![\"UFC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ken-Shamrock-Admits-WWE-Was-Harder-Than-MMA.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Ken Shamrock Admits WWE Was Harder Than MMA<\/p>\n
Ken Shamrock<\/a> delivered a surprising assessment of his career, arguing that his time in WWE was more difficult on him. The UFC Hall of Famer provided a glimpse into the daily grind of pro wrestling versus that of MMA.<\/p>\n Shamrock is an MMA pioneer, having competed on the very first UFC event and helped establish Pancrase in Japan. He was also a trailblazer for WWE, carrying over his MMA background and incorporating it into his in-ring style and presentation. His pro wrestling success paved the way for other MMA fighters, including Ronda Rousey<\/a>, Matt Riddle<\/a>, and Shayna Baszler<\/a>, to follow years later.<\/p>\n Shamrock\u2019s experience competing at a high level in both carries significant weight. Given the physical demands and grueling schedule, it\u2019s understandable why he considered WWE to be more difficult.<\/p>\n Ken Shamrock Compares Physical Toll of MMA vs. WWE<\/p>\n Ken Shamrock was among the top fighters in the world when he decided to move to WWE. He was a former King of Pancrase champion and the inaugural UFC Superfight champion<\/a>. However, the UFC\u2019s ownership could not meet his financial demands, so he pursued a lucrative WWE offer.<\/p>\n Although he was putting his health at risk in MMA, Shamrock was confident in his skills and knew he could protect himself. WWE<\/a>, however, was a different challenge, as he had to trust another wrestler to execute maneuvers on him to tell a story.<\/p>\n During an appearance on\u00a0The Unyielding Spirit<\/a>, Shamrock said UFC<\/a> was much easier on him. \u2018The World\u2019s Most Dangerous Man\u2019 emphasized that WWE\u2019s schedule required him to perform physically demanding matches far more often.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you ask me in my prime, fighting was easier because I could take people out quickly. I could have a two-minute match. Over,\u201d Shamrock said. \u201cIn [pro] wrestling, we\u2019re doing 15 [minutes] if that\u2019s the slot.\u201d<\/p>\n He added:<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re taking all those bumps, you\u2019re taking the shots, you\u2019re still getting hit, you\u2019re still taking chairs, you\u2019re still getting slammed, you\u2019re still going over to the top rope. There\u2019s all these things that you are physically doing,\u201d Shamrock said. \u201cYou\u2019re doing them not one time a week, but four times a week. Over and over again. It\u2019s crazy the amount of punishment your body takes willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Shamrock Revealed He Was Called a Sellout After Leaving UFC for WWE<\/p>\n Shamrock once revealed that he was called a sellout by the MMA community after leaving UFC for WWE. The MMA pioneer said that although the decision was difficult, he felt that it was necessary to continue supporting his family, gym, and group home.<\/p>\n Shamrock recalled that being the first major UFC star to cross over to WWE<\/a> wasn\u2019t met with a positive response. However, he noted that it became accepted as time passed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of these people that are crossing over and doing [pro wrestling] now, they should be thankful that they\u2019re not the first ones to have to do it because it wasn\u2019t a pretty sight for me,\u201d Shamrock told Sportskeeda MMA in 2023<\/a>. \u201cBeing in that realm of being this celebrity in fighting and people turning on you, it\u2019s not fun. You hear a lot of things, there\u2019s nothing you could do about it. But you know, being successful heals everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGiancarlo Aulino<\/a> Giancarlo Aulino is sports writer who covers UFC for Heavy.com. He began writing for Heavy in 2025 after providing MMA coverage for Sportskeeda. Giancarlo is an experienced journalist and interviewer, having covered soccer clubs Toronto FC and York United FC as a full-season reporter, and also producing sports coverage for Toronto radio station VIBE 105.5FM.
\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on UFC\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Ken Shamrock Admits WWE Was Harder Than MMA Ken Shamrock delivered a surprising assessment of his career,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-397524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n More about Giancarlo Aulino<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n