Former WWE Champion The Undertaker inducted Muhammad Ali into the WWE Hall of Fame. Some were unhappy about this and Taker discussed this on the “Six Feet Under” podcast. Taker said he was happy to be there and he appreciated what Ali did for sports and as a humanitarian.
On inducting Muhammad Ali, Taker said, “I was so tickled to be there and be able to induct Muhammad Ali.”
Taker addressed some of the blowback towards him because he was the person chosen to induct Ali. Taker said, “I got a little heat from part of the veteran community. For people that don’t know, Muhammad Ali refused to go into the Army. He didn’t want to go to Vietnam…he ended up losing everything. To be honest, for a large part of my life, I resented Ali over that. But the thing is when you look at everything that Muhammad did. Not even the athletic end, not even the boxing side of it but the things he did as a humanitarian. I still don’t agree with him not going. Your country asks you, you could do it. That’s how I am. But when you think about the conviction that he must have had and such a strong belief in what he thought was right, he gave up everything.”
Co-host Matt Lyda said he can separate the fact that Ali didn’t want to go into the Army and he can separate that from what he did as an athlete and as a humanitarian.
Taker agreed and he said he got a chance to talk with Ali’s wife and he asked her about Ali’s friendship with Elvis. He described her as a “sweet lady” and once it was time to give his speech, he knew that the fans were a little burned out and there was a mass exodus of people and he wanted to make sure the fans were kind to her.
During her speech, Lonnie Ali presented The Rock with the People’s Championship. Dwayne Johnson got Ali’s blessing from Ali in 1996 to call himself the People’s Champion. The Johnson and Ali family friendship goes back decades dating back to when Rocky Johnson would train with Muhammad.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
