7 MMA stars who could easily make it in WWE

To be a WWE star, you need to be at least a decent athlete and have a good or unique look. You need charisma. Whether you’re loved or hated, you need to be able to evoke emotions from the crowd. You need to be marketable and get fans to pay to see you.

If any MMA stars were to have pursued professional wrestling in the WWE as a career, here are the ones that would be the best candidates, in our opinion.

7) Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz was one of the UFC’s first big stars. He was a Light Heavyweight Champion and held the title for over three years, from April 2000 to September 2003.

Tito has worked with TNA in the past as he is a pro wrestling fan himself, but he’s never competed in a match. Though, he did serve as a special referee on a few occasions.

Ortiz is a tremendous athlete, had the look and charisma and clearly a great draw. Ortiz had all the tools to succeed in professional wrestling.

6) Bas Rutten

Bas Rutten never really got the chance to have a strong run in the UFC, with neck injuries shortening his career. But he was able to briefly capture the UFC heavyweight title. One that he won against the late Kevin Randleman in 1999.

Following his retirement from MMA, Bas had a short run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, recruited by wrestling legend Antonio Inoki. Bas competed in NJPW a few times from 2000 to 2002.

If Rutten had begun professional wrestling earlier, it’s likely his looks, charisma, ability, and willingness to get silly and serious would have served him well.

5) Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett has always been a professional wrestling fan. He tried his hand in the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) back in 2003 and 2004. He wrestled over 50 matches for the promotion and has even competed in Antonio Inoki’s Inoki Genome Federation.

Josh does have some experience under his belt in pro wrestling. Barnett was also a wrestler in high school and took up catch wrestling under Billy Robinson.

Barnett would definitely be believable as a wrecking force with a background like that and standing at 6’3″, 255 pounds.

4) Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson

Quinton Jackson signed with TNA Wrestling, joining the New Main Event Mafia with Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Sting and Magnus. His commitments to Bellator however, have caused him to pull out of TNA, and he has stated he has no plans of going back. He said he didn’t like the way the company was run.

You won’t see me in TNA ever again, Jackson said. As soon as I went over there and saw the operations and how they run things, there were never plans for me to go back, he added. They didn’t utilize me in any way. They wanted me to wrestle professional fighters in pro wrestling. I was like, ‘No, I’m not doing that.’ They just had no idea what they were doing, in my opinion.

It’s too bad Jackson was 35 years old before he decided to try it. His persona would have translated well into the wrestling world with the right training at a younger age.

3) Frank Shamrock

Frank’s brother Ken tried his hand in pro wrestling, wrestling for the WWE for about two years. Ken was successful, adopting a gimmick of a dangerous man who would get into his ‘zone’ and lose his sanity in destroying his opponents.

Frank is intelligent and very well spoken. Had he and Ken not been estranged at the time, they would have made a great tag team in wrestling, with Ken being the loose cannon and Frank being the subdued, yet equally dangerous one.

2) Ronda Rousey

UFC star Ronda Rousey even got her name from WWF (now WWE) star Roddy Piper, asking the legend if she could use the name ‘Rowdy’. She is an avid pro wrestling fan, having visited the WWE backstage at SummerSlam.

Rousey’s fiery, intense demeanour, coupled with her amazing talent and good looks have all the makings of the ideal WWE Diva. She’s the perfect MMA fighter to make the jump to pro wrestling.

1) Chael Sonnen

If you’ve ever listened to Chael Sonnen speak, you’ll know why he’s number one on this list. He might be in the top five list of combat sports trash talkers of all time.

Chael is a big fan of wrestling and is good friends with CM Punk and Stone Cold Steve Austin among others. If you watch Chael’s general interviews and post fight interviews, you’ll notice right away, his WWE style behavior. It was his thing.

Sonnen definitely knows how to sell Pay-per-views and he’s not afraid of being the villain in order to sell a fight. Chael could easily be a star in the WWE.