Former MMA & UFC fighter Frank Shamrock was recently interviewed by “The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling Podcast”. The two parties discussed numerous topics including former SD Live announcer Mauro Ranllo’s departure from the WWE, who would win in a fight between Shamrock & JBL & if Shamrock thinks pro-wrestling is tougher than MMA/UFC.
Here are the highlights:
Shamrock Appearing At WrestleMania 25 w/ Mickey Rourke:
“That was my first WrestleMania and to go in as Mickey’s strong man. Mickey was like: “Listen if anyone tries anything I want you to knock some people out.” I’m thinking, okay Mickey but I think we are going to a wrestling show but I’m down. He is such a dear friend of mine still and it was a really important moment to him and I was just happy to be there plus it was my first WrestleMania. What an experience sitting front row and having the whole thing of flying on Vince’s jet and doing the Hollywood experience of WrestleMania, it was pretty special.”
His Relationship W/ His Brother Ken Shamrock:
“It’s the same. We’ve healed each other I hope and opened a good door for a relationship but now we are all old and retired and have little to talk about with the old days. I think we’ve kind of just settled down and are growing into each other.”
Shamrock On If He Thinks Pro-Wrestling Is Tougher Than MMA:
“Totally. I was contracted to do pro wrestling but when I did the numbers and I’m going to do 150 shows or performances and you are on this grind of performing and it is really challenging physically and is really challenging spiritually and all those things make it challenging. When I weighed those things, I thought I could fight three times a year and make a couple million dollars or I can work two hundred dates a year and make the same amount of money and that makes no sense whatsoever. Why wouldn’t I work three dates or two dates a year. So it just became a value proposition for me and watching my brother go through it, it is a lot harder than people think. Just like what Mauro was doing, you have to commit your whole life with every day and every meal and everything is about the show and the performance, the event and the story-lines and getting yourself to the next date to keep it going and that is real work and I never could commit to that.”
Who Would Win In A Fight Between Himself & JBL:
“Oh my gosh. I would pretty much beat up everybody in the world. I think JBL is a sweet old guy so I think unlike most people I still train everyday, I still work out everyday and I would smash 99.9% of the other male humans on the planet.”
Shamrock On His Buddy Mauro Ranallo Parting Ways W/ The WWE & Getting Back To Commentating:
“It was fantastic. Working with Mauro makes the color commentator job extremely easy because he is just so good. That part of it was really good and Mauro besides being one of my very close friends, he is also my client so we manage his brand and his business as well so we saw him through the whole WWE thing. At the end of the day it is just that Mauro is very special and extremely talented and he needs the right platform to shine and to be himself. He’s a fighter. You kind of get out of the way and let him do his thing and it wasn’t working for him at WWE so he decided to move on and do more and different stuff. His desire is to call every combat sport and secure a legacy of being that guy that can do everything and currently he is the only guy that can do everything and is doing everything.”
Shamrock Speaking On The Rumors Of Ranallo Leaving Because Of Him Being Bullied:
“I don’t know if it is so much culture as it is just different folks. Where Mauro is super intense and super focused and to him that is the most important thing and that doesn’t have the same value over there. As it is in other companies, they may be interested in messages and other brands but it really is just different people. I love what WWE does. The storytelling, the messaging and how they impact the world with their product. I don’t see Mauro straying far from wrestling itself because that is how he got started and is his first love and it goes for every work environment that you want to be treated well and want to be acknowledged and you want to shine at what you do and the machine over there is not built for that, the machine is built differently. Wrong mechanic, wrong machine.”
You can listen to the full audio version of The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling’s Podcast Interview W/ Frank Shamrock here:
