Muhammad Ali will formally be a part of the WWE Corridor of Fame as a member of the Class of 2024, WWE introduced on Monday.
The three-time world heavyweight boxing champion is already in quite a few halls of fame, most notably as an inaugural member of the Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame. He’ll now be acknowledged for his involvement in professional wrestling.
After wrestlers like Beautiful George impressed his public persona, Ali stepped contained in the squared circle on June 26, 1976, for an exhibition towards Antonio Inoki in Tokyo, Japan. Whereas the bout resulted in a 15-round draw, it nonetheless managed to herald greater than 32,000 stay followers on the Nippon Budokan Enviornment and one other 33,000 viewers through closed-circuit tv in the USA.
Almost a decade later, Ali served because the particular visitor referee for the primary occasion of the inaugural WrestleMania, through which Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeated “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. In 1995, he’d participate in a sports activities diplomacy mission in North Korea and was the visitor of honor on the Collision in Korea pay-per-view, co-promoted by WCW and New Japan Professional-Wrestling.
“Ali sadly handed away on June third, 2016, at 74, however his legacy as one of many best athletes persists, and his work to modernize and globalize skilled wrestling helped seamlessly mix the world of sports activities and leisure,” WWE mentioned in an announcement.
“Many declare to be nice, however just one man is ‘The Best,'” WWE chief content material officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque wrote on X shortly after the announcement. “Muhammad Ali transcended sport to change into a worldwide icon who captivated and impacted the world like no different.”
The WWE Corridor of Fame Class of 2024 presently consists of Ali, Paul Heyman, Bull Nakano and The U.S. Specific (Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda). The induction ceremony will happen on April 5 on the Wells Fargo Middle in Philadelphia as a part of WrestleMania 40 weekend.