Ken Shamrock On What Led To Him Leaving WWE, Refusal To Wrestle Chyna

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet for Insight (via Fightful), Ken Shamrock spoke about why he left WWE in 1999, noting that one of the reasons was being asked to do things he was uncomfortable with. That included wrestling Chyna, which he refused to do. He also noted that the Montreal Screwjob made things awkward because Bret Hart helped him get into the business.

He said: “My own personal thing was, I just didn’t want to get in the ring with Chyna. I taught my children at a young age, and they were at the time eight, seven, and five. Young kids, going to school. One of the things that I drilled into their head is that you respect women and that you don’t lay your hands on them. I was asked to do that. I get it, it’s entertainment, but my family comes first. If I’m doing something that is going to possibly, it might not, but possibly confuse them, I’m not doing it. It’s not like WWE had it in for me. It was things that I believed it. It felt like I was constantly going into a direction that had no end to it. It was very respectful when I said I didn’t want to do it. I may have gotten beat a few times [laughs], but there was no anger or anything like that.“