Ric Flair claims Dennis Rodman wanted him to induct the former Detroit Pistons star.
Hours before WWE WrestleMania 42, NBA and WCW veteran Dennis Rodman was inducted into the 2026 Hall of Fame’s celebrity wing.
On April 17, 2026, Rodman was inducted by Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash into the WWE Hall of Fame. However, speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ric Flair claimed that Rodman wanted Flair to induct him instead.
“Dennis Rodman called me and said, ‘Will you induct me into the Hall of Fame?’ I sent it to the power that be, ‘Dennis wants (me to induct him).’ I never got a call back. I’m very happy for Kevin and Sean. I never got a call back,” Flair narrated.
One of the NBA’s most colorful personalities of all time is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
It was confirmed today that Dennis Rodman — who worked multiple WCW matches in the 1990s as a member of the nWo — will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 42 weekend. The 2026 HOF class now consists of Stephanie McMahon, AJ Styles, Demolition (Ax & Smash), and Rodman with more to be announced.
The announcement of Rodman going into the Hall of Fame was made by Shams Charania, who is ESPN’s top basketball insider.
Crossover: Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April, per ESPN sources. Rodman made his WCW debut in 1997 and famously skipped a practice during the 1998 NBA Finals for a wrestling match alongside Hulk Hogan. Two HOFs for Rodman.
Rodman was involved with WCW Bash at the Beach in both 1997 and 1998. He teamed with Hulk Hogan both times, including facing off against fellow basketball legend Karl Malone & Diamond Dallas Page in a highly publicized bout the latter year.
In 2020, WWE produced an Untold documentary on Rodman’s crossover into pro wrestling. Rodman later made a couple of AEW appearances in 2023 and was in The Acclaimed’s corner at that year’s All Out pay-per-view in Chicago.
Rodman is one of the NBA’s greatest rebounders of all time and is best known for his stints on the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. He played an important role in the 1990s Bulls dynasty alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
The 2026 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is being held at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas on the night of Friday, April 17.
Dennis Rodman will be in the corner of The Acclaimed when they defend the Trios Championship at All Out.
An angle took place on Saturday’s Collision between Rodman, The Acclaimed, and Jeff Jarrett & his group. After Rodman appeared in front of the crowd, Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, Karen Jarrett, and Jay Lethal came out and asked Rodman to join their group. After Rodman shoved Dutt down, Jarrett’s group surrounded the ring when The Acclaimed made the save. The trio then challenged Jarrett’s group to a match for Sunday’s All Out Zero Hour pre-show, saying that Rodman will be in their corner.
The Acclaimed have been champions for nearly a week, winning the titles back at All In when they defeated The House of Black.
Two other matches have been added to the All Out Zero Hour. An Over Budget Charity Battle Royal will take place, with the winner giving $50,000 to the charity of their choice. A women’s trios match has also been added, with Willow Nightingale, Sky Blue, and Hikaru Shida taking on Athena, Mercedes Martinez, and Diamante.
Here’s the updated card for All Out:
AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy defends against Jon Moxley
Strap match: Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks
TBS Championship: Kris Statlander defends against Ruby Soho
TNT Championship: Luchasaurus vs. Darby Allin
ROH Tag Team Championship: Adam Cole & MJF defend against Alex Reynolds & John Silver
ROH Television Championship: Samoa Joe defends against Shane Taylor
Eddie Kingston & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta
Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita
FTR & The Young Bucks vs. Bullet Club Gold
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Miro
Zero Hour, Trios Championship: The Acclaimed & Daddy Ass defend against Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Satnam Singh
Zero Hour: Willow Nightingale, Hikaru Shida, and Sky Blue vs. Athena, Mercedes Martinez, and Diamante
A Chicago Bulls legend will be making an appearance when Collision takes place from the United Center this Saturday night.
AEW has announced that Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman will appear on Saturday’s episode of Collision. Rodman won three NBA championships while playing for the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.
Rodman crossed over into pro wrestling during that period, competing in three pay-per-view matches for WCW. He was a member of the nWo during his WCW stint.
AEW wrote: “What will happen when the unpredictable @NBA Hall Of Famer #theWorm @dennisrodman returns to the @UnitedCenter, TOMORROW when Saturday Night #AEWCollision is LIVE from Chicago?!? Don’t miss Saturday Night Collision LIVE!8pm ET/7pm CT on @tntdrama!”
Rodman is also appearing at Starrcast VI, which is taking place in conjunction with all Out weekend. The United Center is hosting Collision this Saturday and All Out this Sunday.
Here’s everything that’s been announced for Saturday’s Collision episode:
Ricky Starks to challenge Ricky Steamboat to a strap match at All Out
Dax Harwood vs. Jay White
World Trios Champions Max Caster, Anthony Bowens & Billy Gunn defend against Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker
Saraya, Toni Storm & Ruby Soho vs. Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander
Basketball Hall of Famer and occasional professional wrestling personality Dennis Rodman will be featured on a new episode of WWE Untold later this month.
The Rodman episode of the documentary-style series will premiere on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, March 22. It will cover Rodman & Hollywood Hogan’s match against Karl Malone & DDP from WCW Bash at the Beach 1998.
WWE.com wrote about the Untold episode:
NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman will discuss his headline-making foray into sports-entertainment on the next episode of the WWE Network original series WWE Untold.
Rodman piqued the curiosity of sports fans worldwide in the late 1990s when he entered the WCW ring as a member of the New World Order. Although Rodman made multiple appearances over a two-year span, perhaps none transfixed onlookers more than WCW Bash at the Beach 1998, where he teamed with nWo leader Hollywood Hogan to battle Diamond Dallas Page and another basketball luminary, Karl Malone, mere months after Rodman’s Chicago Bulls defeated Malone’s Utah Jazz in that year’s NBA Finals.
Now, for the first time ever, Rodman will tell his version of events, providing never-before-heard details about that marquee match and much more.
WWE wrote that the show will also include new interviews with Hogan, DDP, and Eric Bischoff.
The most recent new episode of Untold was 36 minutes long and focused on Rey Mysterio, his Royal Rumble win from 2006, and his friendship with Eddie Guerrero.
When you play the celebrity game, there is a risk. There’s the risk the media and the public won’t get interested and the deal becomes a money loser. And there’s the risk that even if they do, trying to get outsiders, even if they are great athletes, to do a cram course in pro wrestling won’t result in a good match. But there is the upside. While Hulk Hogan would have been one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling history without Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T, without question the rub off of them helped catapult Hogan to a higher level of mainstream consciousness. Antonio Inoki would have been one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling history without Muhammad Ali, but if he wasn’t a household name in Japan before their fight, he certainly has been for all of the past 22 years since their fight. And their fight, was the ultimate in the risk not paying off and what the repercussions of that are, short-term disaster and stuff that long-term legends are created from.
But as society has changed, so have the athletes. The biggest risk today isn’t so much of a bad buy rate, or lack of media attention to sell it to the general public, or even of a bad match. The risk is, will the celebrity show up, and if he does, will he feel he’s so high and mighty that what he’s doing is a joke.
Enter Dennis Rodman. Jake Roberts used to repeat the fable every time he turned heel. It went something like this. You see a wounded snake that’s about to die. You save its life, you nurse it back to health and you treat it as a friend. It becomes your best friend. And one day out of nowhere, the snake bites you. You ask the snake, after all I did for you, why did you bite me? The snake responded, the first time you picked me up, you knew I was a snake.
Rodman is Rodman. In another age, he’d be considered something entirely different. Sure, some of his actions are largely an exercise is self-promotion. And some, like blowing off practice in the middle of the playoffs are something different. But he can get away with it. Because he can play. Actually, that is probably not a lot different from what would have happened in a previous generation except the media would have covered it up as in covering for him in those days rather than making a huge issue of it and thus making him more of a celebrity for it these days. But in this generation, doing things like that also make one a hero. He’s cool. He does what he wants. So WCW invests a ton of money in him. And last year, at the height of his celebrityhood, instead of using a football player or a boxer, athletes who have the rep of being tough, they tried a basketball player. He helped the buy rates a little on two shows, although not nearly as much as revisionist history from people who know nothing about pro wrestling seem to think. He didn’t help TV ratings one bit last year, nor one bit this year, and this year they needed it. But he was a success, because by being associated with WCW, it strengthened the WCW name probably to a level very close to equal the name brand of the WWF when it comes to pro wrestling. The fact his first match was something of a miracle was well and good for wrestling fans but it wouldn’t have mattered that much either way. Overall in the giant scheme of things, it was a success and the fact the match quality was surprising had very little to do with it.
