Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Henry "Hank" Aaron, one of the all-time greatest baseball players of all time passed away this morning at the age of 86 years old according to WSB-TV in Atlanta, GA.
Aaron became the first player in Major League history with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits, and one season was one home run short of Babe Ruth's record. During his career, he was named to 25 All-Star teams and won the National League's MVP in 1957. Aaron was a major civil rights figure in the Atlanta area after the Braves team was moved to Georgia from Milwaukee.
ESPN.com featured an in-depth look at Aaron's career at this link.
Through his relationship with Ted Turner, who owned both the Braves and World Championship Wrestling, Aaron made several appearances at WCW PPVs, including presenting Sting his Battlebowl ring from winning the inaugural Battlebowl a year earlier. He also appeared at the 1994 Bash at the Beach 1994 PPV interviewed by Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.
Aaron's biggest involvement in professional wrestling, however, may have been behind the scenes as he has been connected to the end of Bill Watts' run in charge of the promotion after Watts was brought in during the summer of 1992. By early 1993, Watts was gone. While Watts has claimed he previously resigned from the company before this became an issue, sports writer Mark Madden, then writing for the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter, faxed quotes from a Watts interview with the publication, seeking Aaron's comments on Watts' discussion of racism and his views, including Watts' belief that as a business owner, he should have the right to discriminate against those of color, if he wished to do so.
Watts would later state that those who hired him to run WCW were already aware of the published comments before he was hired and the timing of the fax lined up with the timing of his resignation. Whether that is the case or not, certainly, Aaron at the very least, made his feelings known and has been credited with the pressure he placed on Turner brass leading to Watts' exit from the company.
That series of events led to the eventual hiring of Eric Bischoff at the helm of the promotion and with that, the Monday Night Wars. So, Aaron, who helped make history in baseball, may have likely changed the entire course of history of professional wrestling as well....and, as it turned out, Madden would later work for WCW as an announcer and 900-Hotline personality. Watts would never return to WCW, but later worked for WWE and was inducted into their Hall of Fame.
PWInsider.com expresses our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Hank Aaron.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
