Last week we celebrated Star Trek’s William Shatner as he marked his 90th birthday. One of Shatner’s many facets is his connection to professional wrestling. And now his contribution to wrestling is being honored.
Add Wrestling Hall of Famer to Bill’s resume
On April 6th, William Shatner will take his rightful place in the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame alongside William “Refrigerator” Perry, Bob Uecker, Drew Carey, Mike Tyson, Mr. T, Kid Rock, Snoop Dogg, Donald Trump, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
William Shatner has had many iconic moments on WWE, dating back to the mid-90s and his infamous feud with Jerry “The King” Lawler. Eventually, the pair buried the hatchet when Shatner returned to WWE in 2007 to induct “The King” into the WWE Hall of Fame. Shatner also returned as a guest host in 2010, when he delivered a dramatic interpretation of several Superstar entrance themes, as only he could do. In addition, Shatner was also the narrator for the WWE Network reality series “WWE Breaking Ground.”
Shatner confronts Lawler in 1995 on Monday Night RAW (WWE)
Speaking to USA Today, Shatner called the honor “fantastic” and drew a comparison to his most famous role:
“It’s very much the same, the approbation, the joy. The enthusiasm the wrestling audience shows toward its favorite people is not dissimilar to the enthusiasm ‘Star Trek’ fans show.”
Shatner went further, suggesting he missed an opportunity:
“I’m going to admit it now: I missed a career when ‘Star Trek’ was over. I should have gone into wrestling as Captain Kirk.”
Don’t miss William Shatner take his place in the WWE Hall of Fame during the 2021 Induction Ceremony, streaming next Tuesday, April 6, on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.
Shatner hosts Monday Night RAW in 2010 (WWE)
Shatner vs. Lawler
To promote the premiere of the TV series TekWar on the USA Network, Shatner appeared on a regular Monday Night Raw segment called the “Kings’ Court” with wrestler Jerry Lawler in 1995. After hurling a few insults back and forth, Shatner monkey-flipped Lawler right out of the ring while fellow Canadian hero Bret “The Hitman” Hart cheered him on.
1/9/95: William Shatner gets into it with Jerry Lawler on WWF Monday Night Raw.
Bret Hart then wanders out as well. pic.twitter.com/jMIk16yDXB
— OVP – Retro Wrestling Podcast (@ovppodcast) January 9, 2021
After the fallout from the Kings’ Court the previous week, a match was made between Hart and Jeff Jarrett, with Shatner in Hart’s corner and The Roadie in Jarrett’s. At the end of the match, things got physical for the Starfleet captain when he slammed the Roadie’s face into the turnbuckle, threw him over the top rope and out of the ring. Hart and Shatner stood victorious as the USA Network executives were basking in the glow of their newest hit, TekWar. Unfortunately, much like Shatner’s early WWF career, TekWar didn’t last very long.
Bill sings wrestler themes
After a 15-year hiatus, Shatner was back in 2010 to guest host an episode of Monday Night RAW, which included an on-air role as an authority figure. In the most memorable moment, Bill sang a compilation of WWE Superstar entrance theme songs including Shawn Michaels’s “Sexy Boy” and John Cena’s “The Time is Now.”
On that same RAW for one backstage segment during a disagreement between wrestlers, Shatner stepped in as the RAW Match Negotiator, a nod to his infamous Priceline character. In the 3-minute segment, he was not only able to promote Priceline but his BIO series Shatner’s Raw Nerve as well as the Hollywood charity horse show. Since he’s always such a good sport, they made fun of his proclivity to over-promote.
Check out more on William Shatner in the WWE.
Congrats to Mr. Shatner. Am going to have to watch the ceremony this year!
I don’t appreciate the fans of Star Trek being compared to the knuckle-dragging crayon-chewing fanatics of the wrestling world.
Agreed. Wrestling is the lowest dregs of entertainment.
Don’t judge it too harshly… wrestling didn’t do an episode where Quark got a sex change just to fool a soda magnate. Or where the captain and navigator turned into lizards and humped and had a bunch of baby lizards :P
There are around 800 Star Trek episodes. You can count on one hand how many episodes are as bad as the ones you’re describing. Wrestling, on the other hand, has no merit.
It’s a perfectly valid form of populist theater. I used to watch it as a child and I can think of classic wrestling moments with more compelling drama than that found on some episodes of the show from which your namesake derives.
The show from which my namesake derives? My screen name is based on a line from the Duran Duran song “Rio,” because my last name is Rios.
Great tune, there.
Personally, I’m not a fan of wrestling, but who are you to make the rules on what or what not has merit? People like different things.
Who tried to make a rule? Relax, kid.
Although some posit that Star Trek lost its supposed cachet of intellectual superiority with the advent of [redacted] and [redacted] and enterprises such as [redacted] and [redacted] now featured on [redacted] plus.
Cute, Vice Admiral Nakamura. Just the idea of Shatner having once acting in movies with Spencer Tracy, and then being typecast as Captain Kirk in Star Trek. If Shat had tumbled to doing the wrestling thing after that, he NEVER would have made the return to film. Shatner talking as if he might have taken to the wresting world, it diminishes his legacy and embarrasses us all.
Elitist?
It’s easier to enjoy when you realize it’s all acting and fiction rapidly rewritten just off camera to accommodate ever-changing facts on the ground. It’s been said that wrestling writers would win Emmys but wrestling refuses to admit they exist.
Legend! I can’t stand WWE but it is a source of banter on occasions.
Every time i see him i’m on total awe of his appearance. How is it possible that a 90 year old guy looks younger than many people in their sixties. Crazy.
Easy – he’s probably had work done ;)
When you hit a certain age that work is easy to spot. Other than his hair this is just Shatner 90.
Its because he’s William Shatner
If you spent your vacations in Risa every year, you’d look young as well.
In another reality we’re waiting on TekWar Generations around now
“These are not idiots… these are the people that watch TekWar!” Classic Shat moment.
Haha William Shatner is the man!
That’s how much respect / understanding Shatner has of Trek fans. Nice to see, though, that he has two lovely ladies to hold him up.
They could have done one match — Shatner dressed as Kirk against someone dressed as a Gorn.
Not a fan of wrestling in the slightest.
But I will say again, if I am half as active as he is when I reach his age I will consider it a success.
He should’ve snuck in a least one Kirk karate chop
I wonder if Bill ever did one of his famous drop kicks in a WWE match.