Alistair Overeem to make pro wrestling debut against Braun Strowman

Alistair Overeem will be turning to pro wrestling.

Overeem, the former Strikeforce and DREAM heavyweight champion, recently signed with Glory kickboxing but will now be having a pro wrestling match. Overeem is set to headline the first Wrestling Entertainment Series (WES) event in Nottingham, England on June 4. He is set to take on former WWE star Braun Strowman, the promotion revealed on their website.

It is a surprise to see Overeem go into pro wrestling as he has said it was lame and something he didn’t like.

“The thing is with that whole wrestling thing, I watched it when I was 8, 9, 10 years old,” Overeem said on The MMA Hour. “Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, huge fan of those guys. Honky Tonk Man. Great, funny. Andre The Giant. I stopped watching after that, so I’m not watching since [1992, 1993, 1994]. And just recently, I started looking again on YouTube, and oh my God, this stuff is lame. It’s just lame what these guys are doing. It’s fake. It’s lame. It’s stupid. It’s gay. It doesn’t make any sense…

Image: UFC on Instagram

“It’s lame,” Overeem added. “It’s not even a sport. It’s just lame. It’s bad acting. It’s just lame. Sorry for all the fans of WWE, but I’m just being honest. I’m just giving my opinion. Free country, right? I think it’s lame, and because I hadn’t seen it for 20 years. I never watched Brock fight. I never watched CM Punk fight. I knew they were from WWE.”

Alistair Overeem last fought back in February of 2021 as he suffered a TKO loss to Alexander Volkov. He was released from the UFC following the loss despite winning his two fights prior as he TKO’d both Augusto Sakai and Walt Harris. In his career, he holds notable wins over Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos, and Brock Lesnar among others.

Are you surprised to see Alistair Overeem having a pro wrestling match?