A number of wrestlers have tried their hand at the MMA game over the years, with varying degrees of success. For every Brock Lesnar, or even Bobby Lashley, there's a Ludvig Borga. MMA and Pro Wrestling are more different than most fans realize - both are physical and take a toll on the body, and both require participants to have excellent stamina/cardio, but the similarities end there. MMA training camps and bouts are very different from processional wrestling, and vice-versa, which is why cross-over success is so rare. In wrestling you need to learn to take bumps, execute moves, and protect your opponent; in MMA you're going in for the finish. Neither should be taken likely, but it's harder to move from one to the other than you might think. And while skills on the mic can help sell an MMA fight, once in the cage, only your actual fighting ability is of any use to you. Still, there are a number of big wrestling stars who consider themselves fans of mix martial arts, and several of them have trained in a variety of fight disciplines. Many pro wrestlers have black belts in jiu-jitsu, and there are plenty of former amateur and catch wrestlers in the WWE and other promotions. Does that mean they have what it takes to win inside, or even compete in, the cage? No, but the groundwork is there, and had they really made a go of it, there's a good chance some of them could have been at least moderately successful. So with all that in mind, lets take a look at five WWE superstars who could have made the jump to the MMA world.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
