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Former WWE superstar, Ken Shamrock makes his return to a pro-wrestling ring for the first time since 2009, when he takes on Gabriel Wolfe for Australian wrestling promotion, Battle Championship Wrestling.
Shamrock is no stranger to wrestling of course having left MMA powerhouse, UFC in December 1996, due to declining payoffs which were a result of the company being forced underground by Senator John McCain's campaign to ban MMA from the United States.
The top star in UFC, he was snapped up by WWE when he became available and instantly drew a buzz when he won his debut match with Vader at the May 1997 pay per view event, A Cold Day in Hell. The monstrous Vader had trouble walking for a week due to Shamrock's stiff leg kicks.
Shamrock moved up the card and earned a World title match with WWE Champion, Shawn Michaels at the December 1997 pay per view, D-Generation X. He won the bout via DQ, due to outside interference when the rest of D-X and Owen Hart interfered, attacking the champion, as revenge for the infamous Montreal Screwjob a month prior at Survivor Series when Hart's brother Bret was screwed out of the WWE Championship by Michaels, WWE boss, Vince McMahon and the referee, Earl Hebner.
Shamrock, rather unfairly was never granted a re-match with Michaels but did receive a crack at The Rock's Intercontinental Championship the following month at the 1998 Royal Rumble. Shamrock appeared to win the match with a belly to belly suplex, but was screwed out of the victory, as unbeknownst to him, Rock had snuck a set of brass knux into Shamrock's tights prior to the decision and Rock alerted the referee to the fact.
Referee Mike Chioda, believing Shamrock had used the knux on Rock to earn the win disqualified the challenger and returned the title to the champion.
Shamrock was incensed. This time he did receive a re-match, which came at WrestleMania XIV. It was a case of deja vu for Shamrock as he won the title, by forcing Rock to submit to his patented ankle lock but the decision was overturned when he refused to release the hold post-match. Shamrock would get his hands on Intercontinental gold eventually, that October.
Shamrock defeated Mankind for the strap which had been vacated by an injured Triple H. He would hold that title until February when a fast count by his rival, Bad Ass Billy Gunn acting as the special referee saw him drop the belt to Val Venis.
That was the pinnacle for the "World's Most Dangerous Man" in WWE. He slid down the card during summer 1999 before exiting the promotion for Pride FC in Japan when he resumed his MMA career.
Shamrock briefly returned to wrestling for brand new promotion Total Nonstop Action, now known as Impact Wrestling in 2018, and won a Battle Royal style "Gauntlet for the Gold" match, in which he last defeated Malice to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He was the first titleholder recognised in TNA history and held that title for two months before dropping it to Ron Killings, better known today as WWE's R-Truth.
Shamrock returned to UFC shortly afterwards to fight Tito Ortiz and left wrestling behind.
Shamrock's last in-ring showing came years later at JCW's Bloodymania III on August 9, 2009 when he defeated Jimmy Jacobs in a singles bout. However, in November 2018 at the age of 54, can the "World's Most Dangerous Man" make his latest foray into professional wrestling a successful one?
Well, Shamrock will win that much is for certain. BCW are not bringing him in to lose and they have heavily hyped his appearance which will also include an autograph signing a few days before the show.
When Shamrock has his hand raised, what then? It is no secret that Shamrock has been angling for a WWE return for some time now. One need only to glance over the former Intercontinental Champion's Twitter account to see that.
Strangely, for all the legends WWE has brought back to the promotion in some fashion, Shamrock is one who has never returned since he exited the promotion in Autumn 1999 to return to his MMA career.
There is no logical explanation for it. Shamrock left WWE on good terms and the expectation was once he eradicated the fighting bug from his system he would come back.
However, that never happened and instead Shamrock fought long past his prime in MMA.
Here's hoping that Shamrock's fight with Gabriel Wolfe leads to more appearances for BCW and he generates enough of a buzz for WWE to take notice.
A WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2019 would be much deserved for a legendary figure in both wrestling and MMA.
