WWE today announced that ‘The Bad Man’ Stan Hansen is the latest inductee for the Class of 2016 Hall Of Fame ceremony on 2nd April 2016 in Dallas, TX.

    Stan Hansen, Borger, Texas’ nastiest resident, has been confirmed for the WWE Hall Of Fame. Hansen was known as “The Lariat”  and his journey to the ring began in West Texas State University, a factory for future wrestlers. When his football days came to an end, Hansen stepped into the squared circle and quickly earned a reputation as one of the most vicious competitors in the sport.

    Hansen’s style of wrestling was dirty, gritty and ferocious. And it worked. With an ever-present scowl on his face and his bull rope in hand, The Bad Man from Borger made his way to WWE in 1976. Hansen was hell bent on success, going straight for WWE Champion Bruno Sammartino. The double-tough Texan stunned fans when he broke The Living Legend’s neck with a devastating clothesline that would become known as ‘The Lariat.’ and be used from that moment by a number of various wrestlers, including wrestler-turned-commentator JBL, who cites Hansen as who he modelled his entire career on, Luke Harper and Dean Ambrose.

    After a rematch with Sammartino at Shea Stadium, Hansen went back to Japan, where he earned himself legendary status. One of the most feared foreigners in Japanese wrestling history, Hansen was the first gaijin to earn victories over the country’s most revered grapplers, Giant Baba and WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki. While in Japan, Hansen formed one of the most devastating tag teams in wrestling history with his old college friend, the unhinged Bruiser Brody. The cowboy and the fur-clad wildman had Japanese fans running in terror from them as they entered the ring, and had their respective opponents begging for mercy. In between trips to Japan, Hansen returned back to the USA to unleash hell on American soil.

    The Bad Man from Borger won the AWA World Championship by defeating Rick Martel in 1985. He never lost the title, choosing to vacate it by running it over with his truck. In 1990, he ended Lex Luger’s record-setting reign as United States Champion. By 1991, he exclusively competed in Japan for the next 10 years, retiring in 2001 as a decorated champion and a legend in The Land of the Rising Sun.