# 9 pro wrestlers who impacted MMA



## footodors (Aug 26, 2007)

Article from USA Today:


> From entertainment to fighting: 9 pro wrestlers who impacted MMA
> 
> Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley are far from being the first pro wrestling entertainers to convert themselves into mixed martial artists.
> 
> ...


http://content.usatoday.com/communities/mma/post/2009/07/68494433/1?csp=34


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## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

Hate him or not, Brock should be on there at least as an honorable mention.

He has definitely left his mark on MMA forever with his wins over Mir and Randy alone.


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## Villian (Jul 23, 2008)

^^ Agreed, as much as I dislike Brock he has to be on that list.


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## js1316 (Jun 17, 2007)

Davisty69 said:


> Hate him or not, Brock should be on there at least as an honorable mention.
> 
> He has definitely left his mark on MMA forever with his wins over Mir and Randy alone.


Second that, although I can't stand the meathead.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Legends*

Many of the guys on this list are MMA legends!


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## Freelancer (Jul 5, 2007)

Pro wrestling is much more than meets the eye, and I'm glad this article showed some of it.


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

I'm glad that Nobuhiko Takada is on the list. His record really doesn't reflect the impact he had on MMA.

I really do doubt that Pride would have ever been successful without him, and the more I read the more I understand that.


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## Evil Ira (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm glad to see Kazushi Sakuraba get the respect he deserves. Sure. He's old. He's run down. But he's still the man who dismantled the Gracie family one by one, at a time where everyone thought the Gracies were invincible. I wish he would retire much sooner. .


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Retirement*

Well it would be smart for him to retire relatively soon, but knowing Japanese pro-wrestlers, he'll probably still be doing that for a good decade after his MMA retirement!


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## Terry77 (Jan 5, 2007)

Freelancer said:


> Pro wrestling is much more than meets the eye, and I'm glad this article showed some of it.


Once upon a time. The Josh Barnetts and Japanese shooters that trained under Gotch are long gone. Few pro wrestlers now go through the trials of catch as catch can/pankration. On top of that stand out amateurs aren't heading to the traveling circus anymore.

Vince McMahon has turned pro wrestling into California body builders trying to act and then take some light bumps

Sakuraba deserves major props for really introducing one of the most versatile grappling skill sets to ever be seen in mma. I always liked Fujita too, he hung in there with some of the best in two eras of mma (From guys like Kerr to Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop)


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Real Pro Wrestling*

Well let us remember that early pro wrestling is considered as one source of early MMA! Back in the 20s when pro wrestling was real, submissions were allowed!


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## The Horticulturist (Feb 16, 2009)

I'll continue to pray for the day when KENTA makes the crossover............. Until then, Barnett and Mayhem (to a degree) are all I have. Pro Wrestling is STRONG, and I wish for places like ROH, NOAH, and Dragon Gate to produce some guys who want to show it.

Until then, people will classify WWE as all of prowrestling just like people who are ignorant to MMA to the same degree think that the UFC is all of mma.


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## Terry77 (Jan 5, 2007)

SuicideJohnson said:


> I'll continue to pray for the day when KENTA makes the crossover............. Until then, Barnett and Mayhem (to a degree) are all I have. Pro Wrestling is STRONG, and I wish for places like ROH, NOAH, and Dragon Gate to produce some guys who want to show it.
> 
> Until then, people will classify WWE as all of prowrestling just like people who are ignorant to MMA to the same degree think that the UFC is all of mma.


They all get killed. Just because KENTA stiffs guys in the ring with slaps and kicks doesn't mean he's able to crossover to mma. Out of all those promotions you listed, Bryan Danielson is the only guys that's trained serious and he has no intentions of getting hit


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## The Horticulturist (Feb 16, 2009)

I definitely didn't mean that current guys would crossover into UFC competition, I was just saying that more and more guys are beginning to train MMA style, and if they focused themselves, there are plenty of great athletes there who could at least have a good run in the non-ufc promotions.
But cmon, it's not like all of the guys in those promotions are going to look like Bam Bam Bigalow in his MMA bout.......

Don't worry, I know KENTA isn't like a fighting God, but he would do great in buisness in Japan, if he ever felt it inside him to pursue it.

Brian Danielson training at Xtreme Couture is cool, but he is way too nice to be in MMA anyway, and is just really a kid at heart with no intentions of hurting anyone.


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## Freelancer (Jul 5, 2007)

The thing is, pro wrestling is an art not much appreciated, with a very rich history. CACC isn't dead as long as Billy Robinson and Antonio Inoki are alive. Whether new pro wrestling generation of Japan would make it, I don't know. But to just dismiss wrestling as fake, that is just wrong, and an insult to japanese pro wrestlers.

I personally would love to see how Lou Thesz or Karl Gotch would handle themselves in MMA. But we won't have that chance.

Suicide said it well, there is much more to wrestling than just WWE.


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## The_Senator (Jun 5, 2008)

> Akira Maeda


That [expletive] talked a lot of [expletive] toward the best Olympic wrestler ever, Alexander Karelin, who later came in his organization specifically for a single match in order to shut him up and eventually beat the [expletive] out of this Japanese dude.


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

The_Senator said:


> That [expletive] talked a lot of [expletive] toward the best Olympic wrestler ever, Alexander Karelin, who later came in his organization specifically for a single match in order to shut him up and eventually beat the [expletive] out of this Japanese dude.


I wanted Karelin to fight in MMA. The professional wrestling match, I'm sorry to say, was staged.

Karelin was such a specimen, though, that he would have been a force in MMA.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Karelin*

Well Karelin could still probably make a transition into MMA if he wanted to! The only problem is that he has been out of competition for too long!


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

kantowrestler said:


> Well Karelin could still probably make a transition into MMA if he wanted to! The only problem is that he has been out of competition for too long!


He's 41. There's no way he's going to make the transition to MMA. As much as I would love to see the Karelin life in the Octagon, it's not going to happen.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Conseco all over again*

Well if he did do it, I'd imagine it would be a one time deal like Conseco and in DREAM as well!


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## The_Senator (Jun 5, 2008)

> Well Karelin could still probably make a transition into MMA if he wanted to! The only problem is that he has been out of competition for too long!


He's into politics now, after the Olympics in Sydney he stopped practicing his wrestling, and MMA probably haven't interested him that much, besides 9 years ago MMA fighters were paid a lot less than they are now, the sport wasn't as popular as it is nowadays.


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## mtt_c (Jun 15, 2008)

Hopefully Karelin has a son and his son is as grazilla strong (strong as a grizzly and gorilla combined) as Alex.

That bastard was flipping guys 230lbs over his head. I heard that he trained by rowing is boat across some lake. I copied his training methods until I got tired and went back to my computer.


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## The_Senator (Jun 5, 2008)

It's interesting that although Karelin is a wrestler and competed for a long time on the highest level, his ears are not cauliflowers like Henderson's or Couture's.


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## _RIVAL_ (Mar 7, 2008)

This is a great article. I think we should wait for a little longer to see exactly how Lesnar impacts MMA before rallying for an honerable mention. But I do know that good or bad he's going to leave his mark.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Lesnar*

Well we need to see how he does against up and coming guys like Cain and Carwin and against veterans like CroCop and Noguiera! Maybe, God willing we will see him fight Fedor!


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## Guy (Feb 17, 2008)

Where's Barnett at?


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## GMK13 (Apr 20, 2009)

was ken shamrock in the wwf?


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Ken*

Yes, Ken was in the WWF, now the WWE and Barnett was not a pro wrestler first. He started pro wrestling after doing MMA, just like Bob Sapp!


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