Ken Shamrock Talks WrestleMania 13, The Rock, Lion's Den, Legacy

With a background in mixed martial arts, Ken Shamrock’s reputation certainly preceded him. Very much living up to his moniker of The World’s Most Dangerous Man, Shamrock was one of the pioneer crossover athletes who looked to find success in the pro wrestling world following on from his time in the UFC.

Making his WWF debut as part of one of the greatest matches of all time, Shamrock was the enforcer for the epic between Stone Cold and Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13, which famously ended with Austin passing out in a pool of his own blood.

From there, Shamrock had a famously hard-hitting feud with Vader and The Hart Foundation, which included being a part of the 10-man tag match at In Your House, Canadian Stampede and the Lions Den match against Owen Hart.

After facing Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at D-Generation X: In Your House, the first PPV since The Montreal Screwjob, Shamrock entered a feud with The Rock that was integral in Rock’s rise to superstardom in the wrestling world.

Leaving WWF in late 1999, Shamrock went on to wrestle in TNA, and became the first-ever World Champion for the promotion. In 2020, Shamrock was recognised for his contributions by being inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame by The Rock.

On Wrestling Life, Shamrock joins Ben Veal to discuss his career in WWF and TNA, his background in mixed martial arts, and what he wants his lasting legacy to be:

• Refereeing the legendary match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin

• Finding his charatcer in the wrestling world

• His landmark feud with Vader

• Resistance from the locker room

• Working with The Rock

• Working with Shawn Michaels after The Montreal Screwjob

• Being inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame

On being the referee for Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart:

While many wrestlers have a dream debut scenario, Shamrock’s first appearance couldn’t have been more high-profile as he was the one who officiated one of the biggest matches of the year at WrestleMania 13:

"It was pretty confusing going into that match for me personally, because I hadn't had the experience to be in there with those two guys at that level. I mean, these are icons, guys that are just as we know now, just greatness, and I was just coming in. So here I was kind of pushed into that spot, and I was very happy for sure. But you also have doubts in your mind, like how am I going to do this? Can I keep up with them? There's a lot of thoughts, because the referee is a very, very important part of matches, you see Hebner and many, many others that are so important on how matches can go with the way that things are done.

So me being in that position, I really thought to myself man, I just don't know whether or not I'm able to do the things I needed to do, coming from the MMA world, the fighting world, into this wrestling world now, and was I going to be able to do these guys right? So my whole time going into it, like I said, I had my doubts, but I think about 10 minutes into that match, or probably even shorter, that would say, probably after they started locking up and made the first contact, it felt like I didn't have to do anything other than just be me, which would be an MMA fighter calling an MMA match or a no holds barred match.

So it felt natural, thank God, but it felt so natural with what they were doing in there and the reality of what they were doing in there. It just felt like I was right at home with what I was doing prior to getting into pro wrestling. So I thought that both those guys did a great job at understanding the moment, who I was, where I came from, and what kind of match they put on. That's just the greatness of guys like Stone Cold and Bret Hart. It's not just the ability to be able to do matches, put together different types of matches, but understand the culture and the climate in which you're going into depending on where you're at. Those guys were really great at understanding what would work. As you saw in that match, they put on a tremendous [match], just the greatest of all time, and I just so happened to be a part of it. So yeah, it was, again, like I said, had my doubts going into it. But after I was in it for a split second, I felt right at home."

Ken Shamrock on finding his character in wrestling:

Not coming from a wrestling background, Shamrock knew that some moves would not fit his repertoire, but Bret Hart understood how the MMA fighter should have been presented:

"A lot of my understanding of the character in which I was supposed to be, I credit a lot of that to Bret. He helped me understand that I'm not a pro wrestler, and that's be they brought me in as this World's Most Dangerous Man. To go out there and do hip tosses and leapfrogs and these things, that's just not me. That's not who they brought me in for. They brought me in for what I was famous for, and that was submitting guys.

So after I understood that and was able to implement those different types of holds into it, I was able to actually start feeling comfortable. But like I said, with the friendship I had with Bret and all the other guys that really bond together to help me. Whenever I got into a match with somebody, I would always ask them, What do you think we should do? I know I got to keep to my thing, and I know that some of the stuff is so unfamiliar with a lot of them that a lot of times I just did it, I took them down, or I do whatever I did, and I just got in the hold. Then they would do what they naturally would do to fight, to get out of it, and that's kind of how the matches went.

I was very fortunate, like I said, to develop friendships, not only with Bret, but with Stone Cold and The Rock and Shawn Michaels, all of them that I was able to go in the ring with. I was able to develop friendships through being able to work on matches and understanding of the psychology of it, and understanding of how things were able to go when you do those kinds of things with people, you start developing relationships and friendships with them, and I was fortunate to do that."

On not being accepted at first:

On top of not being a wrestler before signing with WWF, Shamrock’s MMA background led to some unease in the locker room, which Shamrock acknowledged that the pushback was justified:

"No [I wasn’t], I think rightfully so. There was pushback, not necessarily on whether I was there or not there, but pushback a little bit on whether or not they felt safe. Because wrestling is really trust and depending on people to be where they're supposed to be in certain critical situations. Because if they're not, people get hurt. So I take a lot of that in the beginning because of who I was. I was a big, strong guy, and I was this badass guy.

I'm coming into this world of wrestling where there's a lot of trust supposed to be built amongst one another, and being in the right places at the right time. With me having the ability that I have naturally, to go in there and put a lot of trust in me and be able to understand I'm going to be where I'm supposed to be, because I could severely, severely hurt someone. It wouldn't be because I did it to do that, but it's because their guard’s down.

It's because they're vulnerable and you're responsible for taking care of each of those individuals that you step inside those ropes with, you're responsible for them just as they are for you. So there was a lot of that at first of like not truly being comfortable with going in there with me, not knowing whether or not I was going to be doing the things I needed to do to protect myself and them."

On Owen Hart:

Although some wrestlers were not able to grasp the MMA style and submission-based offence, Owen Hart was different, and Shamrock knew right away that he was one he could have the more unique matches with:

"Owen was easy. He was another one of those guys that you could sit down and talk with them and put stuff together that was simple. He also understood my character and who I needed to be. I do not believe, other than someone like Steve Blackman or people like that, like Owen, who have abilities to be able to understand submissions and be able to understand locks and different things.

So getting in with Owen, like I said, it was easy. It was like the minute I started talking to him, he understood the things I had to do. I do not believe that there's too many people that could go into that den and be able to put on a mask like we did. There's no ropes, there's no turnbuckles, there's no going outside. I mean, you had to go off the cage and sides of it. There's no bouncy ring, so when you landed, it was stiff. So it was a real, not for us, felt natural for me, but for a lot of people that are in the industry of pro wrestling, to go into a place like that, the den, and be able to put on a match that everybody enjoyed was very, very difficult.

But understanding Vince and understanding his mindset, and being able to think about stuff like that that he could put together that would be different, but still exciting, and putting the right people together."

On facing Shawn Michaels after The Montreal Screwjob:

Facing Shawn Michaels following one of the most controversial pro wrestling moments at that point, Shamrock stated that there were no issues on his side, despite his previous friendship with Bret Hart, who walked out of the company after the incident took place:

"I was friends with all of them. I didn't have issues with anyone. I've had problems with different guys, but life's too short to hold on to things that are just out of your control. But Shawn Michaels was from all the things that I heard and how he was, you know, I never saw it. I thought we were great together. We worked good together.

He was pleasant to me, respectful to me. We put on a great match, but again, I can see some of the things that unfolded, where I could see why people would say those things about Shawn, but I think the real Shawn we see now today, I think now you see who he really is, and he's a good guy."

On working with The Rock:

During Shamrock’s time in the WWF, Rocky Maivia transformed into The Rock, the global megastar fans went on to first hate and then love. Recalling his rivalry with Rock, Shamrock instantly saw that there was something special:

"He was another one. You sat down, you could tell immediately that his mind was different than everyone else's. The way that he saw things, how he put matches together, being able to tie in what I did to what he does, being able to have those different swerves when it came to the finishes, or even in the middle of the match, where you want to pick it up and drop it real quick.

He just had that mindset that he saw things before they happened. So you see right away, or at least I saw right away the mindset was there, and he started to develop that as we were doing our matches together. He started feeling very comfortable and confident in in the direction that his character was going to go.

The minute they got him out of The Nation, the minute they handed him the mic, stars went off. It was just unbelievable. I don't think I've ever seen a transformation like that in my life that quick, where literally just handed him the mic and game over."

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex Hunt is and has been a professional wrestling fan for over 20 years after getting hooked on WWE SmackDown every Saturday morning during the Ruthless Aggression Era.

Along with being the owner and writer for news and analysis website Features of Wrestling, Alex is also the transcriber and researcher for Chris Van Vliet. He previously worked for Inside The Ropes as the head writer and transcriber with more than 5,000 articles published, and was also on AEW media calls with Tony Khan.

When Alex isn’t writing about wrestling professionally, he spends the majority of his spare time running, playing guitar or watching F1 with his cat Ron.