WWE wrestling league unveils its newest Hall of Fame member: it’s a name that wasn’t necessarily expected
Wrestling league WWE has revealed the newest member of its 2024 Hall-of-Fame class – it’s a surprising and notable appointment.
Joining Paul Heyman, Bull Nakano, the US Express and multiple WWE guest star boxing icon Muhammad Ali, Thunderbolt Patterson is moving into the Hall of Fame.
The 82-year-old is not necessarily a household name even for many older fans, but he stands for a special legacy that goes beyond his wrestling career.
Thunderbolt Patterson: An uncomfortable wrestling star
The African-American Patterson was not only a champion for equality and against racism within the industry, but also against exploitation and for better working conditions.
Patterson campaigned for state regulation of the industry and was also an early advocate of the idea of a wrestlers’ union, which has not yet been implemented.
Many promoters considered the uncomfortable Patterson – who also actively campaigned for workers’ rights and social justice outside the ring – to be “blackballed”, an undesirable person, which slowed down his own career.
It is rather doubtful that WWE founder Vince McMahon, who retired dishonorably at the beginning of the year, would have honored Patterson as an old-school promoter. In any case, it’s hard to imagine that he would have chosen the words of the now responsible league director “Triple H” Paul Levesque
“He was a champion in the ring and he fought for the health and well-being of his colleagues outside of it,” McMahon’s son-in-law wrote on X – and further emphasized the symbolic power and signal effect of his decision: “Thunderbolt Patterson’s influence is still felt today and will get the recognition he deserves with his Hall of Fame induction. “
In the ring with The Rock’s father at WWE
Iowa native Patterson – real name: Claude Patterson – was in the ring full-time between 1964 and 1985. In his heyday – when wrestling in the USA was still regionally structured – the charismatic showman was a popular star, especially in the south of the USA.
He contested a series of successfully marketed title matches there against the then NWA World Champion Harley Race, later also a great rival of Ric Flair, among others.
Patterson is considered a role model for his legendary contemporary Dusty Rhodes. Like Rhodes, Patterson’s intense and rhetorically skillful promo speeches in the ring were influenced by African-American gospel preachers.
The late Patterson was also remembered by fans of the 1980s for his involvement in a seminal moment in wrestling history: he was a partner of the recently deceased Ole Anderson until the latter turned on him and formed a new grouping – the legendary, original “Four Horsemen” with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard.
Patterson was only active in the WWE for a very short time; in the spring of 1969, he played a small series of matches in Washington and New York for the WWWF, which was also still a regional organization at the time. Among his opponents: Rocky Johnson, the father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
