Okay, so this is pretty wild! Did you know that The Rock, yes THE Rock, actually thought about leaving WWE back in 1997 to try his hand at MMA? I mean, can you imagine if The People’s Champ traded the wrestling ring for an MMA cage? It almost happened!
Apparently, The Rock was getting tired of wrestling, and the pay wasn’t great back then. Plus, his body was taking some serious hits. So, he started thinking about switching careers and looked into fighting for Pride FC in Japan. He even talked to MMA legends like Ken Shamrock and Mark Kerr about it.
Some people think The Rock made this whole story up, but Ken Shamrock confirmed that The Rock really did ask him about MMA. Shamrock said in an interview that The Rock wanted to know if he could actually make it in MMA and if it would be worth leaving wrestling for. Shamrock was like, “Yeah, it could’ve worked,” but he wasn’t 100% sure if The Rock would have been successful. But knowing how dedicated The Rock is, he probably would’ve given it everything he had.
What The Rock Said About Almost Leaving WWE for MMA
So, fast forward to last year, and The Rock was on The Joe Rogan Experience. That’s when he spilled the beans about how close he came to leaving WWE. He said he seriously thought about training in MMA and joining Pride FC because he wanted to make “real money” and not have to do all the smiling that comes with wrestling. But at the same time, he knew MMA could be brutal and joked about possibly getting his lungs knocked loose.
Luckily for wrestling fans, he stuck with WWE, and the rest is history. But still, it’s crazy to think how different things could’ve been if The Rock went down the MMA path instead of staying in WWE.
And oh, fun fact: The Rock is actually a huge MMA fan! He even presented the BMF Championship at UFC 244 in 2019. Plus, he’s going to play Mark Kerr in a biopic about Kerr’s life, which is coming out next year. So, even though he didn’t become an MMA fighter, he’s still super connected to the sport.
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