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As we reported last week in the PWInsider Elite section, there will be five WWE Hall of Fame members total for the 2023 Class.
Officially Announced so far are Rey Mysterio, Andy Kaufman and The Great Muta. Mysterio is slated to be the headline inductee.
PWInsider.com is told that Dave Bautista will not be inducted this year. Bautista was named to the Hall of Fame in 2020 but was never officially inducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted in an interview several months back that he was hoping it would happen finally this year. However, Bautista is currently filming the latest My Spy film in South Africa, so that is the likely reason as to why it's not happening this year - logistically they couldn't have him physically in Los Angeles.
This year's women's inductee, as PWInsiderElite.com broke on 3/13, is Stacy Keibler. Keibler, 43, first entered professional wrestling after a boyfriend suggested she enter a contest World Championship Wrestling was running to add a new member of the Nitro Girls dance troupe. She was moved into a full-blown storyline character as Miss Hancock in 2000, initially with Lenny Lane and Lodi before moving into a storyline with Ric Flair, the late Shannon "Daffney" Spruill and Crowbar that included a pregnancy angle that went nowhere. Towards the end of WCW, Keibler revealed her "baby" to be Shawn Stasiak and began managing him but WCW would soon shutter. She was brought into the WWF in 2001 as part of the WCW contingent that invaded WWF. After that storyline ran its course, she managed The Dudley Boyz and challenged Trish Stratus for the WWF Women's Championship. After the initial WWF brand split of 2022, Keibler landed on the Smackdown side, where she performed as Mr. McMahon's assistant, before being linked to the late Andrew "Test" Martin and Scott Steiner as their manager, performed as "Super Stacy" with The Hurricane and the late Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i and more, remaining with the company until her run on ABC's Dancing with the Stars led to far more mainstream opportunities. On that season of Dancing, Keibler placed third for the season, but was an absolute favorite for viewers. She parlayed the run into a recurring role on ABC comedy What About Brian? several appearances on NBC's Chuck and CBS's How I met Your Mother, including a great scene where she got to slap Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney, a hosting gig for Lifetime's Supermarket Superstar and many other appearances. Keibler last appeared on a WWE broadcast in 2019, where she inducted Torrie Wilson into the WWE Hall of Fame.
For those who have asked, we are told there is no tag team being inducted this year.
Beyond Keibler, who WWE has not officially announced, there is one final member of the Hall to be revealed.
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