Wrestling promotions attempting to take advantage of the MMA craze is nothing new; New Japan tried it with the infamous Inokism philosophy and is failed hard. WWE tried it several times and had varying degrees of success, with Brock Lesnar being their best success story. But it was in WCW where the idea was put to the ultimate testand crashed and burned. WCW brought in Tank Abbott because he was one of the first big names in MMA. Its possible that he was meant to mirror the success WWF had with Ken Shamrock who, though never reaching the top of the company, was still an interesting act in Vinces company. Abbott, on the other hand, was presented as a monster so powerful that he could knock someone out with one punch. Does that sound like it belongs in a wrestling match, a contest which is built on back-and-forth momentum swings, ring psychology and complex storytelling? Absolutely not. Originally intended on being an opponent for Goldberg, Vince Russo proposed that Abbott become WCW Champion. Considering how uninspiring Abbott was as a wrestler, this terrible idea led to Russo being fired from his position as head writer for suggesting such a move. In the end, Abbott competed against other martial artists in a WCW ring, and became 3 Counts biggest fan, for whatever reason. Hopefully, future wrestling bookers can learn from the failure of the Tank Abbott experience: just because someone has legitimate fighting experience does not mean that they will be able to be successful in scripted fighting.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
