Stone Cold vs Ken Shamrock Feud (Attitude Era Discussion)

[The GOAT]

If somehow the two had met during one of Austin's 1998/1999 title runs (I think late-1998 would have been best, since Shamrock had just won the King Of The Ring in June, and could have benefited from a heel turn and strong push against Austin late in the year), this imo could have been a pretty good rivalry. Really one of the only promising feuds that could have taken place during the Attitude Era that never did. Just pretend there's some alternate universe where all the Austin/Taker/Kane stuff had ended at Breakdown in September with Austin walking away from the triple-threat/handicap match with the championship (and I'm clearly not saying this would have been a better creative direction than what we got - Deadly Games tournament, Rock as corporate champ, Rock/Mankind rivalry, etc. - I'm just being hypothetical here), a rivalry between them could have been good for a few reasons:

1. They were both bad-ass, intense individuals, and Austin being a major asskicker and Shamrock having a tendency to snap and hurt someone at a moment's notice would have led to some cool shit between them. I'm talking about finding each other and brawling at other locations outside of the arena and stuff, too.

2. The Toughest S.O.B. In The WWF vs The World's Most Dangerous Man would have been a great match moniker.

3. Austin famously refused to give up at WM13 (in a match where, funnily enough, Shamrock was the special referee), which is how he earned the "toughest S.O.B." nickname in the first place. You could have Shamrock promise to hurt Stone Cold so bad that he would break his spirit and force him to give in to the pain by tapping out.

I certainly wouldn't call it a huge missed opportunity or anything, but it is a slight disappointment that we didn't get at least 1-2 month program between them in there at some point. And no, some random match on Raw doesn't count. I'm talking about an actual, drawn-out angle.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

Ken Shamrock is certainly a forgotten gem of the attitude Era that WWE doesn't acknowledge at all today. The only problem is that he was around when there was so many other great talents like Austin, Rock, Foley, Taker, HHH, etc.

I just wished Shamrock vs Kurt Angle happened to see who the master of the ankle lock would be.

 

[Roadster]

It's a pity that it didn't happen. Shamrock was definitely ready for a title push, at any time. Just look at his match vs. Vader at In Your House: Cold Day in Hell. It was so brutal. That was with an older Vader. One that had no motivation. And it was one of the greatest brawls I've ever seen.

Imagine Steve Austin, a much more motivated, asskicking, machine in the ring with a natural born killer, like Shamrock. It would've been brutal, but I don't think Steve Austin would've liked too much physicality especially during his time as WWF Champion, but a 1997 feud would've been beautiful. Preferably, before the neck injury.

Another feud that rings to mind, is a Shamrock vs. Shawn Michaels feud. I know he had a match at In Your House: D-Generation-X, but imagine a real match. A match that was meant to build him up and actually have him fight for the title. Instead it was wasted on a return for Owen Hart, who never went on to face off for the title at all. It was so stupid and wasted a great match and feud.

Shamrock was horribly misused. For someone who had so much mainstream appeal, and had so much talent to be wasted like that seems to be non-existent, nowadays. One might say, a major Shamrock push in 1997, would've pulled in a lot more MMA fans to the WWF, and actually gave them some momentum. Sadly, we'll never know.

 

[The GOAT]

It's a pity that it didn't happen. Shamrock was definitely ready for a title push, at any time. Just look at his match vs. Vader at In Your House: Cold Day in Hell. It was so brutal. That was with an older Vader. One that had no motivation. And it was one of the greatest brawls I've ever seen.

Imagine Steve Austin, a much more motivated, asskicking, machine in the ring with a natural born killer, like Shamrock. It would've been brutal, but I don't think Steve Austin would've liked too much physicality especially during his time as WWF Champion, but a 1997 feud would've been beautiful. Preferably, before the neck injury.

Another feud that rings to mind, is a Shamrock vs. Shawn Michaels feud. I know he had a match at In Your House: D-Generation-X, but imagine a real match. A match that was meant to build him up and actually have him fight for the title. Instead it was wasted on a return for Owen Hart, who never went on to face off for the title at all. It was so stupid and wasted a great match and feud.

Shamrock was horribly misused. For someone who had so much mainstream appeal, and had so much talent to be wasted like that seems to be non-existent, nowadays. One might say, a major Shamrock push in 1997, would've pulled in a lot more MMA fans to the WWF, and actually gave them some momentum. Sadly, we'll never know.

Shamrock would have been awesome in the Ruthless Aggression Era, too. It's a shame he didn't stick around till then or that he just didn't debut then instead. With the brand split and without the issue of being overshadowed by mega stars like Austin and The Rock, he could have probably been a world champion at some point and had great matches with the likes of Lesnar, Angle, Benoit, Eddie, Chavo, Mysterio, etc.

 

[InSaNe]

Even before reading this thread, I knew what WWE's thoughts were with Ken Shamrock. I mean, the fucker was on UFC's program and was promoted as "The World's Most Dangerous Man" (not sure if that was WWE's promoting, but still). Ken Shamrock was brought in as a marketing gimmick during the Attitude Era. They wanted to go for the gritty, battered wrestler with Shamrock. He has the look, he has the act, especially when they put the IC title in his hands... All they needed to do, was give him a gimmick like SCSA. Not exactly like Austin, but similar. That whole "I don't give a fuck" badass.

When I saw Shamrock in WWE for the first time, I thought he has a bright future in WWE, but The Rock, and Stone Cold was on the rise at that point.

The whole point of bringing Ken Shamrock to WWE was to draw more casuals into WWE.

Shamrock was horribly misused. For someone who had so much mainstream appeal, and had so much talent to be wasted like that seems to be non-existent, nowadays. One might say, a major Shamrock push in 1997, would've pulled in a lot more MMA fans to the WWF, and actually gave them some momentum. Sadly, we'll never know.

And that was the point when they hired him. They brought in Brock Lesnar for the same exact reason. And it's working.

 

[Roadster]

Even before reading this thread, I knew what WWE's thoughts were with Ken Shamrock. I mean, the fucker was on UFC's program and was promoted as "The World's Most Dangerous Man" (not sure if that was WWE's promoting, but still). Ken Shamrock was brought in as a marketing gimmick during the Attitude Era. They wanted to go for the gritty, battered wrestler with Shamrock. He has the look, he has the act, especially when they put the IC title in his hands... All they needed to do, was give him a gimmick like SCSA. Not exactly like Austin, but similar. That whole "I don't give a fuck" badass.

When I saw Shamrock in WWE for the first time, I thought he has a bright future in WWE, but The Rock, and Stone Cold was on the rise at that point.

The whole point of bringing Ken Shamrock to WWE was to draw more casuals into WWE.

And that was the point when they hired him. They brought in Brock Lesnar for the same exact reason. And it's working.

He was rated "World's most dangerous man" by ABC.

 

[InSaNe]

He was rated "World's most dangerous man" by ABC.

Thanks for that info!