During the mid-2000s, WWE executive Tommy Dreamer attempted to get at-the-time unpolished street fighting legend Kimbo Slice signed to become a pro wrestler. This week, Dreamer spoke with the official WWE website about the process of attempting to get what became one of MMA’s most controversial figures into the “sports entertainment” profession.
Dreamer saw the same tapes that went viral and made Kimbo Slice an international phenomenon and admittedly, it was all it took for Dreamer to have interest in potentially bringing the street fighter into WWE.
“His manager sent me a very impressive demo reel. Back then, it was on a VHS tape and I was totally in awe of what I was seeing. It was all street fighting and him cutting promos. I had no clue who he was and I was captivated once I saw him.”
Dreamer says he spoke to Kimbo and his manager and Kimbo, being a WWE fan, was all about it. He presented Kimbo’s tape to John Laurinaitis, WWEs’ head of talent relations. Laurinaitis was impressed, but was also concerned with his age and lack of in-ring experience. Dreamer said, “Who cares? Let him learn on the road, this guy is getting a reputation, blah, blah, blah …”
WWE ultimate decided not to sign him, mainly because he would be embarking on a WWE career a few years too late. What would have happened if the deal had gone down?
“If you think about that time, we had Brock Lesnar and we had Kurt Angle. To me, [Kimbo’s] a modern day Clubber Lang who can really back it up. I can remember being in the crowd when Mr. T hopped the guardrail before the first WrestleMania and when I first saw Slice, I just saw him looking into the camera like Clubber Lang and saying, “Pain.” A guy who is just too extreme for the world and is an underground fighter, and that is how I would have introduced him in WWE. I think he would have been a huge star in our industry if he had pursued it.”
