Alistair Overeem explains move into pro wrestling after calling it ‘lame’ and ‘stupid’ in the past

Alistair Overeem couldn’t help but smile when addressing news that he will be making his pro-wrestling debut in July when less than a year earlier he had some very unflattering opinions about the profession.

Overeem addressed Brock Lesnar at the time. Lesnar rose to prominence in World Wrestling Entertainment before becoming champion of the UFC heavyweight division. He was also a two-time octagon veteran CM Punk.

“It’s lame, it’s stupid,” Overeem said back in 2021. “It’s not even a sport. It is just stupid. It’s bad acting. It is just plain stupid. It’s just lame. Just my opinion. Is that a free country?

“I think it’s lame, and because I hadn’t seen it for 20 years. I never watched Brock fight. I have never seen CM Punk fight. They were part of WWE .”

, I thought.

Just 10 months after making those comments, Overeem has been training professional wrestling as he prepares for a matchup against Adam Scherr — best known as former WWE superstar Braun Strowman — in the main event of a card being held in England on July 9.

Addressing his sudden shift from adamant detractor to active participant, Overeem admitted his perspective has changed, but his opinion has also evolved on other activities as well.

“It’s interesting. Let me say it this way,” Overem stated on The MMA Hour .. “Cause on the one hand you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re talking smack and then you’re doing it yourself.’ 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 never, to be honest, too flattering of kickboxing guys. Now I kickbox. 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?”

Since signing to make his debut, Overeem has been training to prepare for his first match, and he’s already acclimated to the world of sports entertainment where the performers are incredibly athletic while also taking part in a theatrical production.

According to Overeem, he’s felt prepared enough to step through the ropes for his first match already, but he’s happy to continue working to get better before finally making his debut.

” You must do [train], or it won’t go well,” he stated. “Of course the MMA background helps cause you’re used to falling and doing all the moves but this is a little bit different. [who do professional wrestling]. Bravo!

“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.”

At 6-foot-4, Overeem was always one of the bigger heavyweight fighters in promotions like the UFC, but he’ll actually give up quite a bit of size to Scherr, who was a strongman competitor before making his own move into pro wrestling.

Scherr weighs north of 350 pounds and will have about four inches in height on Overeem. The 42-year-old fighter doesn’t anticipate that stopping him from showing his own power once they’re in the ring.

“He’s huge,” Overeem said about Scherr. “I was impressed. “I was impressed. We will soon meet in the ring, and it will be more friendly. They say that the larger they get, the more they will fall. That would be nice [to slam him].”

For now, Overeem is focused on his match with Scherr with a kickboxing bout scheduled against Badr Hari in October, but he’s not closing the door on future pro wrestling endeavors.

“I’m starting easy and I’m seeing how it goes,” Overeem said. “I won’t talk about too much and I don’t promise too much. Let’s see what happens. I don’t know. I’ve always been conservative throughout my fight career. If I didn’t think I was being conservative enough, it meant I was talking too much. I regret this later. So let me be a little bit conservative.

” It’s an exciting new path and, to be honest with you, it’s very thrilling. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t. You can certainly break bones, and that is my goal. Break some bones. Because I hate to speak too often, we’ll be able to see where it takes us. It’s for me a step .”