10 Times Wrestling And MMA Were A Bad Mix

5. Lion’s Den Weapon Match

Listen WWE, you can have a Lion’s Den match, or you can have a weapons match, but you can’t have both! At SummerSlam '98, we were introduced to the peculiar looking Lion’s Den. It was a small cage where two competitors were locked into battle with each other, and mainly relied on submission moves and strike attacks to mimic an MMA fight.

However, the ring was smaller than a traditional MMA one, and it was set up near the entryway in an awkward position that left most of the fans in the arena unable to see what was going on. It seemed like a one-and-done gimmick, but it popped up a couple more times, most noticeably at the following year's SummerSlam with Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman in a Lion’s Den weapon match.

The thing is, putting weapons in there defeated the whole point of the match, in that it was supposed to be like an actual fight. But when two dudes are closely confined and swinging a Singapore cane at each other, it kind of defies believability. This ended up being the last big Lion’s Den match, as it was quietly retired...waiting for the perfect time to make its comeback to finally settle a Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil feud.