WWE inducts William Shatner, Ozzy Osbourne into Hall of Fame celebrity wing

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- WWE honored two celebrities who have made cameos in the wrestling ring at its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony Tuesday night.

The prerecorded gala was held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, with no fans in attendance.

Since last year's ceremony was canceled due to the pandemic, members of the classes of 2020 and 2021 were inducted in one night.

Emmy-winning actor William Shatner was the first to be inducted in the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame.

Shatner has made appearances on WWE's Monday Night Raw television program, even grappling with Jerry "The King" Lawler during a "King's Court" talk show segment in 1995.

The "Star Trek" icon gave his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in a video message.

"I want to thank you for this honor," Shatner said. "I was born in Montreal and out of Montreal came many of the great wrestlers that became popular in the United States. So I follow that Montreal tradition."

Shatner said he never really wrestled, but got to throw Lawler out of the ring once.

"I claim that as a great honor," Shatner said.

The next week on Raw, Shatner would actually get involved in a match as he stood in the corner of fellow WWE Hall of Famer Bret 'The Hitman' Hart.

Osbourne, who was a celebrity guest at WrestleMania 2 in 1986, also accepted his Hall of Fame honors from home.

"Thank you so much WWE for this award; I don't deserve it," the 'Prince of Darkness' said.

Osbourne made additional appearances in WWE as a musical act on Smackdown in 2007 and Raw host in 2009.

Ozzy said, in both the wrestling and music industries, it's all about the fans.

"Our fans keep us alive. It's all about them," Osbourne said.

In addition to the celebrities, WWE also inducted legendary wrestling superstars like Kane, the New World Order (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman), Nikki and Brie Bella, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, John Bradshaw Layfield, the British Bulldog, Molly Holly, Rob Van Dam and Eric Bischoff.

While there is no physical WWE Hall of Fame, WWE holds its induction ceremony each year during WrestleMania week.

This year's WrestleMania takes place this Saturday and Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It will be the first WWE event in front of fans since March 2020.