon with mixed martial arts. There has been lots of crossover between the two sports in recent years including Cain Velasquez appearing in WWE and Shamrock was asked if there could possibly be a crossover between Impact Wrestling and Combate Americas.
"Absolutely. It's pro wrestling and in this world of fighting ? if you go back to the 1940s ? if you talk about wrestlers, they were really tough guys. Bare-knuckle fighters ? they were known as tough people. Absolutely there is a crossover because pro wrestling has some really tough guys in there and we've seen it where they cross over and are successful at both," Shamrock said to Wrestling Inc.
Shamrock is in his third stint with Impact and he recently took on Joey Ryan whose signature move involves his penis. Shamrock discussed working with a unique talent like Ryan and also shared his thoughts on those who have problems with him engaging in these types of feuds.
"It's entertainment and you're not allowed to draw a line in the sand of what you think entertainment is. If you think that's not entertainment, well, a million other people do," stated Shamrock. 'It's proven through social media and Joey Ryan is a popular guy. So it bothers me when people start screaming that I'm above that and I shouldn't be doing that. I don't get to make the rules. I don't get a say on what's entertainment. I'm here to do my job and that's what I do. If you don't like that, then go talk to somebody that can do something about it because I can't. I'm just doing my job."
When Shamrock was in WWE during The Attitude Era, they had a Brawl For All tournament that featured shootfighting from WWE Superstars. However, despite being The World's Most Dangerous Man, Shamrock didn't take part in the tournament and he explained why.
"I chose not to. I worked hard to gain trust in the wrestlers. I just came from the world of fighting and they went me to get into this Brawl For All. I thought to myself, 'I'm a professional fighter.' It's not fair to those guys to get involved because I'm at a different level," said Shamrock.
"I respectfully declined. They were gonna pay me $50,000 to fight for real when I make over $1 million to fight in something like that. Then I'm gonna have to fight multiple times to win it? You're not gonna give me 50 grand. It was about me being a professional fighter and them being amateurs."
He added that he loved the actual tournament and it really tested those guys to do something different.
With years of experience in both WWE and Impact, Shamrock has a unique perspective when it comes to the creative freedoms offered by both companies. He talked about how things are different when working for Impact.
"I love the creative process at Impact where we're able to talk through things and create our own storylines. We have some guidelines but overall we get to create the character we want," said Shamrock.
"I've never been frustrated at what people were doing. There were things I agreed with and things I didn't agree with and if it was something I didn't agree with, then I didn't do it."
He added that it's all about having an open mind and how it's all to create a better product.
"If it's something you're not feeling really good about, then express your opinion and don't do it," said Shamrock.
Ken's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post, or viewed via the video player at the top.
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