Jonathan Snowden penned a piece for SB Nation’s Cage Side Seats covering five wrestlers before Brock Lesnar who were crossover stars in both MMA and Pro Wrestling. From the portion on Tank Abbott:
Five Fighters Who Were Crossover Stars In Pro Wrestling
↵↵Tank Abbott was the antithesis of the modern mixed martial artists. In a sport built on respect and honor, a precedent set early on when Ken Shamrock admitted to the referee that he had indeed tapped out to a Royce Gracie choke, Abbott was either a disgrace or a breath of fresh air (dependent on your point of view). Billed as a “pitfighter” the former jailbird was beloved by many for trash talk as powerful as his dynamite packed fists.
↵Abbott mocked Shamrock for leaving the cage for the professional wrestling ring mercilessly. That all changed when Abbott got his own six-figure a year offer. Abbott took the money and performed in a wide variety of goofy skits for World Championship Wrestling as that promotion was in the midst of a kamikaze dive right out of existence. Abbott too made an unsuccessful attempt to regain past glory, losing to a young Frank Mir in the early Zuffa era, and eventually falling to anyone with a pulse for any promotion willing to cash a check.
↵↵Go check out the piece for a fun break from the all-too-serious MMA stories of Fedor’s loss and Lesnar/Carwin.
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