Boxer Muhammad Ali to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame

Muhammad Ali will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2024, the promotion announced Monday morning.

The ceremony will take place on April 5 during WrestleMania 40 weekend in Philadelphia.

Ali died in June 2016 at the age of 74.

A sports icon whose influence has spread around the world, Ali was the special guest referee for the main event of the first-ever WrestleMania, a tag-tag match featuring Hulk Hogan and Mr. T against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful”. “Paul Orndorff.

Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time, landed a right hand on Piper's chin, one of many indelible moments the heavyweight champion created at New York's Madison Square Garden.

This wasn't Ali's only foray into sports entertainment. In June 1976, Ali faced Japanese legend Antonio Inoki in the “War of the Worlds” exhibition match in Tokyo.

Ali-Inoki was a seminal event that is still celebrated today: the mixed rules match is considered a precursor to the explosion of MMA. In front of 32,000 spectators, Ali-Inoki was awarded a 15-round draw. It was also broadcast on closed circuit to approximately 33,000 people at Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets.

All these years later, Ali will join Inoki in the WWE Hall of Fame. In 1990, Ali was entered into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in its first class. Ali won the heavyweight championship three times, including a sixth-round TKO victory over Sonny Liston in 1964 and an eighth-round knockout over George Foreman in 1974.

Both were upset victories for Ali in fights named “Fight of the Year” by Ring Magazine. Ali won an Olympic gold medal in 1960.