WWE Hall of Fame (2021)

The 2021 WWE Hall of Fame is an upcoming professional wrestling event and WWE Network event produced by WWE that will feature the introduction of the 21st class to the WWE Hall of Fame. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Hall of Fame event did not occur and was rescheduled as the 2021 event. As a result, the originally announced Class of 2020 will be inducted as the Class of 2021. It has not been confirmed if more inductees will be added.

WWE Hall of Fame
PromotionWWE
WWE Hall of Fame chronology
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Background

The 2020 WWE Hall of Fame event was originally scheduled to take place on April 2, 2020 from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, as part of WrestleMania 36 week, and would have aired live on the WWE Network. However, the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] On August 27, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Class would be inducted as the Class of 2021 during WrestleMania 37 weekend, which was relocated to Tampa from its original location of Los Angeles, California.[2]

The first inductees for the 2020 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame were announced on December 9, 2019. The first of these was the New World Order (nWo). The members recognized for this induction are "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman. This induction makes each of these members two-time inductees, with Hogan, Hall, and Nash previously being inducted for their individual careers and Waltman being previously inducted as part of D-Generation X in 2019, which also makes Waltman the first back-to-back inductee.[3] The other inductee announced on December 9 was Batista.[4]

The next inductees were announced during Alexa Bliss' segment of "A Moment of Bliss" on the February 21, 2020 episode of SmackDown, where she announced that The Bella Twins (Brie Bella and Nikki Bella) would be inducted into the 2020 Class.[5][6] This was followed by up on the March 3 episode of WWE Backstage, where it was announced that John "Bradshaw" Layfield would be inducted.[7] On the March 12 episode of the "WWE After the Bell" podcast, host Corey Graves revealed that The British Bulldog would be inducted posthumously, while on March 16, WWE and Yahoo! Japan announced that Japanese wrestler Jushin "Thunder" Liger would be inducted.[8] It has not been confirmed if there will be any additional inductees due to the rescheduling of the 2020 event to 2021.[2]

Inductees

Individual

Image Ring name
(Birth Name)
Inducted by WWE recognized accolades
Batista
(David Bautista Jr.)[9]
TBD Two-time WWE Champion, four-time and longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion, three-time World Tag Team Champion, one-time WWE Tag Team Champion, and the winner of the 2005 and 2014 Royal Rumble matches.
A star in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films, he has been recognized by WWE as a "pop culture phenomenon".
John "Bradshaw" Layfield[10] TBD One-time WWE Champion, one-time Intercontinental Champion, one-time United States Champion, three-time WWF Tag Team Champion, one-time European Champion, 18-time Hardcore Champion, 2013 Slammy Award winner for Favorite Web Show of the Year (with Michael Cole and Renee Young), Twentieth Triple Crown Champion, and Tenth Grand Slam Champion.
Longtime commentator and creator of WWE's Tribute to the Troops series.
The British Bulldog
(David Smith)[11]
TBD Posthumous inductee: One-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, inaugural and two-time WWF European Champion, two-time WWF Hardcore Champion, and two-time WWF World Tag Team Champion.
Jushin "Thunder" Liger
(Keiichi Yamada)[12]
TBD Eleven-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and one-time WCW Light Heavyweight Champion.
Considered by WWE to be one of the most revolutionary competitors in sports-entertainment history.

Group

Image Group Inducted by WWE recognized accolades


From top left to bottom right: "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman
New World Order[13] TBD One of the most famous stables in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the Monday Night Wars, generally believed to be the primary catalyst behind WCW Monday Nitro's success and 83 consecutive ratings victories over WWF Monday Night Raw.

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash each held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (Hogan is the longest reigning champion) while part of the stable, while Scott Hall was a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion.

Hall and Nash, also known as The Outsiders, held the WCW World Tag Team Championship six-times.

Sean Waltman, then known as "Syxx", was a one-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion and was also co-champion during one of The Outsiders' WCW World Tag Team Championship reigns under the Freebird Rule.

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) – Two-time inductee. Previously inducted in 2005 for his individual career.
Kevin NashTwo-time inductee. Previously inducted in 2015 for his individual career.
Scott HallTwo-time inductee. Previously inducted as "Razor Ramon" in 2014 for his individual career.
Sean WaltmanTwo-time inductee. Previously inducted as "X-Pac" in 2019 as a member of D-Generation X.

Nikki (left) and Brie (right) Bella
The Bella Twins[5] TBD 2013 Diva of the Year Slammy Award winners (won jointly).

Recognized by WWE as having helped to usher in what became known as the 'Women's Revolution' in WWE, where the company gave more TV time and higher-profile storylines to its top female performers.
Gained fame as mainstream celebrities after starring in the WWE produced reality shows Total Divas and spin-off Total Bellas.

Nikki Bella (Stephanie Garcia-Colace) – Two-time and longest reigning WWE Divas Champion, 2015 Diva of the Year Slammy Award winner.
Brie Bella (Brianna Danielson) – One-time WWE Divas Champion, 2013 and 2014 Couple of the Year Slammy Award winner (with Daniel Bryan).

References

  1. "#COVID19 Update: @WWE @WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place. However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. See the full statement". City of Tampa on Twitter. March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  2. "2020 WWE Hall Of Fame Class Reportedly Being Inducted In 2021". wrestlinginc. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  3. "WWE to honor nWo with Hall of Fame induction". ESPN.com. 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  4. "Dave Bautista to Be Inducted Into the WWE Hall of Fame: 'It's a Really Great Feeling'". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  5. Powell, Jason (February 21, 2020). "2/21 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Goldberg's appearance, Naomi vs. Carmella for a shot at the Smackdown Women's Championship at WWE Super ShowDown, eight-man tag match, The Bellas on A Moment of Bliss". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  6. Melok, Bobby (February 21, 2020). "The Bella Twins to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020". Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  7. Davis, Paul (March 3, 2020). "JBL is getting inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame". WrestlingNews.co.
  8. "ライガー「WWE」殿堂入り!猪木、藤波に続く日本人レスラー3人目". Yahoo! Japan (in Japanese). March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  9. "Tampa resident, 'Marvel' star Dave Bautista to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame". WFLA. 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  10. Melok, Bobby (March 3, 2020). "JBL to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020". WWE. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  11. Melok, Bobby (March 12, 2020). "British Bulldog to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame". WWE. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  12. "Jushin "Thunder" Liger to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020". WWE. March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  13. "NWO To Be Inducted Into The WWE Hall Of Fame". 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
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