Ken Shamrock Calls Vince McMahon A ‘Genius’, Reflects On Working With Him

Ken Shamrock recently reflected on what it meant for him to join the TNA Hall of Fame and what it was like working with Vince McMahon. Shamrock was the first TNA World Champion back when it was the NWA-TNA World Title in 2002. He was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2020.

During his appearance on Wrestling Life Online, Shamrock opened up about what that induction meant to him and more. You can see highlights below:

On Working For Vince McMahon:

“People have their thoughts about Vince. But Vince is a genius when it comes to pro wrestling. He was able to do so many things in different times in different eras to inject WWF back into the mainstream audience to where it became popular again. Because so many times — 10, 15 years they take dips. And a lot of people don’t come back from it. They just like — it is what it is. But Vince was able to always change the culture to where he would see what’s going on in the world, and what the vibes are. And try to build characters and and matches around what people want to see. He did it better than anyone. Keeping it going as long as he did was just incredible.

“And he did it with me, where MMA was just starting to come up. It was just starting to be something. And then he brought me in. And then he saw the talent in Rock, and he saw the ability that the Rock and myself could have after we had our first match. He saw something there. And was able to put us together and really start working together, and he was right. I mean, it built both of us up. We both just skyrocketed when we were able to get together and really put on a program. That’s the only real program I ever had in pro wrestling, and we killed it. It was just unbelievable. So I was very, very happy to be involved with that, and to be a part of what Rock became. Because it was fun to watch, It was fun to be right in the middle of it and working with him when it was happening.”

On His TNA Hall Of Fame Induction:

“Yeah again, you talk about accomplishments. And you know, being able to look at it and be very happy that you were able to be a part of that. Because a lot of decisions had to be made, and people trusting you. They put that on me. They trusted that I would be something that 20, 30, 40 years down the road, they would be able to be proud of, the organization.

“So being able to be a their their champion, their first champion, was an honor. And then to be inducted was also another honor. And it’s it’s hard to put into words for people to truly understand what that means to people like myself, who has spent their lifetime in the world of entertainment. Whether it be in the fighting world or whether it be in the wrestling world. And then to have people recognize you when you’re done. It’s something that just puts the period at the end of the sentence where you’re satisfied. Where you’re like, ‘Okay, everything I did meant something like to everyone in order for that to happen.’ And that I was a very important part of that movement.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Life Online with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.