Although many have endorsed the prospect of Conor McGregor moving into professional wrestling, Ken Shamrock clearly does not
The UFC Hall of Famer recently spoke to BloodyElbow.com about McGregor’s options post-MMA and was far from encouraging when it came to the UFC lightweight champion’s chances inside the WWE.
Granted, Shamrock certainly knows what he is on about. Afterall, he enjoyed a stellar career in MMA and pro wrestling himself:
“Conor McGregor would, I believe, have a really tough time trying to transfer over from the combat sport into the entertainment sport,” Shamrock said. “Not to say he can’t; it’s possible for anybody. Just because he’s a lighter weight, he would have to have a whole lot of different types of moves in order for it to make sense for him to get in there and be able to wrestle the bigger guys.
“Listen, the guy’s tremendous, great athletic ability. But he’s a lightweight. And (there are few smaller-sized athletes in pro wrestling), other than guys that are high flying and have a lot of tremendous ability and their flexibility and movements and head scissors and all those fancy things they do in pro wrestling, which takes a long time to learn.”
The psychological aspect of the transition is also something Shamrock believes may go against the 29-year-old should he make the switch to the WWE:
“Could you imagine somebody trying to go from a sporting event into an entertainment event, and have to deal with all the psychology: putting matches together, learning how not to rip somebody’s arm off, learning how not to really punch somebody, setting up matches, making it make sense, cutting a promo — which he already knows how to do,” Shamrock said. “There’s a whole lot there. Really, really difficult to do.
“Protect him in that sense, without going out and having an actual match, and get him primed for it, I think he might have a chance,” Shamrock said. “But just to walk right in the ring and just start doing matches, it would kill him. He wouldn’t be the dominating thing that everybody’s used to seeing.”
