| |
| WWE Hall of Fame (2021) | |
| Promotions | WWE |
| Date | March 30, 2021 (airing April 6, 2021) |
| Venue | Tropicana Field |
| City | St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Pay-per-view event chronology | |
| Hall of Fame chronology | |
| Previous | 2019 |
WWE Hall of Fame (2021) was a professional wrestling event by WWE that will feature the induction of the 20th and 21st classes to the WWE Hall of Fame. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Hall of Fame event did not occur – as a result, the originally announced Class of 2020 was inducted alongside the Class of 2021 at the 2021 induction ceremony. The event was taped on March 30 and April 1, 2021 at the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was aired on April 6 on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network internationally.
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. On August 27, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Class would be inducted alongside the Class of 2021 during WrestleMania 37 weekend, which was relocated to Tampa from its original location of Los Angeles, California.
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.
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. This was followed up on the March 3 episode of WWE Backstage, where it was announced that John "Bradshaw" Layfield would be inducted. 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.
On March 10, 2021, Molly Holly was announced as the first inductee into the Class of 2021. Her announcement as the first inductee was made on WWE The Bump by her former tag team partner, The Hurricane. Eric Bischoff was announced as the next inductee into the 2021 Class during the WWE After the Bell podcast on March 18.
The other inductee announced on December 9 was Batista. On December 9, 2019, Batista had been announced as an inductee into the 2020 Class of the Hall of Fame. Prior to the 2021 event, however, his induction was retracted. Fightful Select reported that WWE wanted Batista to be inducted "when a full crowd can enjoy it". Batista himself posted to Twitter, confirming his removal, citing previous obligations as a reason for why he could not attend the 2021 event. He also said that WWE honored his request to induct him at a future ceremony until 2022.
Inductees[]
2020[]
Individual[]
| Image | Ring name | WWE recognized accolades |
|---|---|---|
|
JBL (John Charles Layfield) | One-time WWE Champion, one-time Intercontinental Champion, one-time United States Champion, three-time WWF Tag Team Champion
Longtime commentator and creator of WWE's Tribute to the Troops |
|
British Bulldog (David Smith) | Posthumous inductee: One-time WWF Intercontinental Championship, Inaugural and two-time WWF European Championship, two-time WWF Hardcore Championship and two-time WWF Tag Team Championship. |
|
Jushin "Thunder" Liger (Keiichi Yamada) | 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 | Ring name | WWE recognized accolades | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
New World Order (NWO) | One of the most famous stables in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the Monday Night Wars. Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 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 named co-champion during one of The Outsiders' WCW World Tag Team Championship reigns. | |
| Hulk Hogan Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and X-Pac | |||
|
The Bella Twins | Held the WWE Divas Championship a combined total of three times (Brie once and Nikki twice - with her second reign being the longest in the title's history at 301 days).
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 and Brie Bella | |||
Celebrity[]
| Image | Ring name | Occupation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Shatner | Actor | Made numerous appearances on WWE programming, including serving as a Raw guest host in 2010 and a narrator for the WWE Network reality series Breaking Ground. He is the star of television series of Star Trek: The Original Series, T.J. Hooker and Boston Legal, also the movie of Miss Congeniality. |
Legacy[]
- Ray Stevens (Carl Stevens)
- Brickhouse Brown (Frederick Seawright)
- Steve Williams
- Baron Michele Leone (Michele Leone)
- Gary Hart (Gary Williams)
2021[]
Individual[]
| Image | Ring name | WWE recognized accolades |
|---|---|---|
|
Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald-Benshoof) | Two-time WWE Women's Champion and one-time WWE Hardcore Champion |
|
Eric Bischoff | Former Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), who led WCW to an 83-consecutive week ratings win over WWE (then WWF) during the Monday Night Wars. Also a one-time WCW Hardcore Champion, the first General Manager for WWE's Raw brand, and the creator of the Elimination Chamber match. |
|
Kane (Glenn Jacobs) | One-time WWF Champion, one-time World Heavyweight Champion, one-time ECW Champion, two-time Intercontinental Champion, one-time WWF Hardcore Champion, one-time 24/7 Champion, two-time WWE Tag Team Champion, nine-time World Tag Team Champion, one-time WCW Tag Team Champion, SmackDown's 2010 Money in the Bank winner, two-time Slammy Award winner ("Best Family Values" in 2010 for beating up Jack Swagger and "Match of the Year" in 2014 for the Survivor Series elimination match), most cumulative Royal Rumble match eliminations at 46, and most Royal Rumble match appearances at 20. |
|
The Great Khali (Dalip Singh Rana) | One-time World Heavyweight Champion, which made him the first Indian world champion in WWE, and 2008 Slammy Award winner for "Damn!" Moment of the Year (hosting the Kiss Cam on the November 7 episode of SmackDown). |
|
Rob Van Dam (Robert Szatkowski) | One-time WWE Champion, one-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion, 4-time WWF Hardcore Champion, six-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, one-time WWE European Champion, one-time WWE Tag Team Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, one-time ECW World Television Champion, two-time ECW World Tag Team Champion, 2006 Money in the Bank winner |
Celebrity[]
| Image | Ring name | Occupation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ozzy Osbourne | Musician | Made multiple appearances for WWE, notably appearing at WrestleMania 2, performing at a SmackDown taping in 2007, and serving as a guest co-host of Raw in 2009. |
Warrior Award[]
- Rich Hering
Legacy[]
- Dick the Bruiser (William Afflis)
- Pez Whatley (Pezavan Whatley)
- Buzz Sawyer (Bruce Woyan)
- Ethel Johnson (Ethel Hairston)
- Paul Boesch