Antioch High Alum Ricky Morton Picked For WWE Hall Of Fame

ANTIOCH, TN — Antioch High School alumnus Ricky Morton will be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in April during WrestleMania festivities in Orlando.

Morton, who played football for the Bears between 1972 and 1974, will be inducted as a member of the legendary Rock 'N' Roll Express along with long-time tag team partner Robert Gibson. The pair won four NWA/WCW Tag Team Titles, as well as numerous belts in territorial and independent promotions.

Morton, who was born in Nashville and got his start wrestling in the Memphis promotion, is well-known for perfecting a certain role in tag matches: that of the usually undersized, good-looking good guy who takes abuse from his opponents, pulling the crowd into the match until he can tag in his typically larger partner to take care of business and turn the tide of the match. That part of the formula is known as being the "face in peril," but so memorable were Morton's performances in that role that it is now just as likely to be called "playing Ricky Morton."

Morton and Gibson were engaged in numerous memorable feuds with other top tag teams of the era in the 1980s, including the Midnight Express and Ric Flair and The Four Horseman. Flair, famously, taunted Morton by saying his fans were "teenyboppers in training bras."

Morton and Gibson still work, primarily on the independent circuit, primarily so Morton can work off tens of thousands of dollars in child support. Recently, they appeared in the "Tag Team Apocalypto" match on Nashville-based promotion TNA's Impact.

Image via Ricky Morton, used under Creative Commons