Batista Pulled From This Year's WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony

The Animal took to Twitter to confirm that he won't be a part of this year's WWE Hall of Fame.

by Andrew Pollard
Batista 2019
WWE

Following recent speculation, Batista has been pulled from this year’s WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony.

The Animal was due to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as the headline act of the 2020 class. But now, due to “previous obligations”, Big Dave has asked for his HOF induction to be delayed.

Earlier this week saw Batista removed from the official listings for the WWE Hall of Fame, and the HOF logo was similarly yanked from his WWE.com profile page.

Previous reports claimed that the four-time World Champion was being pulled from this year’s Hall of Fame celebration due to WWE wanting Batista to be inducted once crowds are in attendance for the Hall of Fame – which this year, they are not. Now though, the powerhouse himself is citing prior obligations as the reason for him delaying his HOF induction.

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This year’s WWE Hall of Fame will air on Tuesday 6 April, with both the 2020 and 2021 classes being inducted at the same time. For the 2020 class, that now consists of Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger, Davey Boy Smith, Brie and Nikki Bella, JBL and the nWo quartet of Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. As for the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame class, the names announced so far are Molly Holly and Eric Bischoff – with Rob Van Dam rumoured to be soon added to that class.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.