Tatsumi Fujinami WWE Hall of Fame Induction Announced

On Tuesday, March 17, WWE taped the March 19 showing of “Smackdown,” the penultimate edition of the program prior to WrestleMania 31. During the show, WWE would announce the latest member of the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame class. The seventh confirmed member of the class is Japanese legend Tatsumi Fujinami, nicknamed “The Dragon” for his creation of the dragon suplex and dragon sleeper.

Fujinami is best known for his work in New Japan Wrestling through the years, but also had a stint with the World Wide Wrestling Federation, run by Vince McMahon Sr. There, Fujinami held both the International and Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Later on, in 1990, Fujinami rose to prominence by defeating Ric Flair for his NWA World Heavyweight Championship. With the win, Fujinami was the first person to simultaneously hold the NWA and IWGP world titles. He went on to have a title vs. title rematch with Flair at WCW’s first ever “SuperBrawl” event. Fujinami lost his NWA title to Flair, who also retained his WCW Championship in the bout.

Fujinami’s name was thrown around as a potential WWE Hall of Fame inductee a few weeks back. Though, according to F4WOnline, it was believed that Fujinami’s induction would be pushed back, up until the confirmation with the March 17 announcement.

Additionally, the website noted that Kevin Nash is still expected to be announced as the final member of the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame class.

Editor’s Note

I still expect Nash to be the eighth and final inductee. This year’s class won’t top the stacked class of last year, but is still just fine.