Shamrock aims for World title
By GREG OLIVER --
SLAM! Sports
These days, Ken Shamrock has one thing on his mind -- the WWF World
Title.
"Whether it be Stone Cold, The Undertaker, Kane, I don't care to fight
one or the other person," said Shamrock over the phone to SLAM!
Wrestling. "To me, it's whoever has that belt that I want."
There is no arguing that 'The World's Most Dangerous Man' has ascended
to the top ranks of the WWF roster, but he has yet to win a title.
When this is mentioned, Shamrock is ready with an answer.
"Let's face it. In my prior matches, I've wrestled Shawn Michaels and
I've beaten him, although it was a DQ. As anybody who has seen the
matches with Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Stone Cold ... I've
had my shots at these guys, and I've taken them to the limit."
Shamrock did win the King Of The Ring and credits that for his vault to
the top.
"I've got the opportunity to go for the Championship Belt, so why worry
about the European, Intercontinental or any of the other belts when I
have the opportunity to get the big one."
Shamrock's temper has cost him matches and titles. He had Rocky Maivia
beat for the I-C title at WrestleMania 14, but decided to further
punish The Rock and attacked the WWF officials when they tried to stop
him.
"Yeah, I lose my temper, pretty much not to where I'm out of control,
but basically it's part of my game plan," he said. "It's called The
Zone. Once I snap, it's time to go home."
Ken Shamrock took up pro wrestling in 1988 at the suggestion of his
adopted father, in a period of his life where he "was kind of in limbo".
He started his wrestling training under the late Buzz Sawyer in the
Carolinas, and didn't have too much nice to say about the experience.
"I was going nowhere. I learned nothing. Basically, I was just
wrestling guys, and when they came to tryout, I'd beat them up and
they'd quit. Buzz would make the money."
He left Saywer and hooked up with Nelson Royal and Gene Anderson in
South Atlantic Pro Wrestling. Shamrock spent two years in the territory,
wrestling for a time as Wayne Shamrock, but usually as Vince Tortelli.
He held the SAPW title for a while, having beaten Chris Chavis (who
later became Tatanka) in a tournament final.
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Shamrock vs Owen Hart in The Dungeon at In Your House: Fully Loaded.
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But pro wrestling wasn't enough for Shamrock, and he found his true
calling in shoot fighting in Japan with Pro Wrestling Fujiwara-Gumi and
later Pancraese, and in North America with the Ultimate Fighting
Championships.
When asked about similarities between pro wrestling and shoot fighting,
Shamrock insisted there are none.
"You're talking about getting kicked in the face, open hand strikes to
the face, and you get your joints twisted around. It's nowhere near the
same."
In late 1995 at UFC VI, Shamrock defeated Dan Severn to become the
first UFC Superfight Champion. Then in May 1996, the two faced off
again, this time the match went to a draw, and the scorers awarded the
match to Severn by a vote of 2-1.
Though Severn has followed Shamrock into the WWF, he doesn't feel that
there is any professional rivalry. "I think that left as soon as I left
the UFC and got in the WWF," he said.
For a time, it looked like the WWF was building towards a feud between
the two fighters, though that appears to have been dropped from the
immediate plans.
"At this point in time, I want to move forward and not backwards,"
Shamrock explained. "And I think by me taking on Severn, it's a step
backwards. In the UFC, he made a name for himself and we fought and I
beat him. Then we did another match which ended up in a draw. And then I
made a change to go into the WWF. I've really excelled myself to be one
of the top WWF superstars. And I think Severn is still struggling. For
me to wrestle him now, get something going with him now, would be a step
back for me. No disrespect for Dan, or his ability, but he needs to step
up and put himself in the position to wrestle me, and not me to wrestle
him."
The biggest unfinished business for Shamrock from his UFC days is his
lingering desire to get in there again against either Hickson or Royce
Gracie.
"They have a legend about both of them. I thrashed one of them in my
last fight, which was Royce, and he had never come back, never accepted
my challenge after that. Hickson has always boasted that he's the
greatest fighter in the world, but he's never stepped up and put it on
the line in the United States."
Shamrock claimed that if given the chance, he would "absolutely" get
back into shoot fighting.
"That's in my blood. I'm a fighter. That's what I do, that's who I am.
That's what I portray in the WWF. I'm no nonsense, and I take no crap."
In February 1997, Shamrock signed with the WWF, and was immediately
thrust into the storyline as a special referee for a Bret Hart vs Steve
Austin match. However, when he started wrestling, Shamrock quickly
realized that he was a bit out of his league.
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Shamrock loses it against Rocky Maivia at WrestleMania 14.
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He trained with Tom Pritchard in Stamford at the WWF training facility,
then went to Bret Hart's Calgary home for more schooling.
"I needed to move on and learn more about psychology and how matches
are put together and taken apart."
The skills he picked up have helped him move up the WWF ladder, but
haven't helped in his search for a regular partner to watch his back.
"Almost every tag team partner I've had, except for Blackman, has
turned on me -- Mark Henry, Owen Hart," he recalled. "When I was growing
up, I never really had close friends. It's hard to trust somebody to
watch your back ... I've always kind of been a loner, pretty much done my
own thing."
His best friends on the circuit are Steve Blackman and Billy Gunn, "the
two guys that I hang around the most."
Blackman makes any interesting comparison to Shamrock. Both are
legitimately skilled in fighting, and both have been schooled in Calgary
by the Hart Family.
"Me and Blackman have got similar styles," said Shamrock. "We both know
submission. We both know kicking and punches. And we're both not
wrestlers, but fighters. I would enjoy getting into the ring with him
and then go. But we're friends. We have our disagreements. ... What
happens down the road, that's up to him. I'm doing my thing."
Shamrock's biography was recently published by Charles F. Tuttle Co. Author Richard Henner had
his subject's full blessing to delve into his past, and according to
Shamrock, Henner (and co-author Calixtro Romias) dug out some gems.
"Rich spent a lot of time with my wife, my children, my fighters, my
dad -- people I had known in the past, and got a lot of inside stories
on me -- things I didn't even remember.
"He put it together and I read it, and it actually brought tears to my
eyes in a couple of spots."
RELATED LINKS
Ken Shamrock story archive
