By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The legendary Muhammad Ali will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Variety.com reports that the late boxing legend will be inducted posthumously by his widow Lonnie Ali. The ceremony will be held on Friday, April 5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Wells Fargo Center.
Powell’s POV: Ali was the special ringside enforcer of the original WrestleMania tag team main event of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. The iconic boxer also took part in an exhibition match with Antonio Inoki in Japan and had other pro wrestling crossover moments. For those keeping score, there’s no mention of Ali entering the “celebrity wing” of the Hall of Fame in either the Variety piece or the WWE.com story that followed.
He also squared off against Gorilla Monsoon in an impromptu confrontation that was featured in Coleseum videos.
I was saying for years he should have been inducted, when he was alive. He may not have wanted to be seen public due to his health.
Why Cyndi Lauper wasn’t inducted ages ago is beyond me. They literally could not have built WWE without her.
They teally should induct Dr. D. David Schultz. He protected the business when that mattered, and the business betrayed him for it.
And he had a brief match with Kenny Jay. As for Lauper, I’m guessing it takes two to tango. Schultz? I was 12 when he slapped John Stossel and even I knew what the business was. I suspended disbelief like I was watching a movie, but anyone who didn’t know what it was at that point was a kid, a little slow, or just living in denial. But they should induct Schultz just for slapping douchey John Stossel!
Stossel really is!
Thanks for the Kenny Jay info, too. I’ll have to find out more about that.
Not sure if you read Heenan’s autobiography, but he recounted being told by a promoter to smarten Ali up to the business for some angle they were doing. Heenan talked to Ali and realuzed of course he knew. He patterened his personality after meeting Gorgeous George.
I was watching an 2002 Survivor Series with my 8 year old this morning (I homeschool) and it occurred to me that at no time in the foreseeable future will HHH be inducted as an individual, since that would basically be like him inducting himself (ok, insert joke here). Anyway, just a thought.