Ken Shamrock Speaks Out – Issus With Brother, Drugs, More

May 18, 2014

Submission Radio recently interviewed former WWE Superstar and UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock. Below are some highlights and the audio to the interview:

Shamrock on mending the relationship with his brother Frank: “My brother came out with that documentary Blood Brothers ‘Bound by Blood’ and so it was an opportunity for us to get together and really talk about things, and I was happy, I was happy the way it came out. It seemed like he was trying to make an effort trying to make things to make things right, and so I opened my arms. That’s all I ever wanted, was for him to make an honest effort to fix what he broke. I mean I didn’t break it, I didn’t do those things. He did. So I’m not saying I wasn’t at fault at all, because I was. I know I was, but I wasn’t the one who walked out and left, and I wasn’t the one who didn’t go to my Dads funeral, or wasn’t there when he was sick. I didn’t do those things. And so I embraced him when he did that, I was happy.”

Shamrock on drugs in MMA: “I think that when people talk about banning the substances, its funny because I don’t think people really realized what they’re asking, or what they’re saying. If they take these things out of the sports, people are going to be backed up twenty years as far as competitiveness. What people used to see in colleges that are now like pro now and professional like the supermen; the level of play will be dropped significantly in fighting, in football and in everything that we’re used to seeing. The athleticism and the strength and the stuff these guys are doing will be dropped significantly and the entertainment value will drop with it, and I don’t really think people realize what they’re asking for. They’re asking for the value of the entertainment to drop significantly and we’re going to be ok with that, because considering what we’re used to seeing, it’s just not going to be the same. And I think people are saying ‘oh it’ll still be good, it’ll still be this’ I just don’t really believe they understand what it is that they’re really asking for and I believe personally that things were made to help people and their health and I believe there’s a safe level for people to take these kinds of things to help their body recover and be a safe athlete and be able to get in the ring and compete on a safe level and then be able to have their body’s recover enough for them to be normal throughout the week. Rather than having these guys afraid of getting caught, so they won’t go to a doctor, so they won’t get it legally, they go on the black market, they get it because they can’t let anybody know they got it cause then they can lose the ability to fight or their pro card or whatever it is that they’re doing. They’ll get caught, the media will find out, they’ll get banned, they’ll get fined, all these things happen. So they’ll go to the black market and get it and that’s where the problem is, is that they’re getting stuff (with which) they don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t have doctors for their care to help them do it the proper way so that they’re not putting their health at risk. So that’s the issue right there. I think that If they could somehow find a safe level, make these guys all make sure they got their own doctors to put ’em on it, if they’re gonna go on it to have their own doctors put ’em on it and make sure that the doctors are giving physicals every month, once a month, keeping them at a safe level, I think that’s how you fix the problem.”

“It’s crazy to think people go ‘oh we’re gonna stop it now, now that it’s been going on for fifty years, we’re just gonna completely ban it now’, because I promise you this and I bet you people who understand how many people are using it in sports, they know how BADLY the athletic level will drop it. It’ll be so bad that people won’t want to turn on the TV anymore because there not going to be able to see what there used to seeing.”

On WWE pay compared to his pay by UFC and Dana White: “I don’t know what other people say, but for me it’s definitely Vince (McMahon). I felt like he did me right, even though he may, I don’t know what the issues are with me and him now cause no one will talk to me or say anything, but for me personally I thought he treated me very fairly, he paid me well and I thought he gave me a great opportunity to be able to keep competing in the WWF; Of course I had to do my job, I had to do what they needed me to do, otherwise he wouldn’t give me the time of day. I understand that, I understood that. But when I did do what I was supposed to do he payed me what I deserved.”

On the Owen Hart’s tragic passing: “We were standing backstage and I was in the gorilla station and I watched it happen. And for the longest time we stood there and just stared at the monitor waiting for some gimmick to pop up, or the match to start, or for him to pop up and then when he was wheeled back in the gurney, still we were waiting for him to get up. I mean, we just didn’t believe that it was real you know, because you know all the gimmicks and stuff that go on there and you’re never told what’s happening and they’ll play all the way out till the next week. And so for the longest time, I think the fans were the same way, was that no one truly believed or understood what was happening at that moment and how real it was and for us, I mean even thought there was a meeting about whether we would go on and do the show, (whether) we were going to keep doing it, out of his honour we were going to do it, at the back of everybody’s mind we were all thinking we were getting worked, like this was a work, someone was working us. And so no one really grasped that until probably after a few weeks afterwards where it set in, in the funeral and in the news and it really set in that it was real. But can could you imagine that, not really knowing something like that?”

Shamrock on if he’s retired: “Oh no I’ll never retire. I’ll never fight again but I’ll never retire”