10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Dec 21)

8. Tank Abbott Had To Restrain Himself During His WCW Debut

This article series has told before how Vince Russo once pitched that MMA-fighter-turned-pro-wrestler Tank Abbott become WCW World Champion. The idea didn't go down well at all in creative meetings, and the company decided to go in another direction. They might not have had a choice to make had Tank not restrained himself in 1999.

In May of that year, Abbott made his WCW TV debut in a segment on Thunder with Rick Steiner. The idea was simple: Rick, annoyed that the shoot fighter was in his world, would get in Tank's face and they'd have a brief scuffle. Unfortunately for WCW, Steiner legit socked Abbott in the face and nearly caused a scene.

In an interview with The Hannibal TV, Tank revealed how he very nearly jumped over the security barricade and took Rick down after feeling a fist hit his face. As he was new to the pro wrestling world and didn't want to cause any problems, he decided to keep his cool and refrained from fighting back for real.