10 Legitimate Fighters Who Competed In WWE

Like Severn, Ken Shamrock played a key role in helping to establish the UFC name during the early 1990s, and like Severn, he was eventually lured into signing for the WWE at the end of the decade under the promise of a fatter pay-cheque.

But the World's Most Dangerous Man, as he became known, had much more staying power than most of Vince McMahon's MMA experiments. He became a solid upper mid-card fixture for almost three years before departing in 1999 to resume his career in the Octagon.

This wasn't a fluke, either. Having competed in the squared circle before making the move into MMA, he really was a pretty accomplished worker, sharing great matches with The Rock at King of the Ring 1998 and Owen Hart - in a brilliantly bizarre "Lion's Den match" - a couple of months later at SummerSlam.

What ultimately prevented him from reaching the main event was perhaps his lack of ability on the mic. He had joined WWE at a time when it was deep in the throes of the Monday Night Wars, and the company had (correctly) decided that it was character and storyline that would help them overturn Nitro's ratings lead.