Ken Shamrock Discusses Recent NJPW Appearance, Says He’s Not Retired From Wrestling

Ken Shamrock comments on his recent appearance for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The wrestling world was shocked when Ken Shamrock made an appearance at NJPW’s Rumble On 44th Street event in October 2022. In his appearance, Shamrock escorted Clark Connors to the ring for his match with Minoru Suzuki. After the match, Shamrock and Suzuki had a stare down before embracing in the middle of the ring.

In a new interview with WrestlingNews.co, Shamrock talked about how his appearance with the company came together and how he wanted it to potentially lead to more. 

“They contacted me, they wanted to know if I wanted to come in and do a spot in there. I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and then I heard it was with Suzuki, and I was like, ‘Oh, outstanding.’ I really thought maybe they were putting something together, to start something between me and him because it’s been so long since me and him have been able to really get in the ring and do anything. So I really thought there was gonna be something there, but unfortunately, it was just a spot. They told me that. ‘No, we’re just doing a spot, just want to give the fans a treat.’ So we went and did that. It was fun to see him again, it was really awesome because he’s one of the guys in the beginning that really helped sharpen my skills along with [Masakatsu] Funaki, so it was great to be in there with him.”

Shamrock, who hasn’t wrestled since August 2022, was then asked if he’s retired.

“No, no, not from wrestling.”

Shamrock then went on to talk about when fans can possible see him in the ring next.

“We’ll just have to wait and see. Right now, truly right now, I am so focused on Valor, really trying to get that promotion up and going. We have a great opportunity to be able to try and change the look of the bare-knuckle sport, being able to clean it up, being able to make it look professional and bring it to the fans because I know they love it, and the numbers show it. It’s just really packaging it so it’s acceptable in mainstream.”

Shamrock’s recent run with IMPACT Wrestling came to an end in January 2021. As previously noted, the ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ has only wrestled one match since departing the promotion.

Fans can check out Fightful’s recent interview with Ken Shamrock by clicking here.

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