[18] He is the founder of the Lion's Den mixed martial arts training camp, and is the older brother of fellow fighter Frank Shamrock.

Additionally, Shamrock was also one of the first wrestlers to use the shoot style of wrestling in America, being credited by WWE with popularizing the legitimate ankle lock submission hold.

[22] After passing another tryout in Japan, he was eventually accepted, and in October he had his debut match in UWF, wrestling under the name of "Wayne Shamrock" and defeating Yoji Anjo.

Even though he had not started his mixed martial arts career yet, Shamrock had his first fighting experience in Fujiwara Gumi, as the results of many matches were chosen by having the wrestlers partake in competitive grappling at the gym.

[23] A different situation happened with Kazuo Takahashi, as he broke the script and shot on Shamrock in their November 1991 match, leading the American to fight back and knock him out with a soccer kick to the face at 1:27.

He again challenged for the WWF Championship in the main event of December's D-Generation X: In Your House, defeating champion Shawn Michaels by disqualification when Triple H interfered.

In December, Shamrock and his Corporation teammate Big Boss Man began pursuing the WWF Tag Team Championship, unsuccessfully challenging rival faction D-Generation X (DX) members New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) for the titles at Rock Bottom: In Your House.

On the January 11, 1999 episode of Raw is War, Shamrock's kayfabe sister, Ryan made her WWF debut, with both Billy Gunn and Val Venis making overtures to her.

The following night, on the January 25 episode of Raw is War, Shamrock and Boss Man lost the Tag Team Championship to Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart.

However, during his 2024 interview with Chris Van Vliet, Shamrock revealed the reason he left WWF at the time was that he was uncomfortable with the incest storyline, which included Alicia Webb, who debuted using Shamrock's real life son's name as a part of Webb's ring name, and stated that the Montreal Screwjob Incident that caused his mentor Bret Hart to leave WWF hurt his career, as Hart was the person who helped him get into the wrestling business along with his character gimmick.

[26] Shamrock made a one-night return on New Year's Eve 2000 teaming with UFC fighter Don Frye losing to Keiji Muto and Nobuhiko Takada at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye in Osaka, Japan.

Using professional wrestling rules—no closed fisted punching to the head and breaks on the ropes—but fighting for real without predetermined finishes, Shamrock beat Funaki by arm-triangle choke in the main event of the first Pancrase show on September 21, 1993.

[14] He followed up with victories over Yoshiki Takahashi, Takaku Fuke and Andre Van Den Oetelaar, and was slated to fight co-founder Minoru Suzuki on January 19, 1994.

[40] However, during the match Suzuki refused to release a kneebar after Shamrock had grabbed the ropes to escape, which injured the American's leg and forced him to forfeit the fight.

The bout was finished by Shamrock performing a professional wrestling northern lights suplex floated over into a Kimura lock and was widely considered to be a worked shoot.

[41][42] In addition to his MMA bouts in Pancrase, Shamrock also competed in a kickboxing match in 1994 with Dutch champion Frank "The Animal" Lobman, who holds a pro record of 110-6 with a 90% KO ratio.

[43] Although Shamrock initially believed it to be a professional wrestling event, he decided to sign up nonetheless,[44] supported by Pancrase members Masakatsu Funaki and Takaku Fuke.

[45] The event, UFC 1, was held under a one-night tournament format, but Shamrock only realized it would be real fighting after watching Gerard Gordeau knock out Teila Tuli in the first bout.

"[49] On the other hand, in 2015 Shamrock said he had watched the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu: In Action before the event and showed it to Funaki and the rest: "So one thing led to another, they started to support me on it- they did know that that gi meant a lot- but when they saw it too they thought "Yeah, you'll be able to beat this guy pretty well."

However, Shamrock refused to compete in the finals after he learned Gracie had dropped out of the tournament after his win over Kimo Leopoldo, combined with a knee injury he suffered during his match with Leininger.

[53] Gracie left with a melon sized welt closing his eye, a result of a standing punch due to a sudden change of the rules in which both of the fighters were restarted on their feet.

Ken Shamrock was supposed to face Josh Barnett at SuperBrawl 16 February 8, 2000, but withdrew due to pay issues, Shamrock was the favorite to win the bout and was replaced by former fellow UFC Superfight Champion Dan Severn, He signed with Pride Fighting Championships and defeated Alexander Otsuka by KO due to punches at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals in the superfight, his first fight back from the WWF.

Despite this, Shamrock dominated Fujita throughout the entire fight, stopping takedowns from the Japanese wrestling champion and landing hard strikes, but eventually had his corner throw in the towel because he felt like he was having a heart attack.

The bout moved to the mat, where Shamrock attempted another ankle lock, only for Frye to try to counter with one of his own and finally refusing to tap out by sheer will until the time ran out.

After upsetting top UFC fighter and Lion's Den member Jerry Bohlander, Ortiz mimicked shooting at Shamrock and put on a shirt in the octagon which read "I just f**ked your ass".

Ortiz shed light upon his feelings before the fight in his book This is Gonna Hurt: The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion; "Ken Shamrock is a real good fighter.

Immediately after the fight, Ortiz initially celebrated his victory with a mocking "grave digger" routine and a T-shirt that said, "Punishing Him Into Retirement" after giving him the finger.

[85] Shamrock was also planning on returning to MMA to take on Ian Freeman for 'The Legends World Title' on July 27 at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, England.

His muscled and ripped frame...his intensity was unequaled in the sport at the time, and his bag of submissions made him a very real threat to any opponent he faced during those early years.

Ken Shamrock, Carlos Newton, Murilo Bustamante, Pedro Rizzo and Josh Barnett were all at various points either UFC champions or groomed to be top stars.