A new report claims WWE will be inducting another celebrity into its Hall of Fame next month, but this time it's a nice honoree.
Celebrities being involved in professional wrestling is nothing new, and over the course of its 40-plus years of existence, WWE has mastered the art of using them to benefit the company. WWE loves to include famous people from other industries in its content, seeing music stars like Cyndi Lauper in the 1980s, Lawrence Taylor in the 1990s, and more recently Bad Bunny and Jelly Roll.
They appreciate him so much that they even have a celebrity wing in their Hall of Fame. However, this has always troubled traditional wrestling fans. Especially since many of the people involved, like Drew Carey, William Shatner, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, didn't really have any meaningful impact on the company and the industry.
Well, it looks like there will be a new celebrity inducted at the 2026 Hall of Fame ceremony. But this man actually deserves respect.
Dennis Rodman to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame
On Friday morning, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania surprisingly broke the news that Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is expected to be immortalized in the WWE HOF ahead of WrestleMania 42 next month.
For quite some time, WWE has attempted to make its Hall of Fame a true hall of fame for professional wrestling in general. They have included many industry veterans who had no major impact on the brand or who never even performed for the company. Rodman, along with Andy Kaufman, will be the second celebrity to be inducted into WWE's HOF without appearing for the company.
As mentioned above, most celebrity inductions into the WWE HOF are watched by a select group of fans, but Rodman made a huge impact on the industry in a short period of time in the late 1990s. When WCW was hot, the NBA bad boy broke the mold of celebrity appearances by joining the villainous faction, the nWo.
It was a match made in heaven for the company and the group as it garnered massive mainstream media attention and helped elevate WCW as the top wrestling promotion in the world. Since the great forward was a top star on the Chicago Bulls, the best team in the NBA at the time.
Rodman would compete in three matches for WCW, including a highly successful crossover clash that saw him team with wrestling icon Hulk Hogan against Diamond Dallas Page and his NBA rival, Utah Jazz great Karl Malone. Of the various celebrities in the WWE HOF, Rodman arguably had the biggest impact on the industry.
