Pro Wrestlers becoming MMArtists becoming Pro Wrestlers

[jobesukulele]

Seeing as this is very much topical right now. There's an article posted on WZ about King Mo possibly attempting to pursue a Pro Wrestling career following his recent dismissal from Strikeforce.

Here: http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/252721-exclusive-another-mma-fighter-wants-to-follow-lesnar-to-wwe

I'm gonna talk then ask a few questions for discussion.

I saw a comment under it, some guy saying there's more MMA guys he'd like to see in Pro Wrestling than there is Pro Wrestlers he'd like to see make the transition to MMA.

Personally I don't see the goofy Wrestling environment fitting Mo, but it got me thinking, and I was determined to come up with more Pro Wrestlers going into MMA than the other way around... but I couldn't manage it.

There's guys like Kurt Angle, Taker, Punk, Danielson, Swagger, Ziggler, a whole bunch of TNA/Indie wrestlers who I think would be interesting to see tested in a real sporting combat environment, but if I had to pick either wrestling or MMA. No mixing, just one or the other I reckon I'd choose to keep all of them in wrestling.

Then with MMA guys in Pro Wrestling the list is just huge. For a start every single guy on the main card for UFC 146 I think could be a potential force in WWE.
Frank Mir for example has got size, charisma and a marketable look. JDS is a Brazilian who could come in as an Alberto Del Rio type... except actually tough.
The rest on that card for similar reasons, I'm sure their talking wouldn't be great but their sheer size and aggressive physicality is exactly what I personally feel Pro Wrestling is missing most these days (I know why. That's not for this thread).
Then there's guys like GSP and Chael Sonnen who to be quite honest could wrestle Kurt Angle to a pulp (Maybe it'd be more even with Kurt in his prime and not an alcoholic. What do you think?)

BUT. Again. Same as with the Pro Wrestlers I don't think there's any MMA fighters that I'd ever exclusively pick to transfer full time into wrestling if it meant them not being in MMA any more. Shame we can't have it all.

SO. The Questions!

1] What Pro Wrestlers would you like to see give MMA a legit shot (If any)? What ones do you think are tough enough to do it (Whether you'd actually want to see it or not)?

2] Same as "1]" but MMArtists going into Pro Wrestling? And; instead of toughness: What ones do you think would have the required stage presence/ microphone personality required?

3] Anything else relevant that you might want to throw in?

 

[Uncle Sam]

Remember Frank Trigg? I'm sure a lot of MMA fans would, but I remember him from his time in TNA. Around the time Samoa Joe beat Kurt Angle for the world title in that cage match, Frank Trigg appeared as Angle's trainer or friend or lover or one of the three. He may have been in the Angle Alliance or whatever TNA's heel stable was being called that particular month.

I thought Trigg showed a fair bit of promise - he was more competent on the microphone than your average wrestler and obviously physically capable. TNA capitalised on this by putting him in a match with AJ Styles. No-brainer, right? AJ's a great wrestler; you'd presumably learn a lot from wrestling him and he could likely carry you to something approaching a decent match. Problem was, the match was made into a 'MMA-style match' or some such. Whereas AJ could have carried the match with some high flying offense and taking some bumps, the two instead cautiously felt each other out for five minutes before AJ lost the match thanks to an unintentional low blow. Ingenious!

The Wikipedia entry is good for a giggle:

At No Surrender (2008) he faced A.J. Styles in an MMA style match, the match going to a draw due to an "unintentional" low blow on Trigg. The crowd was hostile to both combatants, chanting "This is bullshit", "We want wrestling", and "Fire Russo". After the match, Styles beat down Trigg using a kendo stick and declared that "I'm a wrestler, I don't do this crap!". Trigg has not appeared since the match.

DH Smith said on Colt Cabana's podcast that he was training to be a mixed martial artist. I'd be very surprised if we ever heard about that again.

Edit:

I don't know how you mentioned Alberto Del Rio without mentioning this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Biz3sfhqWY&t=4m11s

 

[BaconBits]

There are very few full time professional wrestlers that would be any good in mixed martial arts. Very few. In fact, to be honest, I can only think of one who has any chance at becoming anything even close to a contender.

That man is Jack Swagger. Dude has amateur wrestling skills out the wazoo and is a lanky dude. His height and reach coupled with the threat of a takedown would make for an interesting matchup with anybody. It would take extensive training in the striking game to even get him to be able to compete at a high level, though.

Now, going the other way, I could think of a few mixed martial artists who might make an interesting wrassler.

Oh, and Alberto Del Rio's mma career is/was a fucking joke. He's a can who has only beaten other cans.

Josh Barnett has wrestled extensively in Japan.This one is kind of a no brainer.

Same with Bob Sapp. He's got a great look for wrestling too.

King Mo has the personality by the pound and a built in gimmick. He has trained in pro wrestling. He could make a splash.

Rampage Jackson has a built in gimmick, too. He doesn't talk particularly well, though, and that might be a stumbling block.

Roy Nelson would be fun. He's surprisingly athletic for his rather sloppy proportions. He could have like an everyman gimmick and make it work. He's talked of perhaps giving wrasslin' a go before.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

Remember Frank Trigg? I'm sure a lot of MMA fans would, but I remember him from his time in TNA. Around the time Samoa Joe beat Kurt Angle for the world title in that cage match, Frank Trigg appeared as Angle's trainer or friend or lover or one of the three. He may have been in the Angle Alliance or whatever TNA's heel stable was being called that particular month.

I thought Trigg showed a fair bit of promise - he was more competent on the microphone than your average wrestler and obviously physically capable. TNA capitalised on this by putting him in a match with AJ Styles. No-brainer, right? AJ's a great wrestler; you'd presumably learn a lot from wrestling him and he could likely carry you to something approaching a decent match. Problem was, the match was made into a 'MMA-style match' or some such. Whereas AJ could have carried the match with some high flying offense and taking some bumps, the two instead cautiously felt each other out for five minutes before AJ lost the match thanks to an unintentional low blow. Ingenious!

The Wikipedia entry is good for a giggle:



DH Smith said on Colt Cabana's podcast that he was training to be a mixed martial artist. I'd be very surprised if we ever heard about that again.

Edit:

I don't know how you mentioned Alberto Del Rio without mentioning this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Biz3sfhqWY&t=4m11s

Oh man, I was at that TNA event in Oshawa, Ontario where they had the MMA match. It was brutal. I love wrestling and I love MMA, but they made such a mockery of both, it was ridiculous. I think the point was to show TNA fans how bad MMA can be, there were a lot of rest holds and the action was slow paced, but in the end, it served to show how bad TNA was. We were all excited to see Trigg and Styles in action, but we would have much rather preferred a traditional wrestling match to that crapfest.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

Speaking to OP's point about MMA artists getting into pro wrestling, I find nothing wrong with that. I wish more people from professional sports, whether it be football defensive linemen or MMA practitioners, would get into the sport. If John Cena and Dwayne Johnson never stopped playing football, the wrestling world would be very, very different right now.

I just hope MMA fighters can make the transition as well as Ken Shamrock did.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

1] What Pro Wrestlers would you like to see give MMA a legit shot (If any)? What ones do you think are tough enough to do it (Whether you'd actually want to see it or not)?

2] Same as "1]" but MMArtists going into Pro Wrestling? And; instead of toughness: What ones do you think would have the required stage presence/ microphone personality required?

3] Anything else relevant that you might want to throw in?

1. Kurt Angle.

Two of the greatest Heavywieght fighters in UFC history, Randy Couture, and Mark Kerr. Couture is arguably the best UFC fighter of all time, and Kerr was as big and powerfull as Lesnar, and dominated the UFC in his short run in 1997.

Kurt Angle mopped up the floor with Couture, and Kerr in real freestyle wrestling matches.

I can't imagine how good he would have been in his prime, and I'm willing to bet that in his old age, the man has forgotten more about grappling than most prime UFC fighters know. Angle was the most legit, credible thing pro wrestling ever had. He was the pro wrestler that could legitimately have whooped anyone's ass on the planet. WWE should have wrapped the belt around his waist, and kept it their for like 5 strait years, like a Bruno Sammartino type of reign. Absolutely the best actual wrestler to ever compete in the WWE. 30 years from now people are going to look back and wonder why the WWE ever let him go, and why he wasn't the champion for like...ever.

Another guy that would have been great was Mike Awesome. The guy was massive, explosive, and could move like a cat. I think he could have made a serious run in the heavywieght division of MMA in the early 2000's.

I also think the Ultimate Warrior could have been a killer in the early days of MMA. The guy was 250 lbs with 0% bodyfat, and was a nonstop cardio machine. Think about it, the guy would sprint to the ring full speed, and go 100% for the duration of his matches. Unheard of for a man his size.

Rob Van Dam is another that I think would have been legendary in MMA. He has a legit kickboxing background, and his speed, and agility for his size(220) was incredible.

2. Chael Sonnen is the best mic worker in the UFC. His fights are boring, yet he still draws because he is the only fighter in the company that knows how to make a fight interesting with his mouth.

Chuck Liddell/Tito Ortiz- I don't understand why these guys didn't do pro wrestling once they fell out of their primes. Why keep getting your brain scambled? They need money, and I don't understand why they have never considered the fine art of Pro wrestling for a living. 2 of the very small handfull of MMA personalities through the years that have had the "It" factor as far as charisma goes.

3. Pro Wrestling and MMA are closely related in several ways that people don't realize. The biggest connection was the Japanese Pride FC promotion. It was at one time the worlds premier MMA promotion, and it was founded, and run by Pro Wrestling people. The shows were spectacles that could rival Wrestlemania in showmanship. Fighters had elaborate entrances, and the matchups were always unique in a pro wrestling way.

Pride was awesome because they didn't always necessarily bring in the best fighters, but the most interesting characters(Bob Sapp, Alberto Del Rio, James Thompson, Butterbean, Giant Silva, Nathan Jones, etc). The way they would build up to a big fight was also very pro wrestling-like. Don Frye vs Ken Shamrock at Pride 19, and the Royce Gracie vs Kazushi Sakuraba both had pro wrestling style build ups. Pride even had worked fights to build up a fighter into a star, or to set up a big superfight, it all felt like a pro wrestling show, but 90% of the fights were legit. They had Sakuraba win a series of quick squash matches leading up to his fight with Gracie where he really looked like a phenom, and became a Japanese icon. Gracie defeated Sakuraba's trainer(Nobohiko Takada) in a worked fight before he fought Sakuraba to help build up what became the biggest MMA fight ever up to that point in history.

People forget that Pro Wrestling's roots are Catch Wrestling. Catch Wrestling was real submission wrestling. It was a legit martial art that has been all but forgotten.

Catch wrestling matches got to a point where they were unwatchable stalemates, so they started to choreograph, and predetermine the outcomes to keep asses in the seats.

Billy Robinson was an original catch wrestler schooled in the legendary catch wrestling camp "The Snake Pit". Robinson went on to have a successfull pro wrestling career, and then went on to train a few of the best MMA fighters on the planet.

The fighters that founded Pride FC were trained in pro wrestling by Billy Robinson. Kazushi Sakuraba was Robinsons' star pupil, and he went on to be the first person to ever defeat Royce Gracie in an MMA fight.