Ken Shamrock recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Kevin Kellam ahead of his Valor Bare Knuckle boxing promotion’s debut event next month. Shamrock also talked about his pro wrestling career, which included reigns as an Intercontinental Champion in WWE and NWA World Championship reign in TNA.
Shamrock talked about all of his accomplishments in the squared circle and a potential WWE Hall Of Fame induction, noting The Rock is the one guy that really made him who he was as a wrestler. He noted there were some great matches with Owen Hart and others, but there’s “no question” that his work with The Rock really took them both to a different level.
“I had matches with Bret Hart, matches with Shawn Michaels, but the angles and stuff that I had with The Rock was really what I thought raised the level of both of us. We really became, almost, superstars, during our run. We really just raised the level of our performance and put ourselves right up there with the top guys. And I believe it was the angles me and The Rock put together that really put us there.”
Shamrock also talked about his edgy persona, noting that he’s always retained it. He says it might have rubbed some people the wrong way, but he doesn’t know what it means to quit, and shed some more light on why he can’t ever say he’s going to hang it up and stop fighting.
“I’ve never lost that. In some cases I think, in the fans’ eyes, it hurt their thoughts of me. Because I don’t know if they truly understand what it means to be a real, true fighter from the heart. I mean, a lot of people get done, they’re fed up, they’re willing to walk away, they’re okay with that. But when you’re truly a person that never quits, never gives up, never knows when to say, ‘I give up,’ you’re constantly always battling with yourself to try and be better. Trying to figure out a way to get around that. Because there is no way you can quit, because the minute you do that, you lose.
So, for me, I’ve never had the mentality of ‘I can’t do it anymore.’ Even though I may have broke my neck, broke my lower back, blew my shoulder out, I always got fixed. I came back, I did my therapy, I got stronger, I got back in there – I always still win. So me being that kind of character, I can never tell anyone, ‘hey, listen, I’m not fighting anymore’, because I can’t do that. Because if someone does something to me or to my family, I’m going to fight them. So I can’t ever say I’m done fighting.”
Related: Ken Shamrock Reveals The Advice Bret Hart Gave Him In WWE, Staying True To Himself
