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106-617: Harlem Heat was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019, as part of the 2019 class . Booker T and Stevie Ray started to team together as The Huffman Brothers in Ivan Putski 's Western Wrestling Alliance after a brief feud with each other. Soon after, the WWA ceased operating and the brothers started touring the Texas independent circuit . The Huffman Brothers caught the eye of Skandor Akbar who

212-497: A Hallway [ sic ] of Fame. It doesn't exist. There's nothing. It's a fake entity. There's nothing real or tangible. It's just an event they have to make money. They put it on TV and have a celebration, and it's just so ridiculous. I would never even entertain it. It's garbage." Sabu also criticized the Hall of Fame, saying "I'd only do it because I need the money... I don't consider it a real Hall of Fame". Others have offered praise for

318-628: A best-of-seven series to determine the #1 contendership for the World Television Championship. This led to Harlem Heat reuniting once more on the June 29 episode of Nitro , where they lost to Benoit and Steve McMichael . On the July 13 episode of Nitro , Ray claimed the World Television Championship and began defending it by saying that Booker gave him the power of attorney to defend the title as Booker got injured due to being attacked by Bret Hart ,

424-611: A butcher. It was while working as a bouncer at Gramma B's in the Twin Cities that he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey , a well-known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Hegstrand, along with Joe Laurinaitis , Rick Rood and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling. Hegstrand started his career as part of the Traveling All-Stars. He was billed as "Crusher Von Haig" and wrestled in Vancouver. Soon growing weary of

530-415: A class. They really need to make more new stars to ensure that they can keep filling arenas for the ceremony". 411Mania's Ryan Byers said WWE standards are "weird" since several inductees have Hall of Fame careers, but others "made it in for political reasons, longstanding loyalty to the promotion". Owen Hart's widow, Martha Hart , responded to calls for him to be inducted by stating: "They don't even have

636-417: A condominium near their current home and were packing their boxes the night before. Hegstrand said that he felt tired and went to take a nap. When his wife checked on him at about 1:00AM, he had died of a sudden heart attack . At the time of his death, Hawk and Animal were working on a book about their careers; Animal released the book (alongside co-writer Andrew Wright) as "The Road Warriors: Danger, Death and

742-659: A cross armbreaker, to let Hawk rest). Hawk returned in January 1996, but this time, he also brought Animal back with him as his back had finally recovered enough for him to return to active competition. During that time, Sting and Lex Luger had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship and the Warriors challenged them, to no success. The rise of the New World Order precluded further challenges, and they headed back to

848-622: A distraction by Cassius (formerly known as 4x4 from The No Limit Soldiers ). From then on, Booker T would simply be referred to as "Booker" and began using a cartoonish theme called "The Woodchuck's Game" before eventually returning to his old moniker of G.I. Bro as the leader of Misfits in Action . Stevie Ray subsequently formed Harlem Heat, Inc. with Big T, J. Biggs and Kash. Harlem Heat 2000 continued to feud with Booker as they lost to Booker and Kidman at Uncensored . Harlem Heat 2000 did not find much success as they lost most of their matches including

954-472: A feud with nWo's Vicious and Delicious (Buff Bagwell and Scott Norton ), leading to a match between the two teams at Road Wild . During this match, Harlem Heat added Jacqueline as their new manager, who helped them in defeating Vicious and Delicious. After that, Harlem Heat resumed their feud with the Steiner Brothers, losing to them at Fall Brawl . By the end of 1997, Booker began transitioning into

1060-508: A heart condition that stopped him from wrestling for a short while. He was able to overcome its effects and returned to a regular working schedule later on. Laurinaitis and Hegstrand became born-again Christians in 2001 and appeared at a number of Christian wrestling events run by Ted DiBiase and Nikita Koloff hoping to reignite their tag-team career. On June 22, 2002, International Wrestling Superstars, Road Warriors Animal & Hawk defeated

1166-612: A knee injury that needed surgery and time off to recover. In early 1993 the Ebony Experience returned to action and started to chase the Bad Breed ( Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten ) who had won the titles while Booker T recovered. On February 26 the Ebony Experience won their third GWF Tag Team championship, becoming the only team to hold that title three times. Their third run with the title proved to be their longest as they held them until May 7 where Guido Falcone and Vito Mussolini (known as

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1272-593: A losing effort. Kane was paired with Davey Boy Smith against Road Warrior Hawk and Rip Rogers in a losing effort. At SuperBrawl IV on February 20, 1994, Harlem Heat defeated Thunder and Lightning . Shortly after, Harlem Heat engaged in a feud with Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio which led to the two teams exchanging wins with one another. Harlem Heat were soon joined by Ron Simmons while Ice Train joined Bagwell and Scorpio. Both teams traded wins in six-man tag team matches. In July, Kole and Kane changed their names back to Booker T and Stevie Ray. At Clash of

1378-570: A member of a group, Sean Waltman ( D-Generation X and The New World Order ) and Barry Windham ( The Four Horsemen and The U.S. Express ). Sixty-four members have been inducted posthumously. The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) established the WWF Hall of Fame in 1993. It was first announced on the March 22, 1993, episode of Monday Night Raw where André the Giant , who had died nearly two months prior,

1484-450: A month later without them ever defending them. WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE . Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when André the Giant was posthumously inducted with a video package as the sole inductee that year. The 1994 and 1995 ceremonies were held in conjunction with

1590-579: A mystery partner of Dustin Rhodes and later as a replacement partner when Davey Boy Smith left the promotion but nothing permanent ever came of it, and Hawk left after Starrcade in December 1993. In May 1995, he reappeared in WCW. In July 1995, he helped Sting in a feud against Meng and Kurasawa , but a proposed singles feud with Kurasawa fell through due to an arm injury (in kayfabe Kurasawa broke Hawk's arm using

1696-489: A short while later, everyone thought it was the end of the legendary team. Hawk competed as a singles wrestler in Europe, Australia, and Japan and although he won nearly every singles match he competed in, he was usually seen (by North American and Japanese fans at least) as a tag team wrestler. Thus, he always fought either mid-card opponents or made teams with better-known singles stars. When he joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling , he

1802-488: A six-man tag team match. Harlem Heat made their pay-per-view debut at Fall Brawl on September 19 by teaming with Vader and Sid Vicious against Sting , Davey Boy Smith , Dustin Rhodes , and The Shockmaster in the WarGames match . They lost the match but were over as villains because of the caliber of fan favorites they wrestled. Harlem Heat suffered their first televised loss in WCW against Sting and Dustin Rhodes on

1908-525: A special category called the "Jimmy Miranda Award" for WWE's behind-the-scenes employees. Miranda, who died in 2002, was part of the WWE merchandise department for more than 20 years. Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts expressed disappointment at how WWE used portions of Warrior's Hall of Fame speech to promote the award but left out Warrior's intentions of honoring WWE's off-screen employees. WWE responded, "It

2014-454: A special effect being used to make it appear as though fans could see Hegstrand's body plunging a fatal distance behind the screen); Puke then revealed that he had been enabling Hawk's drug addiction in order to kill him and take his place in the Legion of Doom. Being forced to act out Hegstrand's personal demons onscreen eventually proved too much for both Hegstrand and Laurinaitis, and both men quit

2120-537: A stable of heels in Georgia Championship Wrestling called The Legion of Doom it was decided to pair Laurinaitis with Hegstrand and change their names to "Animal" and "Hawk" respectively; thus, the Road Warriors were born. To look more intimidating the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, leather chaps, and face paint. The look and name was taken from Mad Max 2:

2226-616: A street fight to earn Harlem Heat, a title shot against Luger and Sting on the April 22 episode of Nitro , which Harlem Heat lost. On the June 24 episode of Nitro , Harlem Heat defeated Luger and Sting and Steiner Brothers ( Rick and Scott ) in a triangle match to win their fifth World Tag Team Championship. Harlem Heat lost the tag team titles to Steiner Brothers at a live event on July 24. However, just three days later on July 27, Harlem Heat defeated Steiner Brothers to win their sixth World Tag Team Championship. Harlem Heat successfully defended

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2332-527: A surprise appearance on Raw on May 12, 2003, when they took on Kane and Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship. Although Hawk and Animal came up short in their attempt to become three-time champions, it was clear that Hawk had defeated the demons that had once kept him from competing, and the Road Warriors had hopes of returning to WWE. Later in 2003, Hawk made an appearance with

2438-564: A tag team title shot against Slater and Buck at Fall Brawl . Harlem Heat defeated Slater and Buck with help from Nasty Boys to win their third World Tag Team Championship. Parker and Sherri were carrying on a love affair and Parker eventually left the Stud Stable in favor of the Heat to be with Sherri. Just one night later, on Monday Nitro , Harlem Heat lost the tag team titles to The American Males ( Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Scotty Riggs ). On

2544-424: A three-way dance at SuperBrawl VII , which Public Enemy won. The following month, at Uncensored , Harlem Heat defeated Public Enemy in a Texas Tornado match . At Spring Stampede , both members of Harlem Heat competed in a four corners match for a WCW World Heavyweight Championship title match. Lex Luger won the match. Shortly after, Harlem Heat got involved in a feud with the Steiner Brothers over contention for

2650-407: A video package at the ceremonies. The Legacy wing also has some criticism around it, specifically regarding the abbreviated way of the inductions. Journalist Dave Meltzer said "this is the category they (WWE) use to honor people who, for whatever reason, they don't feel are marketable names to the modern audience to put in their actual Hall of Fame". Promoter and manager Jim Cornette criticized

2756-580: A warehouse for years, with all items categorized and dated in case a facility is created. Ric Flair stated in 2020 that WWE was in the process of creating a building for the Hall of Fame and that it would be in Florida in the Orlando area, but plans had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The current WWE president has expressed interest about creating a hall of fame building in 2021. The "celebrity wing" of

2862-568: A week before they were defeated by the Blackbirds ( ”Iceman” King Parsons and Action Jackson). Booker and Stevie Ray made a comeback and defeated the cheating birds in September. The second run with the title lasted a bit longer than a week, but was ultimately short lived as the Rough Riders (Black Bart and Johnny Mantell) won the gold on October 23. The title loss was forced due to Booker T suffering

2968-652: A weightlifting competition. When Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. The angle abruptly ended when the Powers of Pain left the NWA after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches and they did not want to get hurt by falling off the scaffold. Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win

3074-403: Is offensive to suggest that WWE and its executives had anything, but altruistic intentions in honoring Connor and his legacy with The Warrior Award", adding that "moving forward the award will be given annually to acknowledge other unsung heroes among WWE's employees and fans". Since 2019 all recipients have been either current or former WWE employees. Traditionally, Dana Warrior, the widow of

3180-528: The January 6 United States Capitol attack , Mick Foley asked Vince McMahon to remove Donald Trump, who was then President of the United States , from the Hall of Fame, though it ultimately did not occur. Dave Scherer of PWInsider has questioned how WWE can sustain the 2004–present Hall of Fame model, due to legends being rapidly inducted. He wrote: "There are only so many people that they can have headline

3286-732: The NWA National Tag Team Championship four times before moving on to bigger promotions such as the American Wrestling Association in the US and All Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, winning tag-team titles wherever they went. Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites wherever they went; even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them. They were so in demand that they started to split their time between

Harlem Heat - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-464: The WWE Hall of Fame (2022) ceremony. Jeff Hardy declined the offer because he was offended, felt like it wasn't time yet and he wanted Matt Hardy to be inducted alongside him. Ric Flair has stated there are several wrestlers in the Hall of Fame that didn't deserve it, but he didn't name names. Koko B. Ware, who worked as an undercard wrestler in WWF, is often billed as a controversial inductee since he

3498-764: The 1994 commentary. WWF Hall of Fame (1994) was the event that featured the introduction of the second class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by the WWF on June 9, 1994, from the Omni Inner Harbor International Hotel in Baltimore , Maryland. In March 2015 a condensed version of the ceremony was added to the WWE Network . Due to the original ceremony only being partially recorded and not originally intended to air, Gene Okerlund and Renee Young host

3604-402: The 2004 ceremony to coincide with WrestleMania, establishing the traditional date for all following ceremonies. Highlights of the 2004 ceremony were shown at WrestleMania XX , followed by the inductees appearing on the entrance stage in a condensed ceremony, which would become a Hall of Fame tradition from that point forward. The full version was released on DVD on June 1, 2004. Beginning with

3710-508: The 2005 ceremony, an edited version of the Hall of Fame was broadcast on Spike TV (2005) and on the USA Network (2006 –present ); these were aired on tape delay . Since 2005, the entire Hall of Fame ceremony has been packaged as part of the annual WrestleMania DVD release, and from 2014, has been broadcast live on the WWE Network streaming service. The 2021 ceremony was pretaped on March 30 and April 1 and aired on April 6. In addition to

3816-418: The 2021 ceremony. In 2012, The Post and Courier columnist Mike Mooneyham noted that the Hall has garnered criticism due to the inductions of questionable performers, and the omissions of major names within the industry. Bob Backlund declined induction multiple times, and The Ultimate Warrior wrote that he refused the honor in 2010; they were eventually inducted in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Randy Savage

3922-663: The AWA and the National Wrestling Alliance until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo. The move paid off instantly as they won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such as The Four Horsemen and The Russian Team (which included the Road Warriors’ old training buddy Barry Darsow, then wrestling as Krusher Khrushchev). During their initial run in

4028-766: The All World Wrestling League, a take-off of the 'original' Big Time Wrestling that was owned by The Original Sheik who died earlier that year; it was run by the sons of The Sheik, Eddie and Tom Farhat. They decided to book Hawk for an event in Holt, Michigan; that event was the second to last time Hawk wrestled. Two weeks before he died, he wrestled his final match with Animal in Oshawa, Ontario, defeating Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Buff Bagwell . Hegstrand and his tag team partner Lauriniatis owned two gyms in Minneapolis in

4134-663: The American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock that year. As of 2024, there have been 245 inductees, with 131 wrestlers inducted individually, 46 Legacy inductees, 19 group inductions (consisting of 52 wrestlers within those groups), 14 celebrities, and 9 Warrior Award recipients. Seven wrestlers have been inducted twice in two categories: Ric Flair , Shawn Michaels , Booker T , Bret Hart , Hulk Hogan , Scott Hall , and Kevin Nash , while two two-time inductees were inducted twice as

4240-715: The CWA World Heavyweight Championship. Hawk also competed in NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling, the progenitor of Extreme Championship Wrestling , in 1993. Hawk left ECW in 1994. Hawk competed in the independent circuit for Pro Wrestling America , Mid Eastern Wrestling Federation , Smokey Mountain Wrestling and Midwest Territorial Wrestling. In August 1993 Hawk made sporadic appearances in World Championship Wrestling as

4346-657: The Champions XXIX , Sensuous Sherri joined Harlem Heat as their manager by helping them in defeating The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags ). On the December 3 episode of WorldWide , Harlem Heat renamed her Sister Sherri. The alliance with Sherri led to Harlem Heat being elevated in the tag team division. Harlem Heat faced Nasty Boys in a rematch at Starrcade , which Harlem Heat lost via disqualification. On December 8, Harlem Heat defeated Stars and Stripes ( The Patriot and Marcus Alexander Bagwell ) to win their first WCW World Tag Team Championship , which aired on

Harlem Heat - Misplaced Pages Continue

4452-467: The Hall of Fame is dedicated to celebrities that have made memorable appearances on WWE programming, and/or have had longtime associations with WWE (or professional wrestling in general), who have been very successful in other fields. In 2015, WWE introduced the Warrior Award for those who have "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who live life with the courage and compassion that embodies

4558-535: The Hall of Fame". Nash claimed this is a sentiment to which colleague Ric Flair also subscribes. During his 2013 induction, Donald Trump said that the honor meant more than "having the highest ratings in TV, being a best-selling author or getting a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame ". Road Warrior Hawk Michael James Hegstrand (January 26, 1957 – October 19, 2003) was an American professional wrestler . He

4664-500: The Hall of Fame. World Wrestling Council promoter and 26-time WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion Carlos Colón Sr. said that his 2014 induction was a "realization of a dream". Arn Anderson, who was inducted in 2012 as part of The Four Horsemen, said that the induction was the "pinnacle of [his] wrestling life". 2015 Hall of Fame headliner Kevin Nash stated that two things in the professional wrestling business are real: "When you win your first championship and when you get inducted into

4770-732: The Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship. That victory also led to Team USA winning the International Tournament held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. They also appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in late 2002 and early 2003 as part of a group that opposed Vince Russo ’s faction Sports Entertainment Xtreme but only wrestled one actual match for the company. Animal and Hawk made

4876-552: The January 14, 1995 episode of Saturday Night . Harlem Heat retained the titles against Stars and Stripes in a rematch at Clash of the Champions XXX . They continued their feud with the Nasty Boys, leading to a title defense against Nasty Boys at SuperBrawl V . Harlem Heat retained the titles via a disqualification win. At Uncensored , Harlem Heat lost to Nasty Boys in a non-title falls count anywhere match . Harlem Heat finally lost

4982-510: The July 19 episode of Thunder where they defeated Jeff Jarrett and Rick Steiner in a tag team match. This marked their final time teaming in WCW before the promotion closed. On February 21, 2015, Booker T and Stevie Ray reunited as Harlem Heat for one last match at Booker T's promotion, Reality of Wrestling 's The Final Heat event, where they defeated The New Heavenly Bodies for the ROW Tag Team Championship. The titles were vacated

5088-629: The Mid-Atlantic region of the NWA, they helped popularize the WarGames match , the Scaffold match , and their trademark Chicago Street Fight . In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with the Powers of Pain ( The Barbarian and The Warlord ), the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power (and who were one of the most well known Road Warrior clones). The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal's eye ( kayfabe ) during

5194-516: The NWA, the Warriors feuded mainly with The Varsity Club , The Samoan Swat Team , and The Skyscrapers before leaving the NWA in the summer of 1990. The Road Warriors immediately signed with the World Wrestling Federation and were pushed into a feud with Demolition (which once again included their old training partner Barry Darsow). Due to his health, Ax was replaced by a new member of Demolition, Crush . (Popular rumor at

5300-470: The November 29 episode of Nitro to rescue Midnight from an assault by Curt Hennig . Dissension within the team began over Midnight on the December 13 episode of Nitro , where Harlem Heat competed against The Revolution ( Dean Malenko , Perry Saturn and Asya ) in a handicap match, which they lost when Booker tended to an injured Midnight while ignoring Ray, leaving him to get pinned by Malenko. Booker liked

5406-567: The November 9 episode of Saturday Night , Harlem Heat became full-fledged faces when they fired Col. Robert Parker and beat him up to rescue Sister Sherri. They briefly feuded against Parker's newest team The Amazing French Canadians , defeating them in a match at World War 3 . At Clash of the Champions XXXIV on January 21, 1997, Harlem Heat defeated the team of The Renegade and Joe Gomez . Soon after, Harlem Heat took on The Public Enemy and The Faces of Fear ( Meng and The Barbarian ) in

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5512-506: The October 28 episode of Saturday Night , Harlem Heat defeated American Males to win their fourth World Tag Team Championship. This title change was taped on October 11. Harlem Heat lost the titles to Lex Luger and Sting on the January 22, 1996 episode of Nitro . Harlem Heat unsuccessfully challenged Luger and Sting for the titles at SuperBrawl VI . At Uncensored , Booker T teamed with Sting to defeat The Road Warriors ( Hawk and Animal ) in

5618-576: The Road Warrior , helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous. Hawk was known for often beginning his promos with his trademark yell of "Wellllllllllllll!..." and ending with his catch phrase of "Oooooooooh, what a ruuuuuuuuuuuush!" The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling. In Georgia, they won

5724-447: The Rush of Wrestling" ( ISBN   978-1605425788 ) in 2014. Animal returned to WWE in mid-2005 and decided to dedicate his entire run to Hegstrand, including his tag team title victory with Heidenreich at The Great American Bash . On the March 28, 2011 episode of Raw , it was announced that the Road Warriors would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011. On April 2, 2011,

5830-427: The September 25 episode of Saturday Night . Shortly after, Harlem Heat ended their association with Col. Robert Parker. The following month, at Halloween Havoc , Harlem Heat teamed with The Equalizer against The Shockmaster, Ice Train and Charlie Norris in a losing effort. At Battlebowl , Kane was randomly partnered with Charlie Norris in a Lethal Lottery qualifying match against Big Van Vader and Cactus Jack in

5936-545: The Sicilian Stallions) defeated them for the titles. Not long after this Booker T and Stevie Ray left the GWF, having signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). On June 22, 1993, the brothers debuted in WCW as the tag team Harlem Heat, with Booker renamed Kole and Lash renamed Kane. They were then billed from Harlem. Originally, they were supposed to be a pair of prisoners won in a card game by manager Col. Rob Parker , but

6042-508: The Ultimate Warrior, presents the award. The 2024 Hall of Fame did not have a Warrior award entry. In 2016, WWE introduced a new category for the Hall of Fame called the "Legacy" wing. Inductees in this category are from several eras of wrestling history, going back to the early 20th century. All but two inductees, Hisashi Shinma and MSG Network creator Joseph Cohen, have been inducted posthumously. Legacy inductees are recognized with

6148-445: The WWE Network in international markets, the event also aired on Peacock in the United States after the American version of the WWE Network had merged under Peacock in March that year. Although a building has never been built to represent the Hall of Fame, WWE has looked into constructing a facility. In 2008, Shane McMahon , then-Executive Vice President of Global Media of WWE, stated that WWE had been storing wrestling memorabilia in

6254-484: The WWF. After leaving WCW they returned to the WWF where the Legion of Doom took part in the feud between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and the Hart Foundation , siding with Austin. The Legion of Doom also became 2 time tag-team champions on October 7, 1997, when they defeated The Godwinns . In November 1997 the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws ( Road Dogg and Billy Gunn ) and shockingly lost

6360-483: The World Tag Team Championship, leading to a match between the two teams at The Great American Bash , which Harlem Heat won by disqualification after New World Order (nWo) member Vincent interfered by attacking them. On the July 7 episode of Nitro , they fired Sherri after her interference backfired, costing them a match against Public Enemy. Vincent's repeated interferences in matches resulted in Harlem Heat beginning

6466-555: The addition of Midnight while Stevie neglected her help and started arguing with Booker. This difference within the group would cause Harlem Heat and Midnight to lose a six-person tag team match to Curt Hennig and Creative Control at Starrcade . On the December 27 episode of Nitro , Harlem Heat lost a match to Lash LeRoux and Midnight in a Lethal Lottery tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship, after Ray grew tired of Booker's affection towards Midnight and delivered Slapjacks to Booker, LeRoux and Midnight and walked out on

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6572-404: The annual King of the Ring pay-per-view events and the 1996 ceremony was held with the Survivor Series event. Since 2004, the promotion has held the ceremonies in conjunction with WrestleMania ever since. Since 2005, portions of the induction ceremonies have aired on television and since 2014, the entire ceremonies have aired on the WWE Network , which was extended to Peacock in 2021 after

6678-410: The company shortly after the "Puke killed Hawk" incident. While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left the WWF as Hegstrand struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and generally did not appear at many wrestling shows during this time. In 2000, during a tour in Australia, Hegstrand was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy ,

6784-436: The fact that recognizable names like Jim Londos or El Santo were part of a video package. Legacy inductees are not announced before the ceremonies and families of posthumous inductees are not notified of their inductions. This practice has been criticized by family members of Legacy inductees Bruiser Brody and Ethel Johnson . The Legacy wing was retired in 2021 and has not inducted anyone since. WWF Hall of Fame (1993)

6890-488: The hall and demanded that WWE remove him from it, due to the 2011 induction of Abdullah the Butcher. Graham wrote: "It is a shameless organization to induct a bloodthirsty animal such as Abdullah the Butcher into their worthless and embarrassing Hall of Fame and I want the name of Superstar Billy Graham to be no part of it". In 2018, Bret Hart, who headlined the 2006 ceremony, criticized the omissions of several wrestlers, primarily Dynamite Kid and his brother Owen , as well as

6996-443: The indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior ". While WWE promotes Warrior Award recipients as Hall of Fame inductees, they are not included in the Hall of Fame section at WWE.com and an image gallery which shows "every WWE Hall of Famer ever" does not contain any recipient. The award was created following the Ultimate Warrior's death. During his April 2014 Hall of Fame speech shortly before his death, he proposed that there be

7102-502: The inductions of the likes of The Rock 'n' Roll Express and The Fabulous Freebirds, who experienced little success in WWE. Hart said he would not go to another ceremony until WWE inducts "proper, deserving candidates". Hart attended the 2019 ceremony to be inducted for a second time as part of The Hart Foundation. Hart also asked WWE to remove Goldberg from the Hall of Fame, stating that "he got in there for hurting everybody he worked with" (which included himself in 1999). In 2021, after

7208-411: The late 80’s. The pair, alongside gym employees Bob Truax and Dan Stock, conceptualized the Zubaz workout pants and helped popularize the brand globally. Hegstrand owned 25% of the company until its closure in 1996. Hegstrand died on October 19, 2003, in the early morning in his home in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida . He was 46 years old. His friends said that he and his wife Dale had recently bought

7314-411: The longest-reigning WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, was once critical of the Hall of Fame. Sammartino disapproved of celebrity inductees such as Pete Rose and William Perry, and said of the ceremony: "What's the point to a Hall of Fame? Is it a building I can actually go to? No. Give me a break". Sammartino declined previous induction offers, before accepting in 2013. Paul Levesque (Triple H) said that it

7420-438: The match to begin their record-setting eighth tag team title reign. Harlem Heat lost the titles to Barry and Kendall Windham on the August 23 episode of Nitro . The following month, at Fall Brawl , Harlem Heat defeated the Windhams in a rematch to win their ninth World Tag Team Championship and retained the titles against Windhams on the September 27 episode of Nitro . On the October 18 episode of Nitro , Harlem Heat lost

7526-458: The match. Ray eventually challenged Midnight to a match on the January 6, 2000 episode of Thunder that would decide whether she would stay with Harlem Heat. After being defeated with a surprise small package , Stevie Ray turned on both Booker T and Midnight by attacking both of them. At Souled Out , a match took place between Booker and Stevie, which ended in a disqualification when Big T made his WCW debut and attacked Booker. Stevie would form

7632-592: The nature of her post-WWE career. Ultimately, she was posthumously inducted as a member of D-Generation-X in 2019, although fans, family and fellow wrestlers have since started petitioning for her solo posthumous induction. The most recent discussion amongst fans about a potential induction to the Hall of Fame is about the potential posthumous induction of Bray Wyatt in the near future. Fans started petitioning for his induction, whether it be solo or as part of The Wyatt Family , after his death in August 2023. Bruno Sammartino,

7738-447: The new Harlem Heat with Big T and begin feuding with Booker and Midnight. Ray and Big T referred their new team as Harlem Heat 2000 . On the January 31 episode of Nitro , Harlem Heat acquired J. Biggs as their manager, who prevented Booker from using the "Rap Sheet" entrance music and "T" in his name. At SuperBrawl 2000 , Booker lost the rights to the Harlem Heat name, the "Rap Sheet" and the "T" surname after being pinned by Big T after

7844-600: The night before WrestleMania XXVII they, along with Paul Ellering , were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Dusty Rhodes . The Road Warriors reign with the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, with Genichiro Tenryu, began December 7, 1988, after Ted Turner's purchase of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. and having it renamed World Championship Wrestling. Hawk and Animal's reign with this championship also happened after Ted Turner bought and renamed

7950-515: The original ceremony only being partially recorded and not originally intended to air, Gene Okerlund and Renee Young host the program with added commentary. Due to Vincent J. McMahon 's death in 1984, he was posthumously inducted by the McMahon family . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony did not take place. As such, the Class of 2020 was inducted alongside the Class of 2021 at

8056-402: The original ceremony only being partially recorded and not originally intended to air, Gene Okerlund and Renee Young host the program with added commentary. It has been discovered that the full ceremony has been recorded (albeit with low quality) and has been uploaded on YouTube The 1995 class featured two posthumous inductees. Antonino Rocca was presented by his wife, and The Grand Wizard

8162-585: The previous night at Bash at the Beach . Soon after, Ray joined the nWo. Despite being on opposite sides they managed to peacefully co-exist (despite Booker expressing dismay at Stevie for joining the nWo). In the summer of 1999, Booker began feuding with The Jersey Triad . On the July 29 episode of Thunder , the Jersey Triad triple-teamed Booker during his match against the Triad member Bam Bam Bigelow until Stevie made

8268-574: The program with added commentary. WWF Hall of Fame (1995) was the event that featured the introduction of the third class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by the WWF on June 24, 1995, from the Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. The event took place the same weekend as King of the Ring . In March 2015 a condensed version of the ceremony was added to the WWE Network . Due to

8374-424: The road and becoming homesick. Hegstrand traveled back home with Rood. Later in 1983, fate struck again when Laurinaitis's partner for the night found himself in legal trouble. Needing a quick replacement, Ole Anderson gave Hegstrand a call, and he accepted the booking to team with Laurinaitis. Neither man knew at the time that they would make wrestling history that day. When Paul Ellering was looking to put together

8480-400: The save. After the match, Booker convinced Stevie to tear up the nWo shirt and reform Harlem Heat. On the August 2 episode of Nitro , Harlem Heat competed in its first match as a team in over a year as the duo defeated Bigelow and Kanyon , with assistance from Chris Benoit. This led to Harlem Heat challenging Bigelow and Kanyon for the World Tag Team Championship at Road Wild . Harlem Heat won

8586-689: The semifinal match in the tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship against the eventual tournament winners Shane Douglas and Buff Bagwell at Spring Stampede and a handicap match against Terry Funk for the Hardcore Championship on the May 10 episode of Thunder . The team ultimately disbanded in June 2000 when Big T was released by WCW. This would result in Booker getting the "Rap Sheet" theme song and "T" name back. The original Harlem Heat duo of Booker T and Stevie Ray had one final reunion in WCW on

8692-512: The singles competition as he won the World Television Championship , while continuing to team with Ray as well. However, in 1998, Harlem Heat quietly disbanded. Harlem Heat reunited once on the June 15 episode of Nitro , where they unsuccessfully challenged Sting and Kevin Nash for the World Tag Team Championship. During this time, Stevie began attacking Chris Benoit on several occasions, against whom Booker had recently competed in

8798-491: The tag team titles to The Filthy Animals members Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. However, six days later, at Halloween Havoc , Misterio was stripped off the title due to injury and the vacant title was put up in a three-way dance pitting Harlem Heat against Filthy Animals' Konnan and Kidman and The First Family ( Hugh Morrus and Brian Knobs ). Harlem Heat defeated the two teams to win their record-setting tenth and final World Tag Team Championship. However, Harlem Heat lost

8904-537: The team for long. During the Attitude Era , in which the WWF moved towards a more "adult" product, the Legion of Doom was placed into a storyline incorporating Hegstrand's real-life drug addiction and alcoholism , against the wishes of both Hegstrand and Laurinaitis. The storyline found the Legion of Doom crumbling as Hawk repeatedly showed up to matches apparently drunk or under the influence of drugs, and began demonstrating suicidal tendencies . In order to stabilize

9010-464: The team, a third member, Puke , was introduced later known as Droz. This led to the conclusion of the storyline, in which a suicidal Hawk climbed to the top of the TitanTron, the giant television monitor erected during episodes of WWF's Raw Is War to show match highlights to fans in attendance. Puke, supposedly attempting to rescue Hawk, climbed after him, only to apparently throw Hawk over the side (with

9116-404: The time cited a heart condition on Bill Eadie's part, but this has been discredited in recent years. An allergic reaction to shellfish while in Japan after WrestleMania VI was the real cause of Eadie's temporary health problem. He confirmed this in a shoot interview in 2007.) However, fans did not react as strongly to this new Demolition team as they had to the original configuration, and the feud

9222-404: The titles against Nasty Boys. On the September 23 episode of Nitro , Harlem Heat lost the titles to Public Enemy ( Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge ). On the October 5 episode of Saturday Night , Harlem Heat defeated Public Enemy in a rematch to win their seventh World Tag Team Championship. This match was taped on October 1. Harlem Heat lost the titles to The Outsiders at Halloween Havoc . On

9328-484: The titles against Steiner Brothers at Hog Wild . At Clash of the Champions XXXIII , Harlem Heat retained the titles against Steiner Brothers and the team of Sting and Lex Luger in a triangle match as the match ended in a no contest when the referee Nick Patrick abruptly ended the match due to The Outsiders ( Kevin Nash and Scott Hall ) just appearing at ringside. At Fall Brawl , Harlem Heat successfully defended

9434-473: The titles in New Orleans . Despite being heels at the time and using brutal tactics against Stan Lane and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton , once again they were cheered by the crowd. After being the "Uncrowned champions" for a long time, the Road Warriors’ run with the tag-team titles was short-lived. Crooked referee Teddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles. In their last year with

9540-460: The titles in February 1992 they were briefly taken off television, only to return with long-time manager Paul Ellering by their side, as well as a wooden dummy called "Rocco". Both members of the Legion of Doom thought the gimmick was stupid, as did most of the fans and it led to Hawk quitting the WWF, leaving Animal on his own for the first time in nine years. When Animal suffered a severe back injury

9646-546: The titles to Konnan and Kidman, the following night on Nitro . On the November 1 episode of Nitro , Creative Control (Gerald and Patrick) arrived in WCW and cost Stevie Ray, his match against Buff Bagwell in the tournament for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship by attacking Bagwell causing Ray to get disqualified. However, Booker T rescued Ray from Creative Control. Later that night, Creative Control interfered in Booker's tournament match against Jeff Jarrett , allowing Jarrett to win. The following week, on Nitro , Ray

9752-468: The titles to Nasty Boys at Slamboree . Harlem Heat became tweeners and entered a feud with Col. Parker's Stud Stable of "Dirty" Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck . Harlem Heat defeated the team of Slater and Buck at The Great American Bash . On the June 24 episode of WorldWide , Harlem Heat defeated Nasty Boys to win their second World Tag Team Championship after interference by The Blue Bloods ( Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton ). The title win

9858-409: The titles to the upstart team. On an episode of Monday Night Raw , L.O.D. challenged D-Generation X (DX) in a Tag Match. During the match, The New Age Outlaws attacked L.O.D. and shaved off one of Hawk's mohawks, and threw Animal through the announcers table. After several unsuccessful challenges the L.O.D. were repackaged as "Legion of Doom 2000" with manager Sunny , although she did not stay with

9964-518: Was announced as the sole inductee. In the proceeding two years, induction ceremonies were held in conjunction with the annual King of the Ring pay-per-view events. The 1996 ceremony was held with the Survivor Series event, for the first time in front of a paying audience as well as the wrestlers, after which, the Hall of Fame went on hiatus. After an eight-year hiatus the promotion - renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002 - scheduled

10070-606: Was best known as Road Warrior Hawk , one half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors (or the "Legion of Doom"), with Road Warrior Animal . Outside of the Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger for world heavyweight championships on pay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. He headlined the inaugural 1993 edition of Extreme Championship Wrestling 's premier annual event, November to Remember . While living in Minneapolis, Hegstrand attended Patrick Henry High School where he graduated in 1976. After high school, he had various odd jobs to make ends meet such as

10176-429: Was changed due to racial sensitivity based on their look, coming out to the ring in wrist and foot shackles. Harlem Heat debuted on WCW television by defeating local wrestlers Dave Hart and Mike Thor on the August 14 episode of WorldWide . On the August 21 episode of Saturday Night , Harlem Heat became villains by teaming with Sid Vicious to defeat Ron Simmons , 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell in

10282-483: Was considered a disappointment. During the early part of the feud, Legion of Doom often teamed with WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior in six-man tag matches against all three members of Demolition. Just over a year after signing with the WWF, the Legion of Doom won the WWF World Tag Team Titles from The Nasty Boys at SummerSlam 1991 and held them for about six months. When they lost

10388-622: Was immediately paired with Kensuke Sasaki , then simply known as a good mid-carder, as the Hell Raisers (Sasaki adopting the face paint and gimmick Power Warrior). The two dominated NJPW's tag team ranks for a while through their two wins of the IWGP Tag Team Championship , but no North American promoter thought about bringing them as a team, due to Sasaki's affiliation with NJPW. As a singles wrestler, Hawk found success in Europe , winning

10494-440: Was important for Sammartino to be inducted from a "legitimacy standpoint" and ESPN said that his induction was an opportunity to legitimize the Hall of Fame. After being announced as an inductee, Sammartino said he considered the Hall to be legitimate. In December 2021, Jeff Hardy was released from WWE. On March 8, 2022, the day that Hardy's no-compete clause expired, WWE reached out to Hardy and offered him an inductee spot to

10600-550: Was involved with the Global Wrestling Federation out of Dallas in 1992. The brothers were repackaged as the "Ebony Experience" and quickly rose through the ranks of the GWF tag team division under the guidance of Gary Hart , defeating Skandor Akbar's "Goodfellows" ("Gorgeous" Gary Young and Steve Dane) for the GWF Tag Team Championship on July 31, 1992. Their first run with the GWF tag title lasted only

10706-417: Was long recognized as being noticeably absent; Chris Jericho said that the Hall achieved a level of legitimacy by inducting Savage in 2015. Mick Foley long described Vader as "the most glaring and obvious omission from the #WWEHOF"; this was later corrected when he was posthumously inducted as part of the Class of 2022. Chyna is also a topic of conversation of whether or not she should be inducted due to

10812-534: Was represented by Bobby Harmon. WWF Hall of Fame (1996) was the event which featured the introduction of the fourth class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by the WWF on November 16, 1996, from the Marriott Marquis in New York City , New York . The event took place the same weekend as Survivor Series . In March 2015 a condensed version of the ceremony was added to the WWE Network . Due to

10918-524: Was selected before wrestlers such as Randy Savage or Bruno Sammartino. Caleb Smith of Slam Wrestling questioned how Ware was inducted, but former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Ivan Koloff never was before his 2017 death. 411Mania writer Steve Cook defended his Hall of Fame status since he was very popular with fans and some of his losses were historic, while Kevin Pantoja described him as "the floor for inductees". Superstar Billy Graham publicly slammed

11024-436: Was suspended by "Powers That Be". Booker challenged Jarrett and Creative Control to a handicap Harlem Street Fight , which ended in a no contest after a female bodybuilder named Midnight made her WCW debut to rescue Booker. Midnight would rescue Booker again from Jarrett and Creative Control, after they cost him, his match against Scott Hall at Mayhem . She subsequently joined Harlem Heat. Stevie returned from suspension on

11130-478: Was taped on May 3. At Bash at the Beach , Harlem Heat retained the titles against Nasty Boys and Blue Bloods in a triangle match. Harlem Heat lost the tag team titles to Slater and Buck on the July 22 episode of Saturday Night , thanks to interference from Parker. At Clash of the Champions XXXI , Harlem Heat and Sherri defeated Slater, Buck and Parker in a six-person tag team match. As a result, Harlem Heat earned

11236-442: Was the inaugural class of the WWE Hall of Fame. During the March 22, 1993, episode of Monday Night Raw a video package announcing André the Giant's induction was shown. No ceremony took place, and André was inducted posthumously. In March 2015 a condensed version of the 1994 ceremony was added to the WWE Network . Due to no original ceremony, the 1993 induction of André was discussed by Gene Okerlund and Renee Young as part of

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