10 Ways MMA Has Influenced Modern WWE

The WWE has come a long way over the years, and looks very, very different from the product early fans were familiar with in the 80s (or technically earlier, if you include the World Wide Wrestling Federation and its predecessors).

Kayfabe is virtually dead. WWE Superstars are, more and more, real athletes, while at the same time, being real actors, with top level training. Fans get a behind the scenes look at the business week in and week out on the WWE network with shows like WWE Tough Enough.

And the influence of other fields, especially combat sports, can be felt throughout the product.

None, however, has had the impact that mixed martial arts has.

The wrestling business has long coveted the legitimacy that "real" fighters bring, and continues to do so, even in an era where fans everywhere know that the product is a "work." Why? Well, for one, that sort of legitimacy brings eyeballs. Look no further than the fact that Brock Lesnar re-signing with the WWE was featured on ESPN - and that fact that the network is now giving a little more time to the WWE, when in the past, it wouldn't have given them the time of day.

It doesn't end there however. The influence MMA has had on the WWE goes much further - here's how. 

Just because the sport influenced pro wrestling, it doesn't mean it was for the better. Luckily, this one can't be laid at the feet of the WWE, for while the McMahon family would come to own rival WCW, they were their own entity when they signed up one of the lesser names on the market from the early UFC: Tank Abbott.

When you think of those early days in the UFC and MMA in general, you think of names like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, etc. And you might think of Tank Abbott, though he never actually progressed all that far in the sport. 

Abbott was still a regular, however, and a former title challenger in the UFC. Plus, he had a certain look to him that the WCW - and no doubt some opponents - found intimidating. So the promotion snapped him up, originally to feud with the unstoppable Goldberg, under the guise that Abbott was a "legit" fighter, despite having a rather poor 8-7 record at the time.

The feud never materialized, and Abbott quickly washed out of WCW, but not before highlighting how the business felt it needed a rub from "legit" fighters (boxers have had a similar influence, with slightly great success). Fellow UFC vets like Shamrock and Severn, who both had wrestling backgrounds, were (luckily) more successful.