Abdullah the Butcher has been announced as the sixth entrant into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011. The 2011 Hall of Fame ceremony will be held on April 2, 2011 in the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, the night before WrestleMania XXVII.
He joins Shawn Michaels, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, “Bullet” Bob Armstrong, Sunny and celebrity wing inductee Drew Carey as previously announced inductees for the Class of 2011.
In an effort to globalize the WWE Hall of Fame into more of a universal pro wrestling Hall of Fame, the company has been inducting wrestlers into their Hall who have never even worked for the company. Much like “Bullet” Bob Armstong, Abdullah the Butcher is one of those talents.
The Butcher debuted way back in 1958, making him a staggering 50-plus year veteran of the industry. He created the Butcher character in the early 1960s, portraying the character of an evil Arabian sadist. Nicknamed “The Madman from Sudan,” Abdullah never spoke English and was handled by a top manager of the day. He was the definition of a traveling nomad, as he never stayed in one wrestling territory for a long period of time.
He was also a true pioneer of the “hardcore” style of wrestling that has become so overdone and passé in today’s wrestling environment. He rarely worked a traditional match featuring holds and counter holds. Rather his bouts quickly degenerated into wild brawls, filled with blood, foreign objects and mayhem. This led to him being one of the most legitimately feared wrestlers in the industry and a true draw for any territory he worked. His style and look made it easy for him to be brought into a territory by a top villain or manager to take out the top hero for a short spell before moving on to a new location. This style always kept Abdullah in high demand, kept a cloud of mystery and novelty surrounding him and never caused him to wear out his welcome or be exposed as a worker.
The Butcher was a true international superstar. In addition to working all over the United States, he was notorious in Canada, Japan, Europe, Australia and especially Puerto Rico. He won regional championships everywhere he went but never stuck around long enough to become a World Heavyweight Championship in anywhere he worked.
His last major exposure was in 1991 when he worked in World Championship Wrestling alongside Cactus Jack. In true Abdullah fashion he didn’t stick around long and was back to roaming the independents and territories before long. Even has he entered his sixties he continued to work around the world, including brief stops in ECW in 1993 and even a stop in Ring of Honor in 2002.
Even as his career has wound down in later part of the last decade, he has continued to make appearances through the independent circuit and in both Puerto Rico and Japan, two places where he is still treated like a god.
Abdullah has partly been the inspiration for every hardcore icon, unpredictable wild man, super heavyweight monster and foreign menace that has come after him. Everyone from Kevin Sullivan to Cactus Jack to Kamala to Sabu and everyone in between owe a debt of gratitude to the Madman. Even though he never stepped foot in a WWE ring, his fifty plus year resume of credentials sure makes him a fitting candidate for Hall of Fame.
In addition, Abdullah and his restaurant, “Abdullah’s House of Ribs & Chinese Food” is stationed in Atlanta, which surely guarantees that the big man will be on hand to accept his induction personally. For long time fans it will be a treat and a shock to see him out of his traditional high waist judo pants and Keffiyeh into a suit and tie and speaking English.
No one has been announced as the one to induct him into the Hall yet, but surely one of his great opponents like Terry Funk or Dusty Rhodes will be there to do the honors for him.
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