American Top Team founder Dan Lambert has brought Jorge Masvidal, Amanda Nunes, Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos and more UFC stars to AEW programming.
Dan Lambert continues to expand his reach in the world of professional wrestling, and he’s being flanked on All Elite Wrestling (AEW) programming by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stars like Jorge Masvidal, Amanda Nunes, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.
Lambert, the founder of renowned mixed martial arts (MMA) gym American Top Team (ATT), currently serves as the mouthpiece for AEW wrestlers Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky, known collectively as Men of the Year. Lambert often brings notable ATT fighters with him to “AEW Dynamite”. In the past several weeks, Lambert has welcomed the aforementioned names, plus Paige VanZant, Bellator contender Austin Vanderford and Professional Fighters League (PFL) star Kayla Harrison.
“It’s funny. They say all actors want to be singers and all singers want to be actors. A lot of the MMA guys want to get into pro-wrestling. Then you hear pro-wrestlers who want to get into MMA,” Lambert recently told Cageside Seats. “It’s just fun for them right now. While they’re fighting, they’re fighting. You have one ass, you can ride one horse at one time. Would I be surprised if any one of those guys got into it at some point in the future? No. Although when Andrei and JDS were in that skybox looking down at that tag match with the Lucha Bros. and the Young Bucks and the crazy s—t they were doing in the cage at the pay-per-view the other night, I looked at them and said, ‘Are you sure you want to do that at some point in the future?’ They’re like, ‘I don’t know about that.’
#DanLambert of @AmericanTopTeam is here with #MenOfTheYear, @paigevanzant, @junior_cigano, @AndreiArlovski & @KaylaH – Tune in NOW to watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/wTFAzaRR0Z
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 16, 2021
“I think Jorge’s plans on what his future has probably change by the day. Talk about somebody who’s in demand. He’s all over the place. He called me a couple of weeks ago and I said, ‘It sounds like a weird connection. Where are you at?’ He’s like, ‘Oh I’m in Egypt.’ He’s everywhere. I don’t know what’s in Jorge’s future but he’s probably going to be busy.”
Charisma is a key component of creating a top-level pro-wrestling star. When asked who at ATT has the gift of gab, Lambert said Masvidal was game-bred.
“I think Masvidal is the best on the mic at the gym,” Lambert says. “If you ever go to the open workouts, at least pre-COVID, when they were doing those at the bigger shows. He’d walk out and, instead of hitting pads or doing something like that, he’d just grab the microphone and say, ‘F—k it. You’ve seen me hit pads a million times. You’ve seen me hit people all the time. Let’s start talking.’ You just watch the fans interact with him and the guy is just so sharp on the microphone. It’s not like a script. He’s not memorizing lines. S—t just pops out of his mouth and people want to hear it.”
Lambert also reveals which of his fighters he thinks is most likely to give pro-wrestling a real shot.
“Up until that tag match I would have said Junior dos Santos cause he’s going to these and watching and he’s like, ‘Man this is great. I would love to do that.’ And then every time I see him at the gym he says, ‘Hey, when are you going back to that wrestling stuff? I want to go with you.’
“But as I said, he looked down from the rafters and was having second thoughts on that,” Lambert shares. “But I think I’ll stick with him or maybe even Arlovski. I think they would both like to get into it. They’re both big, strong guys. Maybe Arlovski’s a little scarier looking and he’d probably end up being the heel and I think JDS would be the perpetual babyface.”
JDS vs. Cain Velasquez in a pro-wrestling match, anyone?
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