After making disparaging remarks less than a year ago, Alistair Overeem explains why he entered pro wrestling.
Less than a year ago, heavyweight veteran Alistair Overeem had some very disparaging and homophobic things to say about professional wrestling. Just a few months removed from the UFC at the time, Overeem had this to say during an MMA Hour appearance.
“It’s just lame what these guys are doing. It’s fake. It’s lame. It’s stupid. It’s gay. It doesn’t make any sense,” Overeem told Ariel Helwani.
“It’s lame. It’s not even a sport. It’s just lame. It’s bad acting. It’s just lame. Sorry for all the fans of WWE, but I’m just being honest. I’m just giving my opinion.
“Free country, right? I think it’s lame, and because I hadn’t seen it for 20 years. I never watched Brock fight. I never watched CM Punk fight. I knew they were from WWE.”
In May, the 42-year-old Overeem found himself involved in the business he once trashed when he signed with Wrestling Entertainment Series (WES). He also found himself being interviewed on the MMA Hour once again, this time speaking in a slightly different tone.
“Life is interesting, let me put it that way. Cause on the one hand you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re talking smack and then you’re doing it yourself,’” Overeem said. “Not too big a fan of it lately, but again, in my defense, I was a huge fan in the 80s when I was 8 or 9 or 10, 11, 12 [years old]. So it’s been up and down, and now it’s up again.
“I was always – just to remind you – not too flattering about kickboxing guys. I’m kickboxing now. I was kickboxing 10 years ago. I was kickboxing 25 years ago, so that’s a little bit of the up and down thing, right?”
As a prizefighting veteran of 23 years, Overeem is confident that he’d be able to make a smooth transition.
“You need to do [train], otherwise, it’s not going to go too good. Of course, the MMA background helps cause you’re used to falling and doing all the moves but this is a little bit different. Hats off to the guys [who do professional wrestling],” he said.
“I’m confident in my abilities. As an athlete, as a fighter, I just somehow have the ability that if I put my mind to it, I will just kick some ass.”
Overeem’s pro wrestling debut against WWE veteran Adam Scherr (ring name Braun Strowman) has been moved to July 9th from its original June 4th date. He is also making his return to kickboxing under Glory on October 8th against Badr Hari.