The Rock Tells Joe Rogan He Almost Left WWE For An MMA Career In 1997

The Rock finally went on Joe Rogan this week, and dropped a “bombshell” revelation that he almost left the WWF/E to join Japanese MMA promotion PRIDE in 1997. He says he was making $150,000 working 235 days a year in WWF, and so seriously considered making the move when Ken Shamrock and Mark Kerr supposedly told him how much money he could make in PRIDE:

The Rock says he was close to signing with PRIDE back in 1997 and transitioning from Wrestling to MMA.

Imagine if The Rock was competing against guys like Fedor and Cro-Cop back in the day… pic.twitter.com/JqAw4pOkrX

— notNotorious (@Notori6us) November 15, 2023

Just one problem with that story – Jonathan Snowden, Ken Shamrock’s biographer, immediately Tweeted to point out that The Rock’s timeline does not add up at all with when PRIDE was active and successful:

The first Pride was in October, 1997.

Fedor had his first Pride fight in 2002.

Ken Shamrock , mentioned here, had his first Pride fight in 2000.

In summation, LOL at all of this. https://t.co/miw9zilYFE

— TheRealSnowden (@JESnowden) November 16, 2023

If people made that fighting MMA in 1997 Ken would have never been in the WWF locker room.

— TheRealSnowden (@JESnowden) November 16, 2023

There weren’t “Pride” fighters in 1997. There was one Pride event at the end of the year.

Ken would have absolutely heard what they were paying over the next couple of years. It’s not at all what Rock says here. Which is why Ken himself didn’t go there until 2000.

— TheRealSnowden (@JESnowden) November 16, 2023

Shamrock and Severn both went to WWE specifically because there was no money in MMA in 97/98.

— TheRealSnowden (@JESnowden) November 16, 2023

Now I like The Rock so I want to say that maybe he got his years mixed up, but that can’t be the case because he specifically says the period that he considered joining PRIDE was when things weren’t going well for him in WWF, which was definitely 1997. TBH I’m not even sure he would have given an MMA career as much thought as he claims, rather than just a fleeting “I wonder if I could make more money in MMA than wrestling” thought that amounted to nothing.

Well, I suppose you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Still, would’ve been cool to see The Rock attempt a People’s Elbow in an MMA cage.