Former UFC stars Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva have reportedly been invited to the World Wrestling Entertainment company’s big “Wrestlemania 31” event scheduled for the end of March.
There is no confirmed story on what the purpose of the invite is, but combined with the recent signing of CM Punk and the pending return of Brock Lesnar, the WWE and UFC are going to be mentioned together more and more.
It bares noting that there is a long list of fighters who have done professional wrestling and wrestlers who have done MMA. Ken Shamrock did professional wrestling with the WWE. Tank Abbott did a run with WCW. Don Frye, Mark Coleman and Renzo Gracie have all tried it in Japan. Alberto Del Rio fought in Pride, and the mega-shows that company did a decade or so ago were buoyed by cross-over from Japan’s pro wrestling scene, such as Naoya Ogawa and Kazayuki Fujita. It is actually a well-tested formula.
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There has also been tons of crossover to MMa from other sports. How many wrestlers have come over and done well? There have been football players who have fought, Jarrod Bunch, Michael Westbrook and Herschel Walker among them.
In Australia, one of the top rugby players in the world, Sonny Bill Williams has run his record to 7-0 fighting as a heavyweight boxer. In his last fight, three other well known rugby players boxed as well.
Sonnen has the personality to do pro wrestling, especially as a manager-like character. For his part, Silva can stand around and look mean. If Sonnen is the voice and Silva is the sidekick or muscle, what happened to that huge rivalry we were all being fed? Didn’t Silva want to kill Sonnen? Sonnen didn’t talk enough trash about Silva, his team and his country? If they wind up somehow working together in the tightly scripted WWE, it will really serve to blur the lines.
And we assume CM Punk is training diligently for his expected UFC debut. Who he will fight is still a mystery, but there are insiders who expect the UFC to do 1.5 million buys if they put him on a PPV. That is big numbers and a good indication that we will see cross-overs more, not less.
Check out this four-minute WWE highlight, plenty of smack talk to see just what Sonnen is getting himself into.
