Late boxing legend Mohammad Ali will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April, it has been announced.
Ali will be part of the Class of 2024 that will join the Hall of Fame at a ceremony that will take place on April 5 in Philadelphia, as part of the WrestleMania 40 weekend.
While this decision may seem surprising to some, Ali, a three-time heavyweight champion of the world in boxing, does have a significant place in WWE history. At the first WrestleMania in 1985, Ali took to the ring as the guest referee in the main event feature, a tag-team match involving Hulk Hogan and Mr T up against ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper and ‘Mr Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff.
During that match, held at Madison Square Garden in New York, Ali took no prisoners in his refereeing of the contest – even delivering a punch to Piper’s chin in an attempt to restore order when all four had started brawling.
Ali also took part in an exhibition match in 1976 against Antonio Inoki that mixed boxing and martial arts and is now credited as being a precursor to today’s mixed martial arts. The match, which ended in a draw after 15 rounds, drew 32,000 spectators.
Ali – who was nicknamed ‘the Greatest’ – died in 2016 at the age of 74. He had suffered from Parkinson’s in his later years. At his peak, his fame transcended sport – he was known for his quick wit and activism too, famously refusing to fight in the Vietnam War during the 1960s. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in its inaugural intake in 1990 and in 1999 was voted Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC.
