Ken Shamrock On Working With The Rock In WWE, Why He Never Had Storyline With Steve Austin

On a recent edition of The Kurt Angle Show, Ken Shamrock discussed working with The Rock in WWE, why he never had a storyline with Steve Austin, and much more. You can read his comments below. 

Ken Shamrock on working with The Rock in WWE: “He was like a sponge. He was learning a whole lot. He came in with the Nation and was kind of covered up and didn’t get to let his mic skills shine or his character or personality shine because there were a lot of characters there. I think once he got pulled out and they gave them the mic and put him in the program with me, I thought his skills and tremendous ability to use the mic really started to shine. He’s a professional and pays attention to details. We had great matches – I mean really tremendous matches. And for that, I truly appreciate the time I had with him.”

On why WWE never did a storyline with him and Steve Austin: “There are a lot of questions about a lot of different things that didn’t happen. You bring up the Dan Severn [match] – why didn’t that happen? You could bring up Stone Cold, and Bret Hart with his technical skills and his submission skills. Why didn’t that happen? There were just a lot of things that didn’t happen, especially after you saw the program me and Rock put together and him being able to move up from that. It would have been a great opportunity for me to put something together with anybody. IT could’ve been Bret, Stone Cold, or a lot of different people – even Steve Blackman. There was just a lot of opportunity there for me to continue to keep building programs with different guys. I got one shot with The Rock to show people who I was and what I could do, and I did. Then it never went into anything else. There should’ve been another program I could’ve gone into with those names that were mentioned, but it just never happened…..I don’t know if it was me and the extra-curricular activities I was doing outside of wrestling because I know I was missing home and staying out quite a bit and partying and doing stuff I probably shouldn’t have been [doing]. I don’t know if they had the trust in me to be able to move on and do another program and move up and carry the strap. I don’t know, but it’s not like I wasn’t doing my job. I was doing my job. But at the same time, maybe I wasn’t being the professional I needed to be to move up to that level.”

On the reason he decided to leave WWE: “I think there was a lot of insecurity on my end when they did the thing with Bret Hart, and then the thing with Owen. Then they did the little skit thing with the Road Warriors where [Hawk] fell off the big screen. I just felt like it was hurting to see a guy you knew who you worked with and was down in Calgary with him, and he falls from the rafters. They do the screwjob on Bret Hart with Shawn Michaels, then do a little skit where Hawk falls off the back of the screen and you supposedly see a body hit the ground. Everything I was taught going into WWE was you had to trust people. When you went into the ring, the guy across from you, you had to trust that he was going to do his job and you were gonna do yours and the referee would do his and so on up the ladder. It just felt like it came apart. I felt like the trust and security I had was just disappearing. It felt like there was no foundation there for me. I’m not saying this is true, but this is what I was feeling – I felt pressured that I was gonna be destroyed or get ruined. What if something happened to me in the ring because somebody wanted to do something? The doors were open to do that with what had happened with these other things. It was just a lot of untrust and a culmination of a bunch of things that had happened that made me feel like I wasn’t wanted anymore.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The Kurt Angle Show with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.