Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Inductees

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Section Title: Inductees
Table Section Text: None

#	Year	Image	Ring name (Birth name)	Inducted for	Notes

1	1996	-	Abdullah the Butcher (Larry Shreve)	Wrestling	Won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship (3 times), NWA United National Championship (1 time), and PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

2	1996	N/A	Perro Aguayo (Pedro Aguayo Damián)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship (1 time), Mexican National Middleweight Championship (1 time), and Mexican National Tag Team Championship (2 times)

3	1996	-	André the Giant (André Roussimoff)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)

4	1996	N/A	Bert Assirati	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the British Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and European Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

5	1996	-	Giant Baba (Shohei Baba)	Wrestling and promoting	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and PWF World Heavyweight Championship (4 times); founded All Japan Pro Wrestling

6	1996	N/A	Jim Barnett	Promoting	Founded Australia's World Championship Wrestling; owned Georgia Championship Wrestling

7	1996	N/A	Red Berry (Ralph Berry)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (9 times) and NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

8	1996	-	The Destroyer (Dick Beyer)	Wrestling	Won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

9	1996	-	Freddie Blassie	Wrestling and managing	Won the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (14 times) and NAWA/WWA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times); worked as manager after retiring as a competitor

10	1996	-	Blue Demon (Alexander Muñoz Moreno)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship (3 times) and appeared in several luchador films

11	1996	-	Nick Bockwinkel	Wrestling	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (6 times), AWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times), and NWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times)

12	1996	N/A	Paul Boesch	Commentating and promoting	Posthumous inductee; promoted the Houston, Texas territory of National Wrestling Alliance

13	1996	-	Bobo Brazil (Houston Harris)	Wrestling	Won the Detroit version of NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (9 times) and Mid-Atlantic version (1 time)

14	1996	-	Jack Brisco (Fred Joe Brisco)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), NWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times), and NWA National Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

15	1996	-	Bruiser Brody (Frank Goodish)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times), and PWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

16	1996	-	Mildred Burke (Mildred Bliss)	Women's wrestling and promoting	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Women's Championship (1 time) and WWWA World Single Championship (1 time); founded World Women's Wrestling Association.

17	1996	-	El Canek	Wrestling	Won the UWA World Heavyweight Championship (15 times), CMLL World Tag Team Championship (1 time) and CMLL World Trios Championship (1 time)

18	1996	LuchaLibreObrera153.JPG	Negro Casas (José Casas Ruiz)	Wrestling	Won the UWA World Lightweight Championship (1 time) and UWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)

19	1996	-	Riki Choshu (Mitsuo Yoshida)	Wrestling	Won the PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), IWGP Heavyweight Championship (3 times), and IWGP Tag Team Championship (3 times)

20	1996	JimCornette.JPG	Jim Cornette	Promoting and managing	Founded Smoky Mountain Wrestling and managed wrestlers in National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation

21	1996	-	The Crusher (Reginald Lisowski)	Wrestling	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times), AWA World Tag Team Championship (9 times), and WWA World Tag Team Championship (6 times)

22	1996	-	Ted DiBiase	Wrestling and managing	Won the NWA/Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (5 times), PWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time), NWA National Heavyweight Championship (2 times), and WWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times); managed the Million Dollar Corporation and New World Order stables

23	1996	-	Dick the Bruiser (William Richard Afflis)	Wrestling and promoting	Posthumous inductee; won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and AWA World Tag Team Championship (5 times); owned and promoted the World Wrestling Association in Indianapolis, Indiana

24	1996	N/A	Alfonso Dantés (Jose Luis Amezcua Diaz)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (5 times), Mexican National Heavyweight Championship (2 times), and Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

25	1996	-	The Dusek Family (The Hason Family)	Wrestling and promoting	Emil and Ernie Dusek won the Central States version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) and San Francisco version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 times); Joe Dusek promoted wrestling events in Omaha, Nebraska

26	1996	-	Dynamite Kid (Tom Billington)	Wrestling	Won the All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time), Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)

27	1996	-	The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello, Roy Heffernan, and Don Kent) (Giacoma Costa, Laurence Roy Heffernan, and Leo Smith, Jr.)	Wrestling	Won the Northeast version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship (3 times) and Mid-America version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times)

28	1996	-	Jackie Fargo (Henry Faggart)	Wrestling	Won the Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship (10 times) and Mid-America version of NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (22 times)

29	1996	-	Ric Flair (Richard Morgan Fliehr)	Wrestling	Won the WWF Championship (2 times), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (8 times), and WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

30	1996	-	Tatsumi Fujinami	Wrestling	Won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (6 times), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

31	1996	-	Dory Funk	Wrestling and promoting	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and NWA North American Heavyweight Championship multiple times; promoted for the National Wrestling Alliance

32	1996	-	Dory Funk, Jr.	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (2 times), and NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

33	1996	-	Terry Funk	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), ECW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), and WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)

34	1996	-	Verne Gagne (LaVerne Gagne)	Wrestling and promoting	Founded the American Wrestling Associationl; won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (10 times)

35	1996	N/A	Cavernario Galindo (Rodolfo Galindo Ramírez)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time); appeared in several luchador films

36	1996	N/A	Ed Don George	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (2 times) and Boston's AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

37	1996	-	Gorgeous George (George Raymond Wagner)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and Boston's AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

38	1996	-	Frank Gotch	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (1 time) and American Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

39	1996	N/A	Karl Gotch (Karl Istaz)	Wrestling	Won the IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time), and Ohio's AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

40	1996	-	Billy Graham (Wayne Coleman)	Wrestling	Won the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and San Francisco version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times)

41	1996	N/A	Eddie Graham (Edward Gossett)	Wrestling and promoting	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Tag Team Championship (7 times) and NWA United States Tag Team Championship (4 times); owned Championship Wrestling from Florida and served as president of National Wrestling Alliance

42	1996	N/A	René Guajardo	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; competed in the middleweight division in Mexico

43	1996	N/A	Gory Guerrero (Salvador Guerrero Quesada)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time), NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time), and Mexican National Middleweight Championship (1 time)

44	1996	-	Georg Hackenschmidt	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the European Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (1 time)

45	1996	-	Stan Hansen (John Stanley Hansen)	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (4 times) and AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

46	1996	-	Bret Hart	Wrestling	Won the WWF Championship (5 times), WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times), and WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

47	1996	N/A	Stu Hart	Wrestling, Promoting, and Training	Owned and promoted Stampede Wrestling; trained many well-known wrestlers

48	1996	-	Bobby Heenan (Raymond Louis Heenan)	Managing and commentating	Managed wrestlers in the American Wrestling Association, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Federation; provided color commentary for the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling

49	1996	-	Danny Hodge	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (7 times)

50	1996	-	Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea)	Wrestling	Won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (6 times) and WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

51	1996	Antonio Inoki IMG 0398-2 20121224.JPG	Antonio Inoki (Kanji Inoki)	Wrestling and promoting	Won the All Asia Tag Team Championship (3 times), NWA International Tag Team Championship (4 times), and IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time); founded New Japan Pro Wrestling

52	1996	N/A	Rayo de Jalisco, Sr. (Maximino Linares Moreno)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Tag Team Championship (2 times) and appeared in luchador films

53	1996	-	Tom Jenkins	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the American Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

54	1996	N/A	Don Leo Jonathan (Don Heaton)	Wrestling	Won the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (15 times) and Omaha's World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

55	1996	-	Gene Kiniski	Wrestling	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

56	1996	-	Fred Kohler (Fred Koch)	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; promoted wrestling events in Chicago, Illinois and helped popularize tag team wrestling in the United States

57	1996	-	Killer Kowalski (Edward Walter Spulnik)	Wrestling and training	Won the IWA World Heavyweight Championship (6 times) and WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time); trained many well-known wrestlers

58	1996	-	Ernie Ladd	Wrestling	Won the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (4 times), WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and NWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

59	1996	N/A	Dick Lane	Commentating	Posthumous inductee; worked as commentator for wrestling shows in Southern California

60	1996	-	Jerry Lawler	Wrestling and promoting	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (27 times), and Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship (40 times)

61	1996	-	Ed Lewis	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (5 times)

62	1996	-	Jim Londos (Chris Theophelos)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (1 time) and NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

63	1996	-	Salvador Lutteroth (Salvador Lutteroth Gonzalez)	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; founded Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre

64	1996	-	Akira Maeda	Wrestling and promoting	Competed in Europe and Japan; founded Fighting Network Rings and an incarnation of Universal Wrestling Federation

65	1996	N/A	Devil Masami (Masami Yoshida)	Women's wrestling	Competed in Canada's Stampede Wrestling as well as Japan; trained several well-known wrestlers

66	1996	-	Mil Máscaras (Aaron Rodríguez)	Wrestling	Won the WWA/NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (4 times), Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times), and Georgia's IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

67	1996	Dump Matsumoto.JPG	Dump Matsumoto (Kaoru Matsumoto)	Women's wrestling	Competed in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation; held several tag team titles with Bull Nakano

68	1996	-	Earl McCready	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

69	1996	N/A	Leroy McGuirk	Wrestling and promoting	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and World Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times); promoted shows for National Wrestling Alliance in Oklahoma

70	1996	-	Vincent J. McMahon	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; founded the World Wide Wrestling Federation

71	1996	-	Vincent K. McMahon	Promoting	Owned and provided commentary for the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE; won the WWF Championship (1 time) and ECW World Championship (1 time)

72	1996	N/A	Danny McShain	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Light Heavyweight Championship (11 times) and NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (9 times)

73	1996	N/A	Ray Mendoza (Jose Diaz)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (6 times) and UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (4 times)

74	1996	-	Mitsuharu Misawa	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (5 times); founded Pro Wrestling Noah

75	1996	N/A	Toots Mondt (Joseph Mondt)	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; founded the World Wide Wrestling Federation

76	1996	N/A	Sam Muchnick	Promoting	Founded the National Wrestling Alliance and served as its president from 1950 to 1960 and from 1963 to 1975; owned and promoted the St.

77	1996	-	Bronko Nagurski (Bronislau Nagurski)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

78	1996	-	Pat O'Connor	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

79	1996	-	Kintaro Oki (Kim Il)	Wrestling	Won the All Asia Heavyweight Championship (4 times) and NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

80	1996	Atsushi Onita.JPG	Atsushi Onita	Wrestling and promoting	Competed in Japan and founded Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling

81	1996	-	Pat Patterson (Pierre Clermont)	Wrestling	Won the San Francisco version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (11 times), AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), and WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

82	1996	N/A	Antonio Peña (Antonio Peña Herrada)	Promoting	Founded Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

83	1996	N/A	John Pesek	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

84	1996	-	Roddy Piper (Roderick Toombs)	Wrestling	Won the NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

85	1996	-	Harley Race	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (8 times); founded World League Wrestling

86	1996	-	Dusty Rhodes (Virgil Runnels, Jr.)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (10 times)

87	1996	-	Rikidōzan (Kim Sin-Nak)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), and All Asia Tag Team Championship (4 times)

88	1996	-	The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) (Michael Hegstrand and Joseph Laurinaitis)	Wrestling	Won the AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), and WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times)

89	1996	-	Yvon Robert	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and Boston's AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

90	1996	-	Billy Robinson	Wrestling	Won the PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), AWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times), and AWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship multiple times

91	1996	-	Antonino Rocca (Antonino Biasetton)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) and WWWF International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

92	1996	N/A	Buddy Rogers (Herman Rohde)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

93	1996	N/A	Lance Russell (Lanier Russell)	Commentating	Worked as commentator and ring announcer for wrestling shows in Memphis, and to a lesser extent, World Championship Wrestling and Smoky Mountain Wrestling

94	1996	-	Bruno Sammartino	Wrestling	Won the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time), and WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

95	1996	N/A	Billy Sandow	Promoting and managing	Posthumous inductee; managed Ed "Strangler" Lewis and was an influential promoter in the early twentieth century

96	1996	-	El Santo (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship (2 times), Mexican National Middleweight Championship (4 times), and Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time); appeared in several luchador films

97	1996	N/A	Jackie Sato (Naoko Sato)	Women's wrestling	Won the WWWA World Single Championship (2 times)

98	1996	-	Randy Savage (Randy Poffo)	Wrestling	Won the WWF Championship (2 times), WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time), and WCW World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)

99	1996	-	The Sheik (Ed Farhat)	Wrestling and promoting	Won the Detroit Version of NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (12 times) and NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (2 times); owned and promoted Big Time Wrestling

100	1996	N/A	Hisashi Shinma	Promoting	Was active in Japanese professional wrestling and served as president of the World Wrestling Federation

101	1996	-	Dara Singh (Dara Singh Randhawa)	Wrestling	Won the World Wrestling Championship, NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship (1 time) and Commonwealth Championship.

102	1996	-	Gordon Solie (Francis Jonard Labiak)	Commentating	Worked as commentator for the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling

103	1996	-	El Solitario (Roberto González Cruz)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)

104	1996	-	Ricky Steamboat (Richard Henry Blood)	Wrestling	Won the NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (4 times), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

105	1996	N/A	Joe Stecher	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (4 times)

106	1996	-	Tony Stecher (Anton Charles Stecher)	Wrestling and promoting	Posthumous inductee; won several regional championships; co-founded the National Wrestling Alliance

107	1996	N/A	Ray Steele (Peter Sauer)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

108	1996	N/A	Ray Stevens	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) (2 times), the NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (3 times) and the AWA United States Heavyweight Championship (7 times)

109	1996	-	Nobuhiko Takada	Wrestling and promoting	Won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time); founded the Union of Wrestling Forces International

110	1996	-	Genichiro Tenryu (Genichiro Shimada)	Wrestling	Won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

111	1996	-	Lou Thesz (Aloysius Martiz Thesz)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

112	1996	N/A	Satoru Sayama (Satoru Sayama)	Wrestling	Wrestled as "Tiger Mask", won the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

113	1996	N/A	Jumbo Tsuruta (Tomomi Tsuruta)	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

114	1996	N/A	Frank Tunney	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; promoted wrestling events in Toronto, Ontario and served as president of the National Wrestling Alliance

115	1996	N/A	Maurice Vachon	Wrestling	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (5 times), AWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times), and Central States version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

116	1996	-	Big Van Vader (Leon White)	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and WCW World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

117	1996	N/A	Johnny Valentine (Jonathan Wisniski)	Wrestling	Won the NWF Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and NWA/WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (4 times)

118	1996	N/A	Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson)	Wrestling and promoting	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and NWA American Heavyweight Championship (13 times); served as president of the National Wrestling Alliance and founded World Class Championship Wrestling

119	1996	-	Whipper Billy Watson (William Potts)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (12 times)

120	1996	-	Bill Watts	Wrestling and promoting	Won the AWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time); founded Universal Wrestling Federation and served as president of World Championship Wrestling

121	1996	-	Jaguar Yokota (Rimi Yokota)	Women's wrestling	Won UWA World Women's Championship (1 time)

122	1996	1912 Stanislaus Zbyszko.jpeg	Stanislaus Zbyszko	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (2 times)

123	1997	-	Édouard Carpentier (Edouard Wiercowicz)	Wrestling	Won the Boston's Atlantic Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), Omaha's World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and NAWA/WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

124	1997	-	El Hijo del Santo (Jorge Guzmán)	Wrestling	Won the AAA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), Mexican National Middleweight Championship (1 time), and Mexican National Welterweight Championship (1 time)

125	1997	-	Toshiaki Kawada	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (5 times)

126	1997	N/A	Jimmy Lennon	Ring announcing	Posthumous inductee; worked as a ring announcer in Los Angeles

127	1997	-	William Muldoon	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won American Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

128	1997	-	Chigusa Nagayo	Women's wrestling	Founded Gaea Japan; won the AAAW Single Championship (2 times)

129	1998	-	Dos Caras (José Rodríguez)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time)

130	1999	-	Lioness Asuka (Tomoko Kitamura)	Women's wrestling	Competed in Japan and the United States

131	1999	Jushin Thunder Liger.JPG	Jushin Thunder Liger (Keiichi Yamada)	Wrestling	Won the J-Crown (1 time) and WCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)

132	1999	-	Keiji Mutoh	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and IWGP Heavyweight Championship (4 times)

133	1999	-	Jim Ross	Commentating	Worked as commentator for Universal Wrestling Federation, WCW, and WWF/E

134	2000	-	Stone Cold Steve Austin (Steven James Williams)	Wrestling	Won the WWF Championship (6 times), WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times), and WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

135	2000	-	Mick Foley	Wrestling	Won the WWF Championship (3 times) and TNA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

136	2000	-	Shinya Hashimoto	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), IWGP Heavyweight Championship (3 times), and Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

137	2000	N/A	Akira Hokuto (Hisako Uno Sasaki)	Women's wrestling	Competed in Japan and the United States; won the WCW Women's Championship (1 time)

138	2000	N/A	Bill Longson	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

139	2000	-	Frank Sexton	Wrestling	Won the Boston-based AWA World Heavyweight Champion (2 times)

140	2000	-	Sandor Szabo	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA/NBA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

141	2001	N/A	Black Shadow (Alejandro Cruz Ortíz)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time) and Mexican National Lightweight Championship (1 time)

142	2001	N/A	Diablo Velasco (Cuahutémoc Velasco)	Training	Posthumous inductee; trained many well-known wrestlers

143	2001	N/A	Lizmark (Juan Baños)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time), Mexican National Middleweight Championship (2 times), and Mexican National Welterweight Championship (1 time)

144	2001	-	Bull|Nakano} (Keiko Nakano)	Women's wrestling	Won the WWWA World Single Championship (1 time), WWE Women's Championship (1 time) and CMLL World Women's Championship (1 time)

145	2001	N/A	El Satánico (Daniel López)	Wrestling	Won the Mexican National Middleweight Championship (3 times) and Mexican National Trios Championship (3 times)

146	2002	-	Martin Burns	Wrestling and training	Posthumous inductee; won the American Heavyweight Championship (1 time); trained many well-known wrestlers

147	2002	-	Jack Curley (Jacques Armand Schuel)	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; promoted wrestling events and helped popularize professional wrestling in the United States

148	2002	-	Kenta Kobashi	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and GHC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

149	2002	N/A	Wahoo McDaniel (Edward McDaniel)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the NWA United States Championship (5 times), NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (5 times), and NWA National Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

150	2002	Manami Toyota.JPG	Manami Toyota	Women's wrestling	Won the AAAW Single Championship (1 time)

151	2003	-	Chris Benoit	Wrestling	Won the World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

152	2003	-	Earl Caddock	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (1 time)

153	2003	N/A	Francisco Flores	Promoting	Promoted wrestling events in Mexico

154	2003	-	Shawn Michaels (Michael Shawn Hickenbottom)	Wrestling	Won the WWF Championship (3 times), World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and WWF/World Tag Team Championship (4 times)

155	2004	-	The Undertaker (Mark Calaway)	Wrestling	Won the WWF/E Championship (4 times), World Heavyweight Championship (3 times), and WWF Tag Team Championship (6 times)

156	2004	-	Bob Backlund	Wrestling	Won the WWWF Heavyweight Championship/WWF Championship (2 times) and WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)

157	2004	-	Masahiro Chono	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

158	2004	N/A	Tarzán Lόpez (Carlos Lόpez Tovar)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (3 times), Mexican National Middleweight Championship (1 time), and Mexican National Welterweight Championship (1 time)

159	2004	-	Kazushi Sakuraba	Wrestling and MMA	Competed in several professional wrestling organizations as well as mixed martial arts fighting

160	2004	-	Último Dragón (Yoshihiro Asai)	Wrestling	Won the J-Crown (1 time) and WCW Cruiserweight Championship (2 times)

161	2004	-	Kurt Angle	Wrestling	Won the WWF/E Championship (4 times), World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and TNA World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

162	2005	-	The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts) (Michael Seitz, Terry Gordy, and Dale Hey)	Wrestling	Won the WCWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship/Texas version of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (6 times)

163	2005	-	Paul Heyman	Promoting	Owned and promoted Extreme Championship Wrestling; managed in American Wrestling Association, National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling

164	2005	-	Triple H (Paul Michael Levesque)	Wrestling	Won the WWF/E Championship (9 times), World Heavyweight Championship (5 times) WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (5 times), and WWF European Championship (2 times)

165	2006	N/A	Paul Bowser	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; promoted Boston's American Wrestling Association

166	2006	-	Eddie Guerrero	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the WWE Championship (1 time), WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (2 times), and WCW/WWE United States Championship (2 times)

167	2006	-	Hiroshi Hase	Wrestling	Won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and IWGP Tag Team Championship (4 times)

168	2006	-	Masakatsu Funaki	Wrestling, MMA and promoting	Competed for New Japan Pro Wrestling and as a mixed martial artist; founded Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling

169	2006	Aja Kong.JPG	Aja Kong (Erika Shishido)	Women's wrestling	Competed in Japan and the United States; won the AAAW Single Championship (3 times)

170	2007	-	The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)	Wrestling	Won the WWF/WWE Championship (8 times), WCW/World Championship (2 times), WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (2 times), and WWF World Tag Team Championship (5 times)

171	2007	-	Evan Lewis	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; won the American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

172	2007	N/A	Tom Packs	Promoting	Posthumous inductee; promoted wrestling events in St. Louis, Missouri and the Midwestern United States

173	2008	N/A	Paco Alonso (Francisco Alonso)	Promoting	Promoted the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

174	2008	Martín Karadagián.JPG	Martín Karadagian	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee; competed in Argentina

175	2009	-	Konnan (Charles Ashenoff)	Wrestling	Won the AAA Americas Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times), WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time), WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times), WCW World Television Championship (1 time)

176	2009	N/A	Everett Marshall	Wrestling	Won the MWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

177	2009	N/A	The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane and Dennis Condrey)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), Mid-South Tag Team Championship (2 times), NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time), NWA United States Tag Team Championship (3 times), and NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

178	2009	N/A	Bill Miller	Wrestling	Won the AWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time), AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time)

179	2009	-	Masa Saito (Masanori Saito)	Wrestling	Won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time), WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times)

180	2009	N/A	Roy Shire (Roy Shropshire)	Promoting	Won the Amarillo version of NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and NWA Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

181	2010	-	Chris Jericho (Christopher Irvine)	Wrestling	Won the Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time), World Heavyweight Championship (3 times), WCW/World Championship (2 times), WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (9 times), and WWE United States Championship (2 times)

182	2010	-	Rey Mysterio, Jr. (Oscar Gutierrez)	Wrestling	Won the World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), WWE Championship (1 time), WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Championship (8 times), 2006 Royal Rumble winner

183	2010	-	Wladek Zbyszko (Władysław Cyganiewicz)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. Won the Boston version of AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

184	2011	N/A	Kent Walton	Commentating	Posthumous inductee. World of Sport commentator

185	2011	N/A	Steve Williams	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (1 time), UWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

186	2011	-	Curtis Iaukea	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. Won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

187	2012	N/A	Mick McManus (Michael Matthews)	Wrestling	Won the European Middleweight Championship (4 times), British Welterweight Championship (2 times) and British Middleweight Championship (1 time)

188	2012	N/A	Alfonso Morales (Gilberto Alberto Morales Villela)	Commentating	Commentator for both AAA and CMLL on Televisa

189	2012	-	John Cena	Wrestling	Won the WWE Championship/WWE World Heavyweight Championship (13 times), World Heavyweight Championship (3 times), and WWE United States Championship (5 times)

190	2012	-	Hans Schmidt (Guy Larose)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. Won the Montreal version of AWA International Heavyweight Championship (2 times), Chicago version of NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and Los Angeles version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

191	2012	-	Lou Albano	Wrestling and managing	Posthumous inductee. Won the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship. Manager of 15 different WWF World Tag Team Champions

192	2012	-	Gus Sonnenberg	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), Original World Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and Boston version of AWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

193	2013	N/A	Takashi Matsunaga	Promoting	Posthumous inductee. Founder and promoter of All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling

194	2013	N/A	Henri Deglane	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. The most famous wrestler in the history of France.

195	2013	N/A	Dr. Wagner (Manuel González)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee.Won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time). Patriarch of the Wagner wrestling family

196	2013	-	Atlantis	Wrestling	Won the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times), CMLL World Tag Team Championship (5 times), Mexican National Middleweight Championship (1 time), Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time), NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and NWA World Middleweight Championship (3 times)

197	2013	-	Kensuke Sasaki	Wrestling	Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times), IWGP Heavyweight Championship (5 times), GHC Heavyweight Championship (1 time), IWGP Tag Team Championship (7 times), GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) and WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

198	2013	-	Hiroshi Tanahashi	Wrestling	Won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (7 times), IWGP Tag Team Championship (2 times), and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship (2 times)

199	2014	-	The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) (Richard Morton and Ruben Cain)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic Version) (4 times), NWA World Tag Team Championship (4 times), SMW Tag Team Championship (10 times), and USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times)

200	2014	N/A	Ray Fabiani (Aurelio Fabiani)	Promoting	Posthumous inductee. Philadelphia promoter

201	2015	-	Brock Lesnar	Wrestling and MMA	Won the WWE Championship/WWE World Heavyweight Championship (4 times), WWE Universal Championship (2 time), IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time), and UFC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

202	2015	-	Shinsuke Nakamura	Wrestling	Won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (3 times), IWGP Intercontinental Championship (5 times), IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time), NXT Championship (2 times) and WWE United States Championship

203	2015	N/A	Perro Aguayo, Jr. (Pedro Aguayo)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. Won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1), Mexican National Tag Team Championship (3 times), CMLL World Trios Championship (1 time), and WWA Tag Team Championship (3 times)

204	2015	N/A	The Assassins (Jody Hamilton and Tom Renesto)	Wrestling	Won the Florida version of NWA United States Tag Team Championship (2 times), NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (12 times), Vancouver version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time), and Mid-America version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

205	2015	-	Ivan Koloff (Oreal Perras)	Wrestling	Won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (5 times), NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (7 times), NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (4 times), NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (1 time), Mid-Atlantic version of NWA Television Championship (5 times), NWA United States Tag Team Championship (2 times), Mid-Atlantic version of NWA World Tag Team Championship (5 times), and WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

206	2015	-	Carlos Colón	Wrestling	Won the WWC World/Universal Heavyweight Championship (26 times), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (one time), WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship (9 times), WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (8 times), WWC North American Tag Team Championship (11 times), WWC World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time), WWC World Tag Team Championship (3 times) and WWC World Television Championship (4 times)

207	2015	N/A	Eddie Quinn (Edmund Quinn)	Promoting	Posthumous inductee. Montreal promoter

208	2016	-	Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson)	Wrestling	Won the World Heavyweight Championship (WWE) (1 time), WWE Championship/WWE World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) and ROH World Championship (1 time).

209	2016	-	Gene Okerlund (Eugene Okerlund)	Commentating	Worked as interviewer and announcer for American Wrestling Association, World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.

210	2016	-	Sting (Steve Borden)	Wrestling	Won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times), WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and TNA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times).

211	2016	N/A	James McLaughlin	Wrestling	Posthumous inductee. Generally considered the first American professional wrestling champion.

212	2017	N/A	Mark Lewin	Wrestling	Won the IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time).

213	2017	-	AJ Styles (Allen Jones)	Wrestling	Won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (2 times), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times), TNA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and WWE Championship (2 times).

214	2017	N/A	The Sharpe Brothers (Ben and Mike)	Wrestling	Posthumous inductees. Introduced modern professional wrestling to Japan.

215	2017	-	Minoru Suzuki	Wrestling and MMA	Co-founder of Pancrase. Won the King of Pancrase Openweight Championship (1 time), Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (2 times), GHC Heavyweight Championship (1 time), NEVER Openweight Championship (1 time), and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time).

216	2017	-	Pedro Morales	Wrestling	Won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time).

217	2018	-	LA Park	Wrestling	Won the IWC World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) and the CMLL World Tag Team Championship (1 time)

218	2018	Jerry Jarrett	Wrestling and promoter	Wrestler and promoter of Continental Wrestling Association, United States Wrestling Association and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

219	2018	-	Jimmy Hart	Manager

220	2018	-	Bill Apter	Journalism	Staff member for several magazines during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, notably Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

221	2018	-	Howard Finkel	Announcer	Announcer for the WWE since 1975, when it was known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He is the longest tenured employee of the organization.

222	2018	Gary Hart	Wrestling and manager	Booker for World Class Championship Wrestling and longtime manager for several promotions

223	2018	Yuji Nagata Aug 2015.JPG	Yuji Nagata	Wrestling	Two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, one-time GHC Heavyweight Champion, 2001 G1 Climax tournament winner, 2011 Champion Carnival tournament winner

Sentence(s)

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, there are 223 inductees.

final_sentence: In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, there are 223 inductees.