‘Thank god I’m alive! – The inside story of The Rock and the UFC Hall of Famer who took a sickening chair shot to the face
UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock was used to taking risks, and nothing changed when he headed for WWE in the late 1990s.
Once dubbed The World’s Most Dangerous man for his exploits in the Octagon - he competed in UFC 1 in 1993 - Shamrock made the transition into professional wrestling and made his WWE debut in 1997.
As well as dominating in MMA fights, he racked up championship reigns in WWE – or then known as the World Wrestling Federation – thanks to battles with legends like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Shamrock and Rock feuded notably over the Intercontinental championship during 1998, colliding on weekly episodes of Raw and on huge pay per views like WrestleMania 14.
Rock, then a dastardly villain, would often come out on top at Shamrock’s expense – the veteran fighter once going well out of his way to make his on-screen rival look good.
On one Raw in March ’98, Shamrock took one of the most iconic, sickening chair shots in WWE history at the hands of The People’s Champion.
READ MORE WWE
In a scene that still makes you wince in 2024, The Floridian appeared to well and truly nail his foe in the face with the folding chair.
Years later, Shamrock has explained how and why the horrific spot came to be – and it was entirely by design.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, he explained he’d long grown to dislike chair shots to parts of the head – especially those he couldn’t see coming.
Instead, in a meeting with The Rock backstage, he insisted the future Hollywood megastar take a swing at his face, and certainly got what he asked for.
Most read in Sport
“I didn’t like chair shots,” he explained.
“I felt like [getting hit in the] back was fine, but then they’d hit you in the top of the head or the back of the head.
“I looked at The Rock and said: ‘hey, man, when we do that chair shot, man, just hit me in the face.
“He looked at me and he goes: ‘I’m not hitting you in the face!’ and I go: ‘Dude, hit me in the face, I’ll take care of the rest.
“He looked at me and he said: ‘you’re ribbing me!’, I said: ‘No, I’m serious. Hit me in the face and if you don’t swing it, I won’t sell it!’
“We get in there and we do that spot, and he looks at me, and I remember looking up at him going ‘you better swing it!’
“He looked at me and said ‘Oh, I will!’”
Shamrock, who also featured for TNA Wrestling and returned to UFC for a second stint in 2002, actually felt taking the high-impact shot in such a way was safer than a more standard chair spot.
He added: “It was a lot easier to take that to the forehead because it didn’t hit me directly in the face, so when he swung it, all I did was tip my chin down and took it right in the forehead.
“If you know anything about how your body is, your forehead is the thickest bone in your head.
“Instead of taking it in the top of the head, [I knew] that was the place I wouldn’t get a concussion.
“I didn’t want to take something that I’d embarrass myself with when somebody eases up on it, so I knew when I swung it that I’d be okay.”
Of the immediate aftermath, Shamrock recalls thinking how incredibly well it all went, saying: “When he hit me with the chair and I go to go back, I was like: ‘dude, I hardly even felt it!’
Read More on talkSPORT
“That’s no lie. I’m not lying… he hit me with it, and I thought ‘that was a lot better than I thought!’
“As I was rolling backwards and I hit the ground, I was like: ‘thank god I’m alive!’”