Ken Shamrock Talks His Impact World Title Opportunity Tonight, R-Truth "Never Getting His Due", More
It didn't take long for Ken Shamrock to enter the Impact World Championship picture as he has a title match with Sami Callihan at tonight's Impact Wrestling tapings in New York. He discussed that being in the world title picture was one of his goals when he returned to wrestling as he explained to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"That's one of the comments I made when I came back to wrestling is that I'm coming after the world title. I didn't say which one but I knew I wasn't going to stop until I got my opportunity. I didn't know it would come this fast and I thought there would be a lot of battles before I could win this war. But it's coming this quick and I'll take it now," said Shamrock, who then complimented Callihan.
"He's very clever. He's not a huge guy when it comes to height but he's thick, strong, agile and moves well. And most of all he's smart. I've got my hands full with this match as he's very good at what he does. So, when I get into the ring I better be on my 'A' game so it's not going to turn out well for me. I'm looking forward to the challenge and I'm excited."
Shamrock was TNA's first ever world champion when it was still associated with NWA and that is the only world title he's held in wrestling. He was asked if winning the Impact world title is his final goal in the ring.
"No, that's a goal that I've set that I believe is achievable. Once I've done that then I'll set another goal and it will be any higher," said Shamrock who was then asked what his next goals would be.
"How about capturing the world title and then capturing it seven or eight times or whatever the record is? There's always new goals you set for yourself. But first I need to achieve this goal of getting the strap around my waist and then I'll set a new goal."
Not only does Callihan plan on defeating Shamrock, but he told Wrestling Inc. recently that he also wants to take the title of The World's Most Dangerous Man away from Shamrock. The current World's Most Dangerous Man responded to that.
"First of all, he's not going to beat me. Second of all, you don't just get the title after beating Ken Shamrock. You gotta earn that title and you don't do that by winning one match," stated Shamrock. "You've gotta do it for a long period of time and then people will have to say that he is The World's Most Dangerous Man. You can't name yourself.
"First of all, he's not going to beat me and second of all, he's got to earn that and at this point in time he's got a long way to go."
Shamrock was around for the birth of TNA in the early 2000s and he compared that period to Impact Wrestling today.
"It seems like it's a little more well-organized," said Shamrock. "Then, there were a lot of unknowns and TNA was trying to find its footing. With Impact, they are setting a standard of what people really enjoyed back in the Attitude Era. I think right now we have that happening with Impact where there are guys competing with one another and trying to do things that nobody else is doing."
He added that it's a healthy environment when the talent wants to compete like that and that the locker room is great and everyone is wishing each other well.
Back in those early TNA days, Shamrock lost his world title to Ron Killings, aka R-Truth. Shamrock talked about how talented an individual Killings is and how he just maybe came up at the wrong time.
"I don't think he ever got his just due and I think it was just the times we were in as everything was sliding backwards while he was coming up," Shamrock said of the wrestling business. "He's a really good hand and when I fought with him I thought he was going to be a superstar."
Ken Shamrock will compete for the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship as part of Impact Wrestling's TV tapings in New York on November 7th and 8th. For more information about Impact and tickets, visit ImpactWrestling.com. Shamrock's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of Wednesday's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In the full interview Ken discusses how he's physically holding up, what brought him back to Impact Wrestling, the statement he wanted to make at Bound For Glory, being convinced to work with Joey Ryan, the pro wrestling business evolving, Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto Del Rio and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.