It is very much a new era for the WWE Hall of Fame. In the past, it was described that former owner and chairman Vince McMahon had made the calls as to who would be in the Hall. With him out of the picture, Jean “Triple H” Levesque” has taken over that duty, and with alleged input from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, we are seeing a cohesive list of names emerge. This past week, Paul Heyman, Bull Nakano and the U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo) were named to the Hall, and now we have a huge name, albeit not specifically a wrestling one, but a legend nevertheless:
Muhammad Ali.
Known as “The Greatest,” the former multi-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion fought Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki in a Mixed Martial Arts exhibition in Japan, which was shown on closed circuit television in the United States. Initially, the fight was believed by Ali to be worked, but Inoki was adamant that was real. The result was that Ali’s camp added more stipulations that rendered the fight little more than Inoki kicking Ali’s legs while he was on his back. Ali was legitimately hurt by Inoki, but the spectacle was not well-received and considered boring. Nevertheless, this Ali-Inoki fight was a precursor to modern MMA and, in hindsight, a huge moment for professional wrestling.
Ali made other appearances in wrestling, the most famous being as the special guest referee at the inaugural Wrestlemania. At one point, Ali got into the ring and cleared the ring of the heels (Roddy Piper, Bob Orton, and Paul Orndorff). He also was a special ambassador for the Inoki-promoted Collision in Korea, which had a packed (though forced) house over two days in North Korea.
We are thrilled about this induction, which makes the Celebrity Wing infinitely more credible.
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