WWE News: Harlem Heat Will Be Inducted into 2019 WWE Hall of Fame

This week’s WWE Hall of Fame news features one of the best tag teams in WCW history: Harlem Heat, consisting of brothers Stevie Ray and Booker T. This will be Booker’s second WWE Hall of Fame induction since he was inducted for his individual career in 2013 also in New York. Here’s the official announcement from WWE:

Booker T & Stevie Ray were one of the most dominant tag teams of the 1990s, steamrolling over the competition in WCW to become tag team champions on 10 occasions. Now, the brothers will be immortalized in sports-entertainment history.

Harlem Heat are the latest inductees in the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019. They’ll enter the fabled hall on the eve of WrestleMania 35, Saturday, April 6, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. With this induction, Booker T will become a two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, joining Ric Flair and fellow 2019 inductee Shawn Michaels of D-Generation X. The news was first reported by USA Today.

Bursting on the scene straight off 110th Street in Harlem, N.Y., Booker T & Stevie Ray arrived in WCW in summer 1993, bringing a streetwise, in-your-face attitude to the squared circle. They stared directly into the camera on their way to the ring, warning fans at home that they were about to bust some heads when they stepped between the ropes. And bust heads they did. Harlem Heat wasted no time in mixing it up with the top stars of WCW at the time, like Sting, Ric Flair and British Bulldog. They even joined forces with Sid and Vader to enter the unforgiving battleground known as WarGames.

It was when the brothers took on the managerial services of 2006 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee Sensational Sherri that their stars began to shine. With “Sister” Sherri in their corner, it wasn’t long before Harlem Heat captured their first WCW Tag Team Championship, defeating Stars & Stripes on WCW Saturday Night. Booker T & Stevie Ray brawled with the likes of The Steiner Brothers, Sting & Lex Luger and The Nasty Boys on their way to seven reigns as WCW Tag Team Champions.

By 1997, the two brothers went their separate ways, Stevie going on to become a trusted member of the infamous nWo, while Booker became a breakout singles star, capturing the WCW Television Title on several occasions.

The brothers are actually from Houston, Texas.

Congrats to Booker and Stevie on joining the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2019.