Marc Serota/AP Images for WrestleMania John David Mercer-USA TODAY SportsĬM Punk began his foray into pro wrestling as part of the backyard wrestling movement in the mid-1990s, before moving on to a variety of indie promotions - a run that that culminated with Ring of Honor in 2002. The MMA world he returned to was a far different one, and though the UFC Hall of Famer only won a handful of his fights from there on out, Shamrock's trilogy against Tito Ortiz helped raise the profile of the UFC's heavyweight division. His WWF career lasted until late 1999, as Shamrock became an Intercontinental champion and tag team champion while maintaining an intense persona as "The World's Most Dangerous Man." He stepped away from the WWF to resume his MMA career in 2000, but he subsequently performed for TNA wrestling in its early days and even became NWA heavyweight champion Shamrock's last recorded match was against Josh Barnett in Japan in 2004. Shamrock split his time between Pancrase and the UFC over the next four years, and he became both the first ever Pancrase Openweight champion and the first UFC Superfight champion.Īfter pushing his MMA record to 23-5-2 in December 1996, Shamrock moved his focus over to the then-WWF, where he made his TV debut in February 1997. After winning his first fight, he lost via submission to Royce Gracie in the semifinals. 12, 1993, just four days after winning his third pro fight in Japan, Shamrock competed in UFC 1 in Denver in the first of its one-night-only tournaments. What many fans don't know is that before he began his professional MMA career with Pancrase in Japan in 1993, Shamrock trained to become a professional wrestler and performed throughout the early '90s in the United States and Japan. Though Dan Severn made the crossover at a similar time, Shamrock was the first UFC fighter that most pro wrestling fans became familiar with in the 1990s. He's a two-time NWA world heavyweight champion and NWA Hall of Famer, and Severn also spent a year-and-a-half stretch with the WWE in the late 1990s. In a parallel of his UFC Hall of Fame career, Severn also put together a fairly illustrious pro wrestling career. Severn last performed for the company in September 2002 at UFC 27, but he continued to fight all over the world for the next 17 years his professional record now sits at a staggering 101-19-7. He would eventually lose a unification fight for the first UFC heavyweight championship to Mark Coleman in 1997. Severn won the UFC 5 tournament, but he lost the first ever UFC Superfight championship bout against Ken Shamrock, in a time when there were no weight classes.Īfter winning the UFC's Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament, Severn won a split decision over Shamrock to win the title. At UFC 4, when the format was a single-elimination one-night tournament, Severn lost in the finals to Royce Gracie after a single continuous round that lasted over 15 minutes. After a collegiate wrestling career that saw Severn become a three-time All-American at Arizona State, Severn eventually found his way to professional fighting and the UFC in December 1994. No matter the format of the fight, be it Greco-Roman or freestyle wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu or almost anything else, Severn was willing to throw down with anyone who crossed his path. Zuffa LLC/Getty Images Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images
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