10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Ken Shamrock

10. He Wrestled Professionally Before Coming To WWE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjNueXC15WQ When Ken Shamrock first showed up on WWE television in February of 1997, he was billed as having arrived straight out of Ultimate Fighting Championship. While that was true - Shamrock's last UFC fight before joining WWE was a mere two months earlier - it didn't tell the whole story. Yes, Shamrock was a pioneer of mixed martial arts, but before that, he was a pro wrestler. Shamrock trained to wrestle in 1988, and then started to make a splash in Southeastern U.S. independent promotions. As Wayne Shamrock, he debuted for Atlantic Coast Wrestling and as Vince Torelli, he captured the South Atlantic Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship. After heading to Japan, he competed for the shoot-style Universal Wrestling Federation and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. While the matches in these leagues were worked, Shamrock and fellow pro wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki decided to try a more legitimate form of combat. They created Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling, a league with pro wrestling rules but (mostly) non-predetermined matches. Shamrock excelled in Pancrase and soon made his way to UFC.