Ahmed Johnson became the first-ever African American to win a singles championship in WWE. As of 2018, 234 inductees are in the WWE Hall of fame.
“Yes, I think being the first African American Intercontinental Champion, I think I deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame,” Johnson stated during a guest appearance on the Iron-On Wrestling Podcast with Gregory Iron.
Ahmed believes a big reason this hasn’t happened yet, is how sour his relationship with WWE was before he left. He missed out on an event the night after his last appearance in 1998 because she got a call that his sister was very ill.
Johnson reportedly spoke to Vince McMahon about going home to see his sister, in bad health. However, Johnson never provided specifics surrounding why he had to go home. McMahon, not knowing the details of Johnson’s reasoning, retaliated and refused to allow Johnson to return back to WWE since.
“I wish I could’ve left in a different way,” Ahmed Johnson said. “… The only thing I say when I regret it … I didn’t tell Vince the real story because growing up like I grew up, as you did, we don’t tell people our problems. Most of our problems, we suck them up and deal with them in a little ball inside of us and let it just fester in there. I wish I would’ve told Vince the real deal about why I was leaving.”
Regrettably, Johnson only had a four-year WWE tenure. However, he is widely remembered for his time as the IC Champion and his run with the Nation of Domination. He believes that McMahon had planned for him to win the WWE Championship but he has a harsh claim stating that Shawn Michaels did not want him to win because he thought it wasn’t “time for a black man to be World’s Champion.”
