In an unexpected bit of news, one Ken Shamrock is going to be making his return to Impact Wrestling. The former Intercontinental Champion and MMA legend will be with them when they come to Las Vegas for their TV tapings on September 5th and 6th. Ken Shamrock has recently had an online war of words with Moose, one of Impact’s top names. While his role hasn’t been confirmed, from the way Shamrock worded his announcement, it seems pretty clear that he’s set for some physicality. He and Moose are likely to have an altercation. And believe it or not, it’s not impossible that a match will be setup between the two at October’s Bound For Glory.
Shamrock has been in the midst of something of a return run. After a nine year layoff from the profession, he made his in-ring return at a BCW event late last November. In the nine months since, he’s had twelve matches.
A return to Impact is a long time coming. His last appearance for them was 15 years ago. And even that was a short-lived return run. All in all, he only ever wrestled eight matches for the company between his two brief stays.
Even so, Ken Shamrock is an important man in Impact/TNA’s history.
After all, he is recognized as their first-ever world champion. He basically overcame the entire starting roster in a special battle royal, that concluded with him defeating Malice (WCW’s The Wall) to win the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. A proven PPV commodity, he was a sound headliner for TNA in it’s weekly PPV days.
Shamrock of course left wrestling to try and return to his former glory in MMA. Generally speaking, it didn’t go too well. He had a money-spinning feud with Tito Ortiz but he ended up decisively beaten in their series of matches. It seemed by that time he was already a shell of himself, but he kept on getting back into the cage time and again. The last decade or so has been a sad one for his legacy.
Personally, I always felt it was something of a mistake to get back into MMA when he did. He was actually extremely underrated as a pro wrestler, and I think if he dedicated himself to it more back in the late 90s and early 2000s he could’ve been a force. It’s safe to say as you get into your advanced years, finding success in worked matches is a lot easier than in shoot matches. But I suppose he just had something to prove and the more times he lost, the bigger that need became.
Can Ken Shamrock still go in 2019?
It’d be a bit of a shock. He certainly doesn’t look anything like the destroyer he was in the WWF back in the day. He actually resembles Sly Stallone to me now. As in, the current one. (Incidentally, props for using a contemporary graphic for him. Often you’ll see old-timers come back and they use graphics that are over a decade old. Look up any upcoming indy card that has the Rock ‘N Roll Express on it to see what I mean. It borders on false advertising…)
But you can’t judge based on appearances persay, nor can you judge how he could do in a wrestling match based on how the latter half of his MMA career went. We’ve seen a lot of wrestlers in this day and age have fantastic matches over 50. Granted, none of them have really had a comparable layoff… but I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say in one match he can come out looking good.
