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UnderGround Forum >> Pro Wrestlers That Could Have Won UFC 1
| 12/5/12 6:52 PM | |
onepunchJD
44 
Member Since: 5/10/04 Posts: 5026 |
None would get past Ken, let alone Royce. |
| 12/5/12 6:56 PM | |
Gem City
Member Since: 7/6/04 Posts: 453 |
Poop Doodle - Jake the Snake. Bam Bam Bigelo was game for sure but Kimo crushed him in a cage fight during the early days. |
| 12/5/12 7:11 PM | |
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PatsBarriesGotKongo
10
Member Since: 9/27/10 Posts: 1730 |
William Regal Harley Race Rick Rude Haku Rene Goulette Bad News Allen Stu Hart 
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| 12/5/12 7:58 PM | |
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Wade Garrett
Member Since: 12/4/07 Posts: 1256 |
I second William Regal. Royce's biggest problem would have been someone with takedown defense who wanted to brawl standing up instead following him to the ground...or someone who was just an absolute bull of a human being, didn't Bill Kazmaier wrestle for WCW briefly? |
| 12/5/12 8:10 PM | |
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voorhees
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 15109 |
Wade Garrett - I second William Regal. Kaz wouldnt have done anything. The Steiner brothers both used to push him around and pick on him the whole time he was in WCW. |
| 12/5/12 8:26 PM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4902 |
I think that there were pro wrestlers back in 1993 who had the potential to beat Royce Gracie, and everyone else in UFC I (including Ken Shamrock), but the only things I would question would be whether or not they had enough training, and whether they were healthy enough at that time. For instance, Bad News Brown (aka-Allen) had a legitimate background as a world class judoka, and he was a big guy, but I think that he was already in his 40's by 1993. Steve Williams was an NCAA All American in football and wrestling and he went to the NCAA finals and lost a close match to future Olympic gold medalist Bruce Baumgartner. I'd say that Steve Williams was still in his physical prime in 1993 (unlike several years later when he was in the Brawl for it All in the WWF), but he had not competed in amateur wrestling in over 10 years at that point. Also, he was not versed in submissions. Still, a big, tough, strong guy with an excellent collegiate wrestling back ground. The Iron Sheik had wrestled at the world class level as an amateur, but he was well past his prime by 1993. Bob Backlund was an NCAA Division II wrestling champion, but by 1993 he was past his physical prime, plus he had not competed as an amateur since the early '70's. Chris Adams had a judo background, and his brother Neil was an Olympic medalist in judo. I'm not sure how old Chris Adams was at the time, but he may have stood a chance. Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner both had strong amateur wrestling backgrounds, and both were in their physical primes in 1993, so they'd have stood a chance, but the question is did they know enough to avoid submissions from a jiu jitsu guy? Here's a guy who may have stood the best chance who most fans of American pro wrestling aren't going to know who he is: Volk Han. Volk Han is a Russian guy that was in the RINGS promotion in Japan. He came from a sambo background. RINGS was a promotion that did shoot style works, but they mixed in some legitimate shoots as well, and by the late 1990's they converted to being a 100% legitimate shoot promotion. Volk Han was one hell of a worker, but he was also good in a real fight as well. He had a match against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in RINGS that was a legit shoot and although he lost the match, he took Nogueira to a judges decision. Nogueira is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu guy and I think that he's a more formidable opponent than Royce Gracie. Although many of Volk Han's matches in RINGS were works, he does hold legitimate victories over the likes of Brandon Lee Hinkle, Lee Hasdell. Bobby Hoffman, Andrei Kopylov, and Zaza "Grom" Tkeshelashvili. Volk Han would have been 32 years old in 1993, so he would have still been in his physical prime. So I think that he would have stood a decent chance of winning UFC 1. Why didn't he fight in the UFC? He was already making good money in RINGS at the time, so he probably didn't have the financial motivation to do it. |
| 12/5/12 8:29 PM | |
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UGCTT_Song2
207
Member Since: 6/30/11 Posts: 2687 |
Xpac took out some 220lb dude with his cawk. Check the.internet if you think im lying 
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| 12/5/12 8:31 PM | |
ItsMillerTimeinDoBronx
42
Member Since: 10/3/07 Posts: 7494 |
ChaosOverkill - At least he found his true love and finally opened his own high-fidelity stereo store during Boogie Nights. |
| 12/5/12 8:56 PM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4903 |
Another guy that would have stood a chance is Kiyoshi Tamura. Tamura did shoot style works in the UWF and then UWFi in Japan, and then he later went to RINGS where he did both shoot style works and legitimate matches, and of course he later fought in PRIDE. Kiyoshi Tamura would have been pretty young in 1993, but he had already been doing UWF and then UWFi for a few years. He fought UFC veteran Patrick Smith in an MMA match held on a K-1 card in 1994 or 1995 and he defeated him via submission. He also defeated professional boxer Mathew Saad Mohammed in a legitimate mixed fight on a UWFi card. He later went on to fight Frank Shamrock to a draw in RINGS and win a judges decision over Renzo Gracie in RINGS. Kiyoshi Tamura later went on to defeat Masakatsu Funaki via TKO in Dream and he hold a decision victory over Kazushi Sakuraba in Dream, but it should be mentioned that Funaki was past him prime and Sakuraba was not at his best by that point either. I think that Kiyoshi Tamura would have stood a chance at defeating Royce Graice and winning the tournament if he had fought in UFC 1. Masakatu Funaki started out in New Japan Pro Wrestling at the age of 16, and he later switched over to shoot style works in the UWF and PWFG promotion in Japan, and then he went on to do legitimate shoots in Pancrase. He would have stood a good chance at UFC 1. |
| 12/5/12 9:33 PM | |
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voorhees
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 15111 |
Those Japanese pro wrestlers shouldnt count man. They were basically doing shoot-wrestling(real matches/fighting) from a very early age. Not the same as being.."The Heartbreak Kid",etc... |
| 12/5/12 11:12 PM | |
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CLINTK9
8
Member Since: 4/20/05 Posts: 7042 |
Ludvig Borga = oh wait! seriously, both Steiners may have done well. Mr Perfect or The Undertaker maybe. |
| 12/5/12 11:34 PM | |
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OFC
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 179 |
This is tough. Sure you could pick the Steiner brothers and their takedown defense to beat Royce Gracie, but it's about winning the whole tournament. Who is going to stop Royce from taking him down and then deal with a heavy handed Patrick Smith/Art Jimmerson or even the heavy Tuli (whatever the sumo was called). From the stories I've heard and we are just looking at '93 then I'd pick Bam Bam Bigelow or Haku. If memory serves me right '93 was pre horse meat Steiners.
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| 12/6/12 1:17 AM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4905 |
"If memory serves me right '93 was pre horse meat Steiners." You know, I think that the Steiners would have done better in MMA before they became roided up, especially Scotty, who looked like he ate steroids for breakfast every day later on in his career. The Steiner Brothers were both good workers, and you could just tell by watching them that they both really knew how to wrestle. I think that both of them could have done well in the UFC back in 1993. |
| 12/6/12 1:25 AM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4906 |
"Those Japanese pro wrestlers shouldnt count man. They were basically doing shoot-wrestling(real matches/fighting) from a very early age. Not the same as being..'The Heartbreak Kid',etc..." OK, fair enough, I'll eliminate anyone who did any legitimate MMA matches from the discussion. I still think that Japanese pro wrestlers should be fair game though, because not all Japanese pro wrestlers did MMA, and some of them have done pro wrestling in the USA as well. "Jumbo" Tsuruta comes to mind as a guy who could have done well in MMA. He was a legend in All Japan Pro Wrestling, and he wrestled in the USA as well in NWA or AWA, or both. He also had a background as an amateur wrestler in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, and he wrestled in the Olympics. The only thing is that he would have been 42 years old by the time UFC 1 came around, so he was not in his physical prime at that point. |
| 12/6/12 1:31 AM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4907 |
"From the stories I've heard and we are just looking at '93 then I'd pick Bam Bam Bigelow or Haku. If memory serves me right '93 was pre horse meat Steiners." A lot of the people reading this probably already know this, but Bam Bam Bigelow did one MMA match in an event called U-Japan. He fought Kimo and basically got his ass handed to him, although in all fairness, Bigelow really did not have enough training to be in there. I don't doubt that he was a strong, tough guy, but he was also pretty overweight, and even though he was surprisingly agile for a huge guy, I think that unless he lost a lot of weight, he would have been too slow and lacked too much stamina to to really very well in MMA. I think that Royce would have tired him out and submitted him. I think that Geradard Gordeau would have beaten him like he beat that big fat sumo guy. Patrick Smith would have probably beaten him as well. Ken Shamrock would have submitted him. I like the odds of Haku/Meng in UFC 1 better than Bigelow. |
| 12/6/12 1:32 AM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4908 |
FYI, Vader was originally supposed to be in that U-Japan event against Kimo. He ended up backing out and Bam Bam Bigelow was his replacement. I think that Vader would have lost as well. |
| 12/6/12 1:48 AM | |
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theshooter
11
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 4910 |
I just found a cool video tribute to Jumbo Tsuruta on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW1WeLenxeo Tsuruta passed away in 2000, and it's possible that he may have been too past his prime to do well in the UFC in 1993. However, given he amateur wrestling background, and given that he was a big (note that he was like 6'5" or 6'6"; you don't see that many Japanese that big), tough guy, he would have had real potential for MMA had it been around in the '70's or '80's. |
| 12/6/12 2:30 PM | |
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OFC
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 180 |
theshooter - "From the stories I've heard and we are just looking at '93 then I'd pick Bam Bam Bigelow or Haku. If memory serves me right '93 was pre horse meat Steiners."I did not know that about Bam Bam fighting a MMA event in Japan. I might try to look that fight up, was always a fan of Kimo. This whole thread is full of great posts, not just your typical Tyson in UFC with sprawl training. I think all of your posts pose great points and bring a lot of historical knowledge both in MMA and Pro Wrestling. It's nice theorizing with intellectual people.
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| 12/6/12 2:33 PM | |
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BaraoKix
Member Since: 3/20/12 Posts: 7130 |
Gino_Corona - I heard Brent hitman Heart was a pretty tough guy Hitman Heart? GTFO |
| 12/6/12 2:36 PM | |
ChaosOverkill
162
Member Since: 3/2/11 Posts: 9652 |
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| 12/6/12 2:37 PM | |
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BaraoKix
Member Since: 3/20/12 Posts: 7131 |
Hart, the other spelling is dis-respectful to the Calgarian |
| 12/6/12 3:10 PM | |
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ChaosOverkill
162
Member Since: 3/2/11 Posts: 9659 |
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| 12/6/12 3:11 PM | |
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ChaosOverkill
162
Member Since: 3/2/11 Posts: 9660 |
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| 12/6/12 3:13 PM | |
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ChaosOverkill
162
Member Since: 3/2/11 Posts: 9661 |
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| 12/6/12 3:19 PM | |
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FreakDaddy
87
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 6003 |
Meng would have got KTFO by Gerard Gordeau....Bad match up for him.....I think Ken and Royce beat him too.....Not sure how he would have done againt the other five...... |
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