King: The Success of UFC/WWE Crossover
In recent years, a myriad of superstars have found great success in the sport of MMA, and in the world’s largest pro-wrestling promotion WWE such as The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar, The Four Horsewomen (Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, and last but certainly not least the King of Bros Matt Riddle. That’s the main reason why so many Sports betting sites in Canada for example, have bets on a variety of wrestlers who may switch their side to MMA instead of WWE. These wrestlers are usually some of the most successful ones and very often receive great odds from the betting experts.
Here Comes The Beast Incarnate
In 2002, “The Next Big Thing” Brock Lesnar burst onto the scene and singlehandedly obliterated the competition set before him. Lesnar was immediately catapulted to the main event scene wrestling against the biggest names in WWE such as The Hardy Boyz, Rob Van Dam, The Immortal Hulk Hogan, and The World’s Largest Athlete The Big Show. At the 2012 SummerSlam Lesnar defeated The Rock to become the youngest WWE Champion in company history.
In 2004, Lesnar left WWE to pursue a childhood dream of playing for the Minnesota Vikings, unfortunately, due to a motorcycle accident and a refusal to move his family out of the USA his NFL career was cut short. In 2008, The Beast Incarnate transitioned from the squared circle to the octagon and utilized his freakish strength and abilities to the UFC.
While The Beast Incarnate’s mixed martial arts career had a rocky start, in November 2008 at UFC 91 Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC World Heavyweight Champion. In 2009, Lesnar was sidelined from competition due to a severe illness stemming from what we would later find out to be diverticulitis.
Lesnar would eventually face Shane Carwin to unify the UFC titles in 2010, however, his illness would force him to return back to the WWE one year later. To say The Beast Incarnate has been successful in the past eight years would be a huge understatement.
Lesnar has become a three-time Universal Champion, a WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and achieved the impossible when he became the only superstar to break The Undertaker’s legendary two-decade-long WrestleMania undefeated streak.
The Four-Horsewomen of MMA
The Four-Horsewomen of WWE no I’m not talking about (Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Bayley), I’m speaking about The Four-HorseWomen of UFC (Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir, Shayna Baszler, and Ronda Rousey).
“The Baddest Woman on the Planet” has had a fantastic professional career both in UFC and in WWE. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Rousey became the first American woman to win a gold medal in judo. She quickly ascended in the world of mixed martial arts, becoming the inaugural Women’s Bantamweight Champion in Strikeforce. She would also be the first-ever female UFC Champion in history with an outstanding record-setting reign of 1,074 days.
In 2018, The Baddest Woman on the Planet would make her transition from the octagon to the squared circle. In her debut match at WrestleMania 34, Rousey teamed with “The Olympic Gold Medalist” Kurt Angle to take on HHH and Stephanie McMahon. Shortly after the victory, Rousey was won the Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention The Huge Winners-Take-All First-ever Women’s Main Event at this year’s Mania.
In the 2017 Mae Young Classic “The Submission Magician” Shayna Baszler made her debut in WWE. In the quarterfinals, Baszler defeated Candace LeRae by submission and refused to release the Kirifuda Clutch causing more damage. “The Queen of Spades” is the second most deadliest NXT Women’s Champions in history, Baszler has bulldozed through the competition since winning the NXT Women’s title at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans from Ember Moon.
In May of 2018, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir officially signed with WWE, they made their debut at the WWE Evolution pay-per-view when they helped Baszler defeat Kairi Sane. Since then, Duke and Shafir have interfered in nearly every NXT women’s championship match to ensure The Queen of Spades continues her impressive title reign as a two-time women’s champion.
Bro, Bro, Bro,Brooo!
“The King of Bros” Matt Riddle made a name for himself in MMA from 2008-2014, where he was featured on Spike TV’s Ultimate Fighter 7 he would also gain four straight victories in UFC before he was fired in 2014.
Riddle began training to become a professional wrestler, and debuted on February 7, 2015, at the Monster Factory (a professional wrestling school) located in Paulsboro, New Jersey. Shorty after Riddle won the Monster Factory Heavyweight Championship. From there he signed with Evolve and Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
Fast forward to 2018, where at Evolve 102 The King of Bros defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to become the Evolve World Champion. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV Riddle was dubbed the latest signee for the black and gold brand. He made his official NXT debut on October 31, 2018, and scored his first victory against Luke Menzies.
At NXT TakeOver: War Games II, The King of Bros and “The Knockout Artist” Kassius Ohno engaged in a heated confrontation, where Riddle challenged him to a match and defeated Ohno in six seconds! At NXT TakeOver: Pheonix Riddle and Ohno faced off in a rematch, where The King of Bros was victorious with his dangerous armbar.
At NXT TakeOver: New York Riddle challenged The Velveteen Dream for his North American Championship, despite a great performance Riddle lost the match ending his undefeated streak. Currently, Riddle is involved in a highly-intense feud with the recently returned monstrous “The Beast of Belfast” Killian Dain. On this week’s episode of NXT the two behemoths battled in the main event, Dain won the car-crash chaotic match but the war is far from over!
Here Comes Cormier!
Daniel Cormier is a powerhouse in the world of MMA where he’s a former UFC Heavyweight and Lightweight Champion, he was the first-ever UFC fighter to not only hold both titles simultaneously but also defend them in both separate weight classes. In Strikeforce Cormier became the Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion and the King of the Cage Heavyweight Champion. He’s impressively held championships in every division he’s competed in.
You may remember following Brock Lesnar’s loss at 2018 SummerSlam to Roman Reigns, at UFC 226 Cormier called out The Beast Incarnate, and the two had a heated confrontation.
On March 19th, during an interview with ESPN Cormier fueled the fire once again.
At WrestleMania 35 when Lesnar lost his Universal Championship to “The Beastslayer” Seth Rollins the first time, apparently Cormier found it hilarious.
After SummerSlam Cormier continued his taunting he must really want this fight!
In recent months, Cormier has teased following Lesnar over to WWE to finally get his match. Following his shocking loss at UFC 230 where he lost his UFC Championship, Cormier received a WWE tryout, it appears to only be for a role as a commentator but the mantra in professional wrestling is “Never Say Never!”
The WWE Universe has witnessed so many incredibly talented and gifted athletes from the world of mixed martial arts make the transition to the WWE, and put on some of the hardest-hitting professional and bouts in company history.
Who could forget The Beast Incarnate “kayfabe” breaking The COO of WWE Triple H’s arm with the deadly Kimora Lock, or the second-longest NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler obliterating all the competition set before her with the Kirifuda Clutch! The future is most certainly bright for both WWE and UFC fighters in the world of professional wrestling!
