Undertaker wanted to join the UFC in 2006.

[Carbomb]

9 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

there's tough and there's tough, though - the Brawl For All showed that half the legendary "tough guys" of wrestling couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag.

There's just a massive inferiority complex around wrestlers of Undertaker's generation, that they all came up at a time when wrestler's weren't really seen as proper tough guys any more, but the generation that were was still sticking around. And then the UFC came along, and they all started pretending that they'd have done that had the opportunity presented itself - which is even more egregious for a guy like 'Taker, who had no relevant background whatsoever.

And early in his career, wasn't he known for riding with the ring announcer rather than all the old "tough guys" that he now points to for the credibility of having shared locker rooms with?

Absolutely. I was just responding to the notion (which, looking back, I realise nobody actually made, but at the time it seemed the conversation was going in the direction of) that he wasn't even hard, just being a lanky basketball player.

5 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

It's why the wrestling cling on to the legend of Meng. He's the one guy that there's literally no hard evidence of. Its all stories and urban legend.

I do love Meng though.

He probably is that tough, there's no reason for so many people to lie about one particular guy. But, from the stories we've all had about him, it sounds like he wouldn't have fared well in MMA, not least because he wouldn't have been able to use most of the techniques he was reported to use in fights, and also just sheer quality of opposition. When you're up against guys whose job it is to fight, toughness alone isn't going to cut it - it just means it'll take them longer to bludgeon you into unconsciousness.

[BomberPat]

Meng was smart enough to never risk it, too. Bischoff allegedly wanted him to go to UFC while working for WCW, and he turned it down because he felt he had nothing to prove. None of the stories of his toughness come from him, he just lets other people tell them, and never corrects them.

Like any wrestler, you can't just pluck him out of pro-wrestling and stick him in MMA and think he'd do any good. But if it's a question of wrestlers that, had they devoted their time to MMA training instead of wrestling, maybe Meng or Undertaker could have managed it. But those things are completely unknowable.

And Undertaker in 2006? Not the slightest chance at all; 41 years old with 15+ years of wrestling wear and tear on him and no meaningful combat training or experience behind him. CM Punk was three years younger, had a good year of solid training behind him, and years of hobbyist training before that, and look how far that got him. 

From old wrestlers, it's just a modern twist on the old Count Dante/Frank Dux bravado and bullshit - only now instead of super secret deathmatch tournaments and mystical techniques that can kill a man with one pinch of the right pressure point but that they can't possibly use in competition fighting because it's so dangerous, the new form of martial arts bullshit is just, "I could have done that if I wanted to" about UFC.

[David]

14 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Absolutely. I was just responding to the notion (which, looking back, I realise nobody actually made, but at the time it seemed the conversation was going in the direction of) that he wasn't even hard, just being a lanky basketball player.

He's a Texan in his mid 50's who owns guns and chews dip. All those guys probably think they could teach "them UFC boys" a thing or two. 

I'd honestly be very suspicious if, considering his background, upbringing and how he acts, he claimed not to be a right-wing goon. 

[Egg Shen]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

 

Like any wrestler, you can't just pluck him out of pro-wrestling and stick him in MMA and think he'd do any good. But if it's a question of wrestlers that, had they devoted their time to MMA training instead of wrestling, maybe Meng or Undertaker could have managed it. But those things are completely unknowable.

 

There are countless numbere who could have done it. If MMA had been around back in the day, alot of the top pro wrestlers probably wouldnt have even entertained the idea of being one and gone straight into MMA.

[neil]

Most "tough" wrestler stories are more just evidence of psychopathic tendencies than toughness. It's less "got jumped by 3 people and fucked them all up" and more "cheapshot someone with a snooker cue because they didn't shake their hand earlier that day".