Paul Heyman to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame in first ceremony without Vince McMahon

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Paul Heyman was announced as the first inductee of the WWE’s Hall of Fame class of 2024 on Monday as the "Wiseman" will finally be honored ahead of WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia.

This year’s Hall of Fame class is one of the more intriguing ones in recent memory. It’s the first one that Paul "Triple H" Levesque, WWE’s chief content officer, will be handling without the input of Vince McMahon. The pro wrestling executive left WWE and TKO Group Holdings after he was accused of sexual misconduct – allegations McMahon has denied.

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Paul Heyman watches Cody Rhodes wrestle Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal title during WrestleMania Goes Hollywood at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on April 2, 2023. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Most of Heyman’s illustrious pro wrestling career is rooted in the rivalry he had with McMahon’s WWE when he helped start Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Heyman later worked for WWE after the company bought out ECW and has since been a managerial figure for some of the top stars in the promotion.

"It’s a terribly difficult situation for me to process," Heyman told Fox News Digital of the allegations against McMahon. "And I’m not done trying to understand it all. And therefore, I’m completely unqualified to offer anybody a proper perspective on it because I’m trying to grasp the enormity of the situation still to this moment."

The WWE began its Hall of Fame inductions in 1993, starting with Andre the Giant, and then stopped after 1996. The company restarted its classes in 2004 to coincide with WrestleMania XX. It has since evolved into a