NWA Hall of Fame

The NWA Hall of Fame logo (2008–2017)

The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA.[1] Inductees receive commemorative medals that have their names inscribed on it with the logo of the NWA.[2]

The Class of 2005, the inaugural inductees into the Hall of Fame did not have a formal induction ceremony; as a result, they received their medals at a later time. A private gathering was conducted for the Class of 2006, in which inductees received their medal. Beginning with the Class of 2008 on June 7, 2008, a ceremony has been conducted to formally induct the inductees. There were no inductees in 2007 due to the planning of an international expansion to the NWA.[3] On June 7, 2008, the Class of 2008 was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ric Flair, a member of the Class of 2008 and a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee at the time of the ceremony, was inducted on October 4, 2008, after his WWE contract had expired; his WWE contract prevented him from appearing in other organizations.[2] Similarly to the World Championship Wrestling's Hall of Fame, the 2008 ceremony was held during a wrestling event.[4][5][6]

Inductees for the Class of 2009 were announced during the summer of 2009 for an induction ceremony on September 26; however, that ceremony never took place and the announced wrestling personalities were never inducted formally, evident by the NWA's official website for the NWA Hall of Fame.[7][8]

The inaugural Class of 2005 was inducted throughout 2005. Wrestler Lou Thesz's posthumous induction led the class, which included wrestler Harley Race, commentator Gordon Solie, and promoters Jim Cornette, Jim Barnett, and Sam Muchnick. Commentator Lance Russell's induction led the Class of 2006 on October 13, 2006, which also consisted of wrestlers Dory Funk Jr., Eddie Graham, Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton (The Rock 'n' Roll Express), Leilani Kai, and Saul Weingeroff. On June 7, 2008, wrestler Tommy Rich's induction led the Class of 2008, which consisted of wrestlers Joe and Jean Corsica (Corsica Brothers), Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton (The Midnight Express), Nikita Koloff, The Iron Sheik, and Ric Flair. Overall there are 87 inductees, 45 inductees were inducted posthumously.

  1. ^ "NWA Hall of Fame Inductees". National Wrestling Alliance. Archived from the original on 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  2. ^ a b "Ric Flair To Accept His NWA Award". National Wrestling Alliance. Archived from the original on 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  3. ^ "2008 Class of the NWA Hall of Fame". National Wrestling Alliance. 2008-09-21. Archived from the original on 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  4. ^ "WCW Slamboree 1993". Slamboree. 1993-05-23. In Demand pay-per-view.
  5. ^ "WCW Slamboree 1994". Slamboree. 1994-05-22. In Demand pay-per-view.
  6. ^ "WCW Slamboree 1995". Slamboree. 1995-05-21. In Demand pay-per-view.
  7. ^ "Dennis Coralluzzo Invitational". NWA New Jersey. National Wrestling Alliance. 2009. Archived from the original (JPG) on 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2010-05-08. "Mr. NWA" Dennis Coralluzzo is placed in the NWA Hall of Fame
  8. ^ "NWA Announces 2 NWA Hall of Fame Inductees for 2009". National Wrestling Alliance. WrestleZone.com. 2009-07-16. Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2010-05-08.