One of the things that took the then WWF into the mainstream was its association with MTV and the “Rock and Wrestling Connection”.  The link came to them in the form of Cyndi Lauper, who in the mid 80’s was one of the biggest stars of the music world.  Her celebrity helped reach new fans and there were only a few performers who were big enough at the time who could have given them this kind of MTV exposure.  She was far more instrumental to help taking the WWF big time then she got credit for.

If there was a celebrity who totally immersed himself in wrestling more than Andy Kaufman did, we have no idea who it is.  His feud with Jerry “The King” Lawler was legendary and he played a heel better than the bulk of the WWE roster today.  Kaufman loved the business so much he pursued it at the detriment of his own career.  An induction to the Hall would be a nice posthumous gesture to someone who loved wrestling so much.

The tradition of tying in boxing and wrestling has been a long one.  Muhammad Ali was a huge part of that stemming from his match against Antonio Inoki, confrontations with Gorilla Monsoon and other assorted appearances while he was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World.  After he retired, Ali was the special referee at the original Wrestlemania, and even in his weakened state has still been a friend to the business as evidenced by his appearance at Collision in Korea and Halloween Havoc 1994.  Ali lived up to his moniker as the greatest and for a man who has earned so much respect in the sports world he has shown it back to the wrestling.  It is difficult to put any other celebrity above him.