Eh, he really wasn't worthy of becoming WWF Champion. And I'm not just judging him based on his individual talent and worth and asking whether he was worthy of holding the world title, I'm thinking back to the roster back then and wondering if he was good enough to warrant putting the focus of the promotion onto him and away from whoever else for at least a few months by giving him the strap. And I''m thinking no, he wasn't. When Undertaker was champ during almost half of 1997, Shamrock was still a relatively new performer and totally unworthy of holding the title. During 1998 and 1999, Steve Austin was tearing it up as the hottest new babyface that wrestling had seen since Hulk Hogan and The Rock and Triple H (performers more talented than Shamrock in pretty much every area) were coming to prominence as well. I know they booked Shamrock to win the 1998 KOTR (which I still felt should have gone to The Rock... I still think it would have been awesome to say that Austin, Triple H and The Rock all won the KOTR tournament back to back) but like with Billy Gunn the following year, that proved to go nowhere. He ended up leaving in the fall of '99.
