Ken Shamrock Talks Return to Impact, MMA Stars in Pro Wrestling, Teaming with Sami Callihan, and More

Ken Shamrock has already made waves since returning to Impact Wrestling, as the Most Dangerous man has left several in his wake as he seeks to remind people why he has that vaunted title. The most recent victims were Eddie Edwards and Rich Swann, and regardless of whether they won or lost matches with Shamrock, they really always lose, as they leave the ring with plenty of pain and bruises to show for their time in the ring. Shamrock isn’t slowing down either, though he did take a moment of reflection when he was inducted to the Impact Hall of Fame. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Shamrock all about his current run as well as what he hopes to achieve in the future and how he feels about crossing over from MMA to professional wrestling, but first, we had to start with his induction into the Hall of Fame.

“Yeah, it was awesome. When you have a career, and you’ve captured titles, and you’ve pretty much done everything, the icing on the cake is when your peers and your fans and the people you work with, they’re all together on an induction,” Shamrock said. “I mean, there’s so many things that are involved with being inducted into a Hall of Fame. I think all of that goes into it, so it’s a special moment when you realize that everything that you’ve done, it’s all made worth it when you get inducted.”

Shamrock came back to Impact in amazing shape and intent on capturing a title once more, and he’s enjoying having the chance to really find and capture that Most Dangerous Man mantle.

“I think the one thing that stands out most to me is being able to have the time and the chance to be able to find that character again, The World’s Most Dangerous Man. Because when I made a statement that I was coming back and putting the wrestling world on notice, I meant that, but Impact has given me the opportunity to really have some stability and be able to find that World’s Most Dangerous Man character over time. And I think now I’m starting to hit that stride where I am The World’s Most Dangerous Man and that character is starting to stand out,” Shamrock said.

“And a lot of people had doubted me because there are a lot of guys that come in when they’re older, they say things, but their bodies can’t produce it, and I didn’t want to be one of those guys,” Shamrock said. “I wanted to be a guy that said what I said, and I proved it. And so, I have that opportunity now to be able to do what I said I was going to do.

Shamrock has been a force to be reckoned with as of late, and teaming up with Sami Callihan has helped him find that lethal streak once more.

“I think I’m starting to just scratch the surface on it. My problem, the biggest challenge to that is do I step over the line? Because the world that I come from, it’s not the same as pro wrestling, so therefore what I do in that ring sometimes pushes the rules a little bit. I’m not going to be nice anymore. I’m done with that. Sami made it really clear,” Shamrock said. “The only reason why I’m making these mistakes and doing stupid things is because I’m trying to be nice. So I’m done being nice. I’m going to go in and just start destroying people and I’m going to turn it into an MMA fight and start beating people down and start choking people unconscious and punching the hell out of them. And hopefully, I don’t cross over the line because when I get in that zone of that World’s Most Dangerous Man, nobody should get in my way, period.”

Sami has helped bring out that edge in Shamrock, and Shamrock has become quite adept at speaking Sami and looking past the outer facade.

“Well, I think Sammy’s just a different character,” Shamrock said. “I think you’ve got to truly understand who he is because most people when you first encounter him are not going to like him because he just says things the way they are. And a lot of times, there’s no sugarcoating. He just says it, and it comes out as being a jerk, but if you peel through all the things in a way and how he’s saying it and actually look at what he’s saying, you’re going to get the truth. You’re going to get the answer. You’re going to get whatever it is he’s saying, and it’s going to be right. What I’ve been able to do with him is peel through all of the obnoxiousness and the cockiness and the meanness in him and just peel it all back and look at what he’s actually saying. And then I’m able to get that clarity about that, and it’s been helping me.”

“So for that, I think it’s a little bit both because I’m able to go in there and just do my actions in the way that I do things. I think he’s also learning. So it’s a little bit of a give and take with what we’re doing. And let’s not kid one another, it’s not like we’re best friends,” Shamrock said. “We’re there and we’re doing things because it’s working. But I also know that this is a very competitive locker room, and sooner or later, our paths are going to cross each other in the ring.”

Shamrock was one of the earliest crossovers from Mixed Martial Arts to professional wrestling, and since then there have been many who have made the jump, and in some cases those who have jumped back and forth frequently. Shamrock is thrilled with all the crossover, and breaks down that the worlds aren’t very far apart.

“I think it’s an awesome thing. Here’s the story. When I first did MMA, mixed martial arts, I was over in Japan with Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. And I was in a group before we actually created Pancrase. Pancrase we created because Masakatsu Funaki and Suzuki wanted to know what it would be like if we turned wrestling, pro-wrestling, into a real shoot. And so we came up with Pancrase, which was foot blocks, feet fighting, fist fighting and grab technique. That’s wrestling, and so, we turned it real,” Shamrock said.

“And so, it was so much closer than people actually think because of the entertainment value in pro wrestling, but that’s really how Pancrase was created. Because we came up with this idea, Funaki, Suzuki saying, ‘What would it be like if we turned pro wrestling real?’ And that’s where you got the mixed martial arts and how it came about. So to see guys come and cross over into it from MMA into the world of wrestling, I think it’s a natural transition.”

“Both ways are difficult because they both present different challenges, so for me, I don’t think one way or the other, whether you’re coming from wrestling into MMA, or you go from MMA into wrestling, is either one of them easier? I think that they’re both very difficult, and I think that you’ve got to have some sort of a natural gift to be able to do it, period,” Shamrock said.

Shamrock also had some advice for those looking to move up the ranks of either wrestling or MMA, and it all comes down to having a fallback plan. “Well, I guess if you’re just starting out, before you ever get the opportunity, I think that you’ve got to make sure that you have something to fall back on,” Shamrock said. “Because I’ve seen some of the best guys in the world never be able to achieve the goals because of injuries, and so they have to go back into a normal work life. That’s something that I had always pushed on people who were just starting out and asking what advice would I give them starting out, and I would say, ‘Just make sure you got something to fall back on career-wise.’”

You can watch Ken Shamrock in action every Tuesday night on Impact Wrestling, which premieres at 8 PM EST on AXS TV.

Who do you want to see Shamrock take on next? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!