Andy Kaufman Named to 2023 WWE Hall of Fame Class Headlined by Rey Mysterio

Late entertainer Andy Kaufman, whose feud with Jerry "The King" Lawler in the early 1980s helped push professional wrestling into the mainstream, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Joe Otterson of Variety initially reported the news on Monday. WWE confirmed it later in the day.

Kaufman is the third known member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2023, which will also include Rey Mysterio and the Great Muta.

Otterson explained how Kaufman entered the world of wrestling in his Variety piece.

"He made his mark on the world of professional wrestling, however, when he declared himself the Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World, offering money to any woman who could pin him as part of his act. This famously led to a feud with fellow WWE Hall of Famer Jerry 'The King' Lawler in the Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis, TN."

This all came to a head on April 5, 1982, when Lawler, then of the Continental Wrestling Association, challenged Kaufman to a match in Memphis.

"One fateful night, Lawler hopped in the ring to aid a downed contestant, a woman named Foxy, and Kaufman's fate was sealed: It was finally time for him to fight a man," Duncan Cooper of Vice wrote.

The two met in the ring, where Lawler issued his finisher (the piledriver) twice on Kaufman.

Nearly four months later, the two met again on Late Night with David Letterman, where Lawler famously slapped Kaufman (wearing a neck brace) and knocked him out of his chair (eight-minute mark).

It was a big moment for an industry that was regionalized throughout the United States at the time. Lawler told Gregory Leporati of GQ how much his feud with Kaufman meant at the time.

"Andy, and what he and I did, changed wrestling forever," Lawler said. "Up until Andy, wrestling was stereotyped as something you didn't want to admit you watched. And then this Hollywood star comes along and turns it into entertainment, and gave wrestling the legitimacy it always craved."

Kaufman will be honored posthumously. He passed away from lung cancer at the age of 35 in 1984.

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