UFC Fighter Rashad Evans Inquires About WWE Job

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that UFC fighter Rashad Evans has inquired about a job with WWE. Evans, who will turn 35 in 2014, is currently recovering from major knee surgery and had considered retirement prior to the injury, but now it seems as if he wants to work for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims that no one has been able to transition from UFC to WWE successfully, unless they were a wrestler first, such as Ken Shamrock and Brock Lesnar. He also writes,

“We’d heard his name bandied about in the company of UFC guys thinking about WWE as a future destination for years. I don’t know that he’s directly spoken to WWE, but he was talking to people in the pro wrestling business this weekend about the idea. In recent years, people associated with Chael Sonnen, Shayna Baszler, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir have also tried to open up talks or we’ve heard very vague ideas suggested for Baszler at one point. In the case of Nelson and Mir, neither seemed to get anywhere.

WWE and Vince McMahon in particular, are leery about using former MMA fighters, particularly big stars, since they are used to huge payoffs and he doesn’t think they’d survive the schedule. Some of this comes from McMahon’s failed negotiations with Bob Sapp, who he wanted badly, but the negotiations never got past a certain point due to money and schedule. Plus, McMahon knows virtually nothing about the modern UFC scene.

With Evans, like Sonnen, age is also an issue. Sonnen’s name is the only one with some smoke, in the sense there are people who throw ideas regarding him out there although the impression we’ve got is any interest would more be as an announcer, and that would likely not happen now because of the controversy associated with his name.”

Meltzer goes on to comment on the fact that WWE doesn’t particularly like the thought of hiring 30 year old guys that have been beaten up in previous professions. Their thought process is that they can’t count on someone coming from UFC or professional football that is middle-aged to be able to exist in the company as a lengthy investment.

Editor’s Note:
Meh. I’d rather see wrestling guys be wrestling guys.