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Over the years, the worlds of Pro-wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts have learnt to more than just coexist with one another, with performers often making the jump from one world to another.
To have a performer who is conditioned in a certain way and to put him in front of totally different parameters, could easily mean career suicide, but not when it comes to the combative worlds of pro wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts.
The techniques used by performers in both of these forms are extremely different and yet have something similar about them.
For example, the chokeholds applied in Mixed Martial Arts is used by pro-wrestlers in different ways under different names. The Coquina Clutch applied by Samoa Joe is a safer version of the rear naked choke applied by MMA fighters such as Mickey Gall and Nate Diaz.
Similarly, the Hell's Gate submission move used by The Undertaker becomes Gogoplata in MMA which is used by various fighters. Sure, The Undertaker does not intend to have his opponent pass out to the submission manoeuvre, but in MMA, the rule of thumb is to apply force until your opponent taps out.
That could mean more things than one. And one of those possibilities is that the training for both MMA and pro-wrestling could have some similar elements.
The vast number of crossover participants in both promotions only go to support this claim. Thus, today, we're going to bring to you 7 WWE wrestlers who have trained in MMA.
#1 Dave Bautista
Dave Bautista after winning his first MMA fight
To start off with the most obvious ones, we picked up our boy Batista of Evolution fame. The Animal has more than proven his prowess in the WWE, having had multiple championship runs. Batista seemed to have a connection with the audiences, despite his limited in-ring capabilities.
Also read: 5 pro-wrestlers who could beat Brock Lesnar in an MMA fight
Owing to his large stature and fitness, one wouldn't be all that surprised to know that Dave Bautista jumped into the world of MMA back in 2012 when he signed a contract with Classic Entertainment & Sports.
In preparation for this, Dave earned himself a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the mentorship of Cesar Gracie. He was supposed to face Rashid Evans (not Suga!) before Evans was sent to jail for a probationary violation. His replacement opponent was thankfully a washed up 40-year-old veteran.
#2 CM Punk
CM Punk paid his dues to get in the UFC octagon
Arguably the best pro-wrestler of the last decade, CM Punk achieved something in his short career that most pro-wrestlers don't even dream of. After a fallout with his previous boss, CM Punk made the leap to a line of work closest to his previous profession.
Fans waited in anticipation as Punk's debut match in the UFC kept getting delayed for one reason or another. However, that made Punk train for longer. At the beginning of 2015, Punk started his training under the legendary Duke Roufus at the Roufusport MMA Academy.
Punk's training journey has famously been captured in the documentary "The Evolution Of Punk".
#3 Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock while training in MMA
Ken Shamrock is a UFC hall of famer. He started his MMA journey in Japan.
Shamrock was one of the early big names in the UFC whose epic rivalry with Royce Gracie drew much attention to the promotion.
Ken trained under Masakatsu Funaki and Takaku Fuke. He made his WWF debut in 1997 on an episode of Monday Night Raw. The legendary Monday Night Wars and The Attitude Era in the WWF made Ken a household name and he had an Intercontinental Championship run as well.
#4 Bam Bam Bigelow
When there was no Ken Shamrock, there was Bam Bam Bigelow. One of the earliest heavy high flyers in not only WWF but also in pro-wrestling at the time, Bam Bam Bigelow made a switch to MMA when the world of pro-wrestling turned a blind eye to him.
His first MMA match, however, was in Japan in a "U-Japan" match. Bigelow was dominated throughout.
#5 Alberto Del Rio
Del Rio under the mask during one of his MMA matches
Del Rio is probably the only contestant in this list whose career in MMA lasted longer than his career in pro-wrestling. But to identify Del Rio as an MMA fighter and not as a wrestler would be wrong.
Between the years 2001-2010, Del Rio was applying his submission holds in the MMA world. Del Rio has had quite an accomplished MMA career with 14 fights under his belt and a record of 9 wins and 5 losses.
Del Rio finally quit MMA in 2010 right before signing with the WWE.
#6 Nathan Jones
Jones’ MMA career only lasted 1 year
If there's a pro wrestler who's had a worse career in MMA than CM Punk, it's Nathan Jones. In his one year in MMA, Nathan Jones had a fight record of 0-1-0. He then jumped into the world of pro wrestling after giving up on MMA in 1997.
The highlight of his pro wrestling career came when he was presented to the world as Undertaker's protege in 2003. Jones is also a former strongman.
#7 Bobby Lashley
Lashley continues his dominant run in MMA
One of the better exports of pro wrestling to MMA, Bobby Lashley remains to be used to the maximum of his potential. Pushed as one of the stronger baby faces of the time, Bobby fell to an injury after a PPV in 2008 in WWE following which, his WWE career took a backseat.
Since then, Bobby Lashley has dabbled into various pro wrestling as well as MMA promotions. He has recently signed a deal with Bellator MMA. His MMA record is quite impressive as compared to other pro wrestlers who jumped to MMA, with 15 wins and 2 losses.
#8 Daniel Puder
Daniel Puder executing a left-hand jab
The Tough Enough contestant put Kurt Angle in a Kimura Lock on national television, with Puder on his back and Angle's hands in the lock, the referees didn't have much of a choice but to count Puder out to end Angle's ordeal.
One of the two referees present on the spot made a pinfall count even though Puder's shoulders weren't fully touching the mat. Puder could have snapped Angle's arm, had it not been for the referee. Obviously, Kurt Angle wasn't too happy with this.
However, what he didn't know was that Puder was a trained MMA fighter. Puder then went on to win that year's Tough Enough competition with a whopping $1,000,000 prize money. Puder didn’t prove to be too successful in WWE, however.
His switch to MMA was way more yielding as his record at the time of his retirement from MMA in 2011 was an impressive 8-0-0.
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