While pro wrestling might be a staged combat sport, it still has a history that’s intertwined with mixed martial arts thanks to figures like Masahiko Kimura, Gene LeBelle, Karl Gotch, and Antonio Inoki, all of whom were pro wrestlers credited for being pioneers in MMA. Over the years, many MMA fighters have made the transition to pro wrestling, some of whom started as wrestlers to begin with.
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Rather than run down MMA fighters who became wrestlers, let’s go a little more specific and talk about 10 factions in pro wrestling that can count fighters among their ranks from various promotions, including All Elite Wrestling.
10 American Top Team
After appearances in Major League Wrestling and Impact Wrestling — being affiliated with Bobby Lashley in the latter — Dan Lambert’s stable American Top Team debuted in AEW in 2021. With mostly MMA fighters in its membership like Junior Dos Santos, Austin Vanderford, and Paige VanZant, American Top Team became adversaries of the Inner Circle faction, going as far as taking on the Inner Circle in a Minneapolis Street Fight at 2021’s Full Gear pay-per-view. Even the full-time wrestlers in the group, Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky, have experience in “legitimate” fighting.
9 The NWA
One of the forgotten storylines of WWE’s Attitude Era was the invasion angle featuring representatives of the National Wrestling Alliance, organized into a stable called The NWA. Led by Jim Cornette, the group included Barry Windham, Jeff Jarrett, and The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. Despite the old school vibes, however, The NWA also included Dan “The Beast” Severn, who not only has a 101-19-7 record, but is also the only Triple Crown Champion in UFC history. In wrestling, Severn held the NWA World Heavyweight Title from 1995 to 1999, making him the third longest reigning champion in history.
8 Main Event Mafia
While the original Main Event Mafia in Impact Wrestling was a heel group devoted to keep the younger wrestlers in the company down, in 2013 the group returned to combat the invading biker gang faction Aces & Eights. Along with Sting, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, and Magnus, the group had an MMA fighter in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
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Rampage Jackson had a direct rival in Aces & Eights in fellow MMA fighter Tito Ortiz, but MMA promotion Bellator pulled both men from Impact television because they had an upcoming fight against one another.
7 Team 2000
Formed by Masahiro Chono in response to his former faction, nWo Japan, turning babyface, Team 2000 proved to be the top heel group in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Among wrestlers like Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan was Don Frye, who fought for UFC in the 1990s and even won the UFC 8 tournament. In NJPW, Frye was a regular staple during his time with the company, competing in various tag matches alongside his Team 2000 stablemates and even challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Title on three occasions.
6 Diamond Mine
Introduced in mid-2021, the NXT stable Diamond Mine started off as MMA style heels, though they’ve evolved into grayer alignments since. Originally composed of Roderick Strong, Malcolm Bivens, Hachiman (a.k.a. Hideki Suzuki), and Tyler Rust, the 2021 standout group eventually lost the latter two and gained The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile. Ivy Nile is famous for competing in NBC’s Titan Games, but she also competed in MMA as a flyweight in 2018, with a record of 0-1-0.
5 Sugiura-Gun
One of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s top stars, Takashi Sugiura is a four-time GHC Heavyweight Champion and formed his own faction, Sugiura-Gun, in 2019, and has so far boasted three MMA fighters in its membership. Alongside Kazunari Murakami, who transitioned from fighting to wrestling in the late 1990s, there’s Kazuyuki Fujita, who fought for Pride, Rizin, and K-1 on top of being a three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and one-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. More importantly, however, is Kazushi Sakuraba. Originally a pro wrestler, in MMA Sakuraba is considered one of the best of all time, and his major victories over members of the famous Gracie Family have earned him the nickname “Gracie Hunter.”
4 The Corporation
Arguably the biggest heel group of the Attitude Era, The Corporation consisted of WWE boss Vince McMahon, his various family members, stooges Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, and loyal heels like The Rock and Big Boss Man as well as Ken Shamrock.
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Starting out as a pro wrestler in the late 1980s, Shamrock transitioned into MMA, making his fighting debut for Minoru Suzuki’s Pancrase before moving on to UFC, Pride, and Bellator. His notoriety in MMA earned him the nickname “World’s Most Dangerous Man,” and Shamrock returned to the squared circle in 1997 when he signed to WWE.
3 Team Filthy
Headed by “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, who started as a wrestler before going into MMA and fighting in the UFC lightweight division, Team Filthy started out in Major League Wrestling. There, the group featured names like Simon Gotch, Ken Doane, Fred Yehi, and Erick Stevens.
Since then, Lawlor’s moved on to New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he heads a new version of his stable, which has included JR Kratos, future LAX member Danny Limelight, and Royce Isaacs. As part of Team Filthy, Lawlor has held the MLW World Heavyweight Championship as well as the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship.
2 Catch Point
Before Diamond Mine, there was Catch Point. Formed by Drew Gulak in EVOLVE in the mid-2010s, the group was managed by Stokely Hathaway (later known as Malcolm Bivens) and featured “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams, TJ Perkins, Fred Yehi, and Matt Riddle. Before becoming a pro wrestler Riddle fought in MMA, racking up an 8-3 record overall. In UFC, Riddle had racked up an impressive winning streak before a positive test for marijuana caused his release from the company and several of his wins stricken from his record.
1 Suzuki-Gun
Beloved by Western fans, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s cruel heel Minoru Suzuki transitioned from pro wrestling to MMA when he co-founded the aforementioned Pancrase promotion in 1993, making him a pioneer in modern mixed martial arts. There, he would become King of Pancrase, but would transition back to pro wrestling in 2003. In New Japan, Suzuki usurped Satoshi Kojima as leader of the Kojima-Gun faction, remaking it into Suzuki-Gun. Alongside Suzuki are members El Desperado, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and Lance Archer.
