The Class Of 2012

It's WrestleMania Eve so that means one thing - it's the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony tonight.

It has been a tradition for me to do a short write-up on each inductee on the morning before the event so - without further ado - here is the 2012 edition.

MIKE TYSON

'Iron' Mike Tyson is being inducted into the celebrity wing. He is obviously best remembered for his boxing career but - in wrestling - he'll forever be remembered for the moment when he and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin got into a confrontation on Monday Night Raw in 1998. This segment made the sports news and created a buzz leading to Tyson's involvement in WrestleMania XIV. He counted the pinfall in Steve Austin's first WWF title victory at the show. Austin's career was already going in the right direction but having a mainstream star like Tyson involved at that point helped it even more.

MIL MASCARAS

Mil Mascaras is one of Mexico's most famous wrestlers. He made his pro wrestling debut in 1965 and - a year later - he embarked on a film career which made him a mainstream name in his native country.

RON SIMMONS

Ron Simmons started his professional wrestling career in the NWA/WCW as part of the tag team Doom. He eventually became a singles competitor and became WCW champion on August 2nd 1992. He was billed as 'the first African-American world heavyweight champion' even though there had been black champions before his reign.
Simmons ended up working for WWE in 1996 and retired a number of years ago.
As a trivia note - this will be the second time Simmons will be honoured in a hall of fame as - just a few years ago - he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame after spending his college days playing for Florida State University.

YOKOZUNA

Rodney Anoa'i first became known within wrestling when he was called Kokina Maximus in the American Wrestling Association. His biggest break came when he signed for the then WWF in the autumn of 1992 billed as Yokozuna and working a sumo wrestler gimmick. By late January '93, the wrestler had won the Royal Rumble event and was immediately a headliner. He won the WWF title a few months later in the main event of WrestleMania IX but was beaten by Hulk Hogan in an impromptu match to close the show. In June  of 1993, he won the rematch against the Hulkster and went on a long title reign which ended in March of 1994. It is worth pointing out that it was very rare for heel world champions to have lengthy title runs at that time. Yokozuna ended up leaving the WWF in late 1996 after his weight became an issue. He passed away in Liverpool some time in the autumn of 2000.
I had the chance of meeting Yokozuna when he was in the midst of his WWF title reign. Unfortunately, I fell for the gimmick and was a) too scared to approach him for an autograph and b) thought he didn't speak English! I still managed to grab some photos of him when he was getting off his bus.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN

This group, led by Ric Flair, are the most popular stable in the history of professional wrestling and rightfully should be inducted into any hall of fame when you consider how much they drew back at the height of their popularity.
The Horsemen had numerous incarnations over the years but the most popular version of the group (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and manager JJ Dillon) are the ones being honored in tonight's ceremony.

EDGE

Canadian wrestler - Edge - who retired last year after suffering career ending injuries will also go into the WWE Hall of Fame tonight. Real name, Adam Copeland, Edge debuted in World Wrestling Entertainment in the spring of 1998 and went on to win all the major titles in the company. It's a shame that he had to retire at such an early age. With that said, he did achieve a lot in the short career he had.