Former UFC Welterweight and Middleweight Champion George St-Pierre recently admitted that he and WWE had discussions last year about a possible switch from the octagon to the squared circle.
In a French-language interview with TVA Sports, St-Pierre recalled the moment when he was at ESPN’s ESPYs award ceremony in July 2018, where he was among the nominees for the network’s Best Fighter Award. As quoted by MMA Fighting , “GSP” told TVA Sports’ Jean-Charles Lajoie that he was “approached” by WWE officials at the event, not going into much detail about what was discussed, but also expressing that he remains unsure if he wants to “[make]” a living as a professional wrestler.
“I had just retired, and, it’s a form of competition, but of course, it’s also scripted, so I don’t know if I’d be willing to relive that,” St-Pierre continued. “Perhaps for a special event, so I could taste it.”
St-Pierre added that there’s a chance he and his representatives will “get back to [WWE]” on a potential stint with the promotion, but stressed that both sides have not had any further discussions as of late. He said that he has no plans of making a full-time switch to pro wrestling, despite his interest in possibly making a special appearance on WWE programming if given the chance.
In recent years, WWE has seen a number of former mixed martial arts standouts, including Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, and Matt Riddle, join the company and make a successful move to the world of sports entertainment. Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, had a dominant run in the UFC in between stints with WWE and is back once again in the company’s storylines as the holder of the men’s Money in the Bank contract.
Georges St-Pierre has reportedly been approached about a WWE deal. https://t.co/qVCBNfF4Ur
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom) May 31, 2019
As further noted by MMA Fighting , close to a dozen members of UFC’s Hall of Fame have been involved in pro wrestling, including Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn, who both competed in WWE during the company’s “Attitude Era” in the late 1990s.
On the other side of the fence, former WWE champions CM Punk and Jack Swagger — now known by his real name of Jake Hager — respectively competed in UFC and Bellator after leaving the company.
While Georges St-Pierre remains noncommittal about joining Rousey, Lesnar, and many others as the latest MMA-to-pro-wrestling crossover, MMA Mania pointed out that his retirement from mixed martial arts hasn’t stopped him from being associated with a number of rumored “super fights,” including one with reigning UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
