Dan Severn Talks WWE Dropping His Feud With Ken Shamrock, CM Punk In UFC, Relationship With UFC

Wrasslin Pals recently interviewed former WWE and UFC star Dan "The Beast" Severn. You can check out the full interview here, below are some highlights:

Teaching and training in the business of pro wrestling:

"I started teaching the sport of amateur wrestling in 1971, and it came to me like a gift. Everyone has a gift whether it is singing or dancing; mine happened to be teaching physical mechanics and that stems from my amateur wrestling background. From there, my first professional training was in the world of professional "wrasslin" and when I first got involved in that world there was no rhyme or reason, there were no DVDs, no VHS tapes there wasn't anything about proper instruction on professional wrestling. It was all something that was handed down. It was really a tough network to infiltrate but after I ended up getting into it, there was so much discrepancy about how you should do a technique like this or like that to where I was the first person that I am aware of who put out instructional VHS tapes on professional wrestling."

Evaluating new talent:

"Even now I can take someone in amateur wrestling and take three of their matches. In (those) three matches, I can see what they are strong at, what they are weak at, and I can make an improvement based on just watching three matches alone. People say why can't you do it in one? Well, because one is not enough. Seeing them against three different people, three different skill-sets just by looking, I can see improvements right then and there and I can do the same things in mixed martial arts as well and that could be by just watching them in practice because everybody has strengths and everybody has weaknesses."

His son following in his amateur wrestling footsteps:

"Kids kind of think they know it all so I let him do his own thing and I'd offer him help but when he came up short and when he didn't make it out of districts, after a couple of weeks I sat him down and I said what would you like to accomplish?. What I want you to do is pull out a paper and pencil and write it down in black and white and stare at it good, long and hard and I will leave you with these parting words...be careful what you wish for because you just might get it and when he didn't really get that, I said look, if you want to become a state champion you must realize there are over 400 high school programs in the state of Michigan. Who should be the state champion if you do exactly what the other 400 guys do at your weight class? Are you willing to pay the price to work on your cardio vascular training, running outside of practice time and lifting outside of practice time and drilling and drilling etc...most people are unwilling to make that sacrifice and I think that has made me very successful even now in my older age. I'm still vey successful just grappling with guys because I know they are not willing to do certain things that I am."

How is it getting in the ring these days?

"I'm probably in better shape then 80 percent or more of the locker room. I hate to put down the locker room like that but it's the truth. It's pretty sad on the independent scene what you see in the locker room but it's not just the locker room, it's a bigger problem throughout the United States."

Talent on the Indy scene:

"Guys are still hungry for it. One of the hard parts of training for pro wrestling and I ask this when they come to my training facility, what's their real job. And they say I'm looking to make this my normal job. I say, the chances of making it are that there is really only one company where you can truly make a living. It's so politically motivated. You can be a great performer, a great wrestler or a great individual and will that get you to a WWE or something? No. It's so political. It's not always what you know, it's or what your capable of doing, it is really who you know. There are hungry very deserving guys out there but there also was 20 years ago the same way there are today. (They) will never be seen or heard of and who could work circles around some of the top talent that you see on television."

The WWF dropping the ball on a marquee feud with Ken Shamrock:

"Shamrock basically went to work about one year before I did. They were talking to us both at the same time. Ken pretty much said for X amount of dollars, I'm yours and the reality is that anyone under contract to the WWE, they are selling their soul. At that time, I was and still am as far as I know the only athlete that didn't have any boundaries about me. I could work for anybody because at the time I was the NWA champion and in the NWA alone I was working for about 30 different promoters under the NWA banner and the nwa wanted to make me exclusive to them and I said well what is that worth to you guys because if you want me to be exclusive to you, there has to be an annual salary with that cause if I'm just doing a couple of shots for the NWA...what does that do for me? Nothing. Basically, the WWF had a chance with a Ken Shamrock vs Dan Severn (feud) because we each had a match a piece against one another so to do a tiebreaker, it is a no brainer. It could have easily been done. I really do believe that because the "Fed" knew that they really had no control over me that they couldn't tell me what to do."

Being an independent contractor:

"In 1998, the WWF wanted me to sign an exclusive contract, and that is why we were in negotiations for almost a year and I did not want to cease all my endeavors I was doing at the time and put all my eggs into one basket because I have already seen the professional wrestling world for what it was and it's all politically motivated and I'm not a politically correct individual. I'm the type of guy that everyone respects me because whatever comes out of my mouth is the truth. You may not like what I say but you will not question whether or not it is the truth."

UFC management not wanting him to wear the NWA belt into the cage:

"The UFC was beside themselves when I wanted to wear the nwa belt out at one of the UFC events. They did not want the association. I told them that you are not being associated with professional wrestling; you are being associated with Dan Severn. You have Dan Severn, who is a professional wrestler, but you do not know the history of the nwa belt. The great people that carried that belt, not all, but there has been some really great individuals. A champion used to have real capabilities they didn't just throw the strap on anyone where in the last 20 years they do just throw the strap on guys they think can draw a crowd with whether or not they have true abilities."

CM Punk signing with the UFC:

"I do not know what CM punks actual abilities are. I have seen some of the different little blurbs that have come about and a lot of people like to be the old Internet quarterback and unless you know what you are really talking about then anyone can be an armchair quarterback. I've learned that I don't try to argue with anyone over the Internet and it's a no win situation."

Current relationship with the UFC:

"I have a good relationship with them, I've been with three different owners. The current owners brought me back for the 20th anniversary show, and I've had two other meetings since that time. And I think that something will materialize and I will probably do something with or on behalf of the current ownership."

UFC Hall of Fame and future with the promotion:

"I had been to two other previous ufc events prior to that one (hall of fame induction) and I have tickets waiting for me to any of their events. I'm assuming that is something they do for all of their hall of famers. Dana White's secretary has called me herself a couple of times and said we always have tickets waiting for you. I know that I am welcome to come and I appreciate that but I stay busy, my weekends are the busiest times for me. The fact that I am not able to go an event doesn't exactly break my heart."

Over-saturation of the UFC product:

"On any given month there are between 6 and 8 UFC related products that you can watch. You have the pay per view alone, then you have the Friday night fox fight night, then you have one or two other ppv's on top of that. There is too much and people wonder why I don't watch. And it's because I'm a busy person and I like to live life. I just don't want to sit on the sidelines and watch it pass me by."

The future of his Danger Zone promotion:

"It has sat dormant for about two years? I'm looking to restart things up here in 2015 and hopefully my (amateur) rules will become like the unified rules on the amateur level."