Ken Shamrock recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Kevin Kellam ahead of his Valor Bare Knuckle boxing promotion’s debut event next month. Shamrock talked about his pro wrestling career, where he was introduced to the WWE world as “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” and it was capped off with an Intercontinental Championship run and a King Of The Ring tournament win. He says he started wrestling early on, but he was able to connect the dots from his real-life street fighter persona to professional wrestling when Bret Hart told him to stick to what he knows.
“I think that it was real – I started out early on before I ever started my professional fighting career, as a pro wrestler in North Carolina, and I had some success there. I didn’t do anything big, but I had some success. Then I had the opportunity to go to Japan and fight in Pancrase and from that, I went on to UFC and did some things there. And then went into pro wrestling.
One thing that I learned, and I got a lot of that from Bret Hart, was that, when WWF brought me in, they brought me in to be “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.” The submission specialist. So therefore when I was working with Bret to prepare myself to go into pro wrestling, that’s what Bret told me, ‘Don’t change. Be yourself. Go in the ring, don’t do the things – somebody tries to call a spot for you to do all these wrestling moves.’ He says people will just, they won’t register, because they’re looking at someone that they know where you come from, and they’re not going to buy anything else you’re doing. You need to be the guy you are. So you throw your ankle locks, and you throw your armbars and your chokes, and your punches and your kicks, while you’re in the pro wrestling ring.
So I really did. I just kind of mastered me and just put myself in that ring and just went through it like I was sparring in a match without trying to hurt somebody. I just went in there and tried to spar with guys.”
Valor Bare Knuckle debuts on Saturday, September 21 at the 4 Bears Casino in New Town, North Dakota. The one night, 4 man tournament will be available for purchase on pay-per-view and streaming outlets, including FITE, DirecTV and Dish Network.
