The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for wrestling personalities that are, or were, connected to the WWE. The first induction to the Hall of Fame was in 1993. After the 1996 inductions, it was put on hiatus until 2004, where it was relaunched as part of the build to WrestleMania.
Wrestlers can either be inducted individually or as a group. The Hall of Fame also has a "Celebrity" wing, instituted in 2004, to induct non-wrestling celebrities who participated or contributed to WWE in some way. In 2015, WWE introduced the Warrior Award for those who have "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior." The next year WWE introduced a new category for the Hall of Fame called the "Legacy" wing. Inductees under this new category feature wrestlers from the early years of professional wrestling, primarily during the early part of the 20th century.
Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash have the distinction of being inducted twice: first as an individual induction and as part of a group induction (for The Four Horsemen, D-Generation X, Harlem Heat, The Hart Foundation and the New World Order respectively). Sean Waltman was also inducted twice as part of both DX and the nWo and is the first person to be inducted in consecutive years. Barry Windham will be inducted for the second time in 2024 as part of the U.S. Express, with his first induction having been as part of the Horsemen.
Like many things associated with WWE their Hall of Fame is not without controversy, starting with the fact that it technically doesn't exist. Yes, there's a ceremony every year and a page on WWE's website about it, but you can't actually visit it because it doesn't have a physical location like the HOFs in Cooperstown or Canton. WWE has kicked around the idea of actually building one, but nothing has come out of it.note But the bigger controversy comes from the selection process, which can basically be summed up as "Whoever Vince McMahon feels should be inducted that year", no committee is assembled and no fan votes are ever takennote . This had led to some pretty... questionable additions (as you'll see below) along with some pretty glaring omissions - anyone on the outs with Vince is basically barred from consideration until they pass away or Vince isn't mad at them anymore. As of January 2024 Vince is gone (and we mean gone) and Triple H has been trying to mend fences wherever he can,note so we may see some of the formerly blacklisted guys like Demolition starting with the 2025 class. The last few classes seemed to indicate he was using a sort of quota, basically consisting of one megastar to headline, one upper midcarder, one tag team or faction, one female wrestler, one person of color, one (but only one) posthumous induction of someone active at some point between 1990 and 2010, and one manager or other non-wrestling personality. Though the last two classes have started to lessen the number of inductees because they're literally running out of peoplenote , to the point that they've resorted to inducting people still actively wrestling in WWE. Also, despite being called the WWE Hall of Fame having actually done your HOF level work in WWE isn't a prerequisite, several inductees are mainly known for their work in WCW, Japan, or elsewhere, and a few of the legacy guys predate WWE's existence.
Note: Entries marked with a † are posthumous inductions. All inductions in the "Legacy" category are posthumous unless indicated otherwise.
Inductees by Year
Individual
Individual
- Arnold Skaaland
- Bobo Brazil
- "The Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers †
- Chief Jay Strongbow
- "Classy" Freddie Blassie
- Gorilla Monsoon
- James Dudley
Individual
- Antonino Rocca †
- "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd
- George "The Animal" Steele
- Ivan Putski
- The Fabulous Moolah
- The Grand Wizard †
- Pedro Morales (Savio Vega accepted the induction on his behalf)
Individual
- "Baron" Mikel Scicluna
- Captain Lou Albano
- Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
- Johnny Rodz
- "Killer" Kowalski
- Pat Patterson
- Vincent J. McMahon †
Group
- The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy and Johnny Valiant)
Individual
- Big John Studd †
- Don Muraco
- Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
- Harley Race
- Jesse "The Body" Ventura
- Junkyard Dog †
- Sgt. Slaughter
- "Superstar" Billy Graham
- Tito Santana
- Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Celebrity
- Pete Rose
Individual
- Hulk Hogan (removed after his unpersoning by WWE in 2015, reinstated in 2018)
- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
- "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr.
- "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart
- "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff
- Nikolai Volkoff
- The Iron Sheik
Individual
- Bret "Hit Man" Hart
- Eddie Guerrero †
- "Mean" Gene Okerlund
- "Sensational" Sherri
- Verne Gagne
- "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas
Group
- The Blackjacks (Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza)
Celebrity
- William "The Refrigerator" Perry
Individual
- "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes
- "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig †
- Jerry "The King" Lawler
- Nick Bockwinkel
- Mr. Fuji
- The Sheik †
- Jim Ross
Group
Individual
- "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
- "High Chief" Peter Maivia †
- "Soulman" Rocky Johnson
- Mae Young
- Eddie Graham †
- Gordon Solie †
Group
- The Brisco Brothers (Jack and Gerald Brisco)
Individual
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
- "Cowboy" Bill Watts
- Howard Finkel
- Koko B. Ware
Group
- The Funks (Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr.)
- The Von Erichs (Fritz †, Kevin, David †, Kerry †, Mike †, and Chris †)
Individual
- "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase
- Antonio Inoki
- Wendi Richter
- Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon
- Gorgeous George †
- Stu Hart †
Celebrity
Individual
- "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels
- "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
- "Bullet" Bob Armstrong
- Sunny
- Abdullah the Butcher
Group
- The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Hawk †, Road Warrior Animal, and their manager 'Precious' Paul Ellering)
Celebrity
Individual
- Mil Máscaras
- Edge
- Ron Simmons
- Yokozuna †
Group
- The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and manager James J Dillon)
Celebrity
Individual
- Ultimate Warrior
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts
- Lita
- Paul Bearer †
- Carlos Colon
- Razor Ramon
Celebrity
Individual
- "Macho Man" Randy Savage †
- Rikishi
- Alundra Blayze
- Larry Zbyszko
- Tatsumi Fujinami
- Kevin Nash
Group
- The Bushwhackers (Butch Miller and Luke Williams)
Celebrity
Warrior Award
- Connor "The Crusher" Michalek †
Individual
Group
- The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy †, Buddy Roberts †, Jimmy Garvin)
Celebrity
Warrior Award
- Joan Lunden
Legacy
- Mildred Burke
- Frank Gotch
- George Hackenschmidt
- Ed "Strangler" Lewis
- Pat O'Connor
- Lou Thesz
- "Sailor" Art Thomas
Individual
Group
- The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson)
Warrior Award
- Eric LeGrand
Legacy
- Martin "Farmer" Burns
- June Byers
- Haystacks Calhoun
- Judy Grable
- Dr. Jerry Graham
- Luther Lindsay
- Joseph "Toots" Mondt
- Rikidozan
- Bearcat Wright
Individual
Group
- The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von)
Celebrity
Warrior Award
- Jarrius "JJ" Robertson
Legacy
- Boris Malenko
- Cora Combs
- Dara Singh
- El Santo
- Hiro Matsuda
- Jim Londos
- Rufus R. Jones
- Sputnik Monroe
- Stan Stasiak
- Lord Alfred Hayes
Individual
Group
- D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, X-Pac, "Road Dogg" Jesse James, "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn, and Chyna †)
- Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray)
- The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart †)
Warrior Award
- Sue Aitchison
Legacy
- Bruiser Brody
- "Playboy" Buddy Rose
- "Professor" Toru Tanaka
- Hisashi Shinma (living when inducted)
- Joe Cohen (living when inducted)
- Primo Carnera
- Luna Vachon
- Jim Barnett
- "Special Delivery" Jones
- Chief Wahoo McDaniel
Individual
- John "Bradshaw" Layfield
- BritishBulldog †
- Jushin Thunder Liger
- Molly Holly
- Eric Bischoff
- The Great Khali
- Kane
- Rob Van Dam
Group
- New World Order (Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Syxx)
- Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie Bella)
Celebrity
Warrior Award
- Titus O'Neil
- Rich Hering
Legacy
- Ray Stevens
- Brickhouse Brown
- "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
- Baron Michele Leone
- Gary Hart
- Dick the Bruiser
- Pez Whatley
- Buzz Sawyer
- Ethel Johnson
- Paul Boesch
Individual
- The Undertaker
- Vader †
- Sharmell
Group
- The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)
Warrior Award
- Shad Gaspard †
Individual
Celebrity
Warrior Award
- Tim White †
Individual
- Paul Heyman
- Bull Nakano
- Muhammad Ali †note
- Thunderbolt Patterson
Group
- U.S. Express (Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham)
