MMA and Pro Wrestling legend, Ken Shamrock spoke with Denise Salcedo from Instinct Culture. He talked about his return to IMPACT Wrestling, comparisons to the Attitude Era, the upcoming Tito Ortiz/Alberto Patron fight and more. We have some highlights below and you can watch the full video below.
Shamrock on the current IMPACT program being similar to WWE’s Attitude Era-
“First of all, watching the product it made me feel like that Attitude Era again. Like I watched the different guys there and I started looking and thinking man these guys got some really good talent. And they’re constantly going out and improving on their matches. They’re aggressive, they’re hard style, and I thought I would fit in here. So for me that’s why I really wanted to do Impact, and because I had some lineage there, I was their first champion. But just watching the matches, I thought I could fit in here cause these guys were serious and hardcore. It just made me feel like I was part of that attitude era again.”
On his match with Joey Ryan-
“Well it’s just another aspect of pro wrestling and I think when I first heard about it I was a little skeptical. But then I thought about and said you know, this is 2019/2020. Things are changed and in order for me to keep up with what’s going out there in the world, these are things I have to be able to put myself thru. I’ve got to be able to find ways to get this stuff over because that’s what 2020 is going to do. They’re going to be these kind of story-lines and diff things that are going to happen.”
“So for me going into that match, my idea was to put on the best match possibly. And I didn’t care what the people were saying on the outside because you cannot draw a line in the sand on what entertainment is or isn’t. That’s not up for us, that’s up for the people on social media and the people out there to say. And from everything I heard, it was saying that Joey Ryan was over.”
On how his return to Impact Wrestling came about-
“So I went over to Australia started doing some pro wrestling over there. I started doing these different moves, some stuff I didn’t realize I could do. I was hitting it, and I was like okay. So I made a post on my social media putting the wrestling world on notice ‘Ken Shamrocks coming back and I’m coming for the world title’.”
“And not really knowing where that was gonna go, but all of a sudden I started getting all these responses. I was out in South Africa and Australia doing all these wrestling shows and then all of a sudden here came Impact.”
On doing some things we’ve never seen from him before in his match with Moose-
“I wanted people to realize that when I made the statement that I was coming back and felt good. I wasn’t blowing some hot hair like most people would at that age. So doing that match I wanted to make sure I made a statement, letting them know I mean what I say, and I mean what I’m going to do.”
On the upcoming MMA fight between his longtime rival Tito Ortiz and Alberto El Patron-
“Alberto you know, he’s definitely got his credentials and he was a pro wrestler and I respect what he’s done. This isn’t about making friends in the business, it’s about looking at something and being real. Tito Ortiz has fought everybody in the world, there was a time they couldn’t find anyone to fight him, he was that good.”
“I know a lot of people are saying well Tito is getting a lot of love, don’t overlook Alberto. It’s like it’s not overlooking Alberto, it’s about giving credit to a guy who is a hall of famer. Who has done everything there is to do in fighting and came out on top every time. So Alberto’s got an uphill battle, it’s not about overlooking him, it’s about giving credit where credit’s due…you can almost understand why they’re overlooking him. But at the same time if I know Tito Ortiz, Tito is not overlooking him.”
If used, please credit DiscussPW.com for transcribing.
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