Former WWE Attitude Era Star Set For Rare Public Appearence

Written by Craig Ballantyne • Published 5th March 2023
WWE Attitude Era logo over roster

One of the stars of WWE’s Attitude Era will be making a rare appearance for a signing on March 11th.

Ahmed Johnsons will be signing autographs and taking photos for the Independent Superstars of Wrestling at a fundraiser for Westwood Softball in the Township of Washington, New Jersey.

The star will be joined by AEW’s Nyla Rose as well as former WCW star Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller. The event will also feature matches including IMPACT Wrestling’s Tommy Dreamer in singles action against Rick Recon.

Ahmed Johnson joined the then-WWF in 1995 and made a mark when he appeared during a brawl on the October 23rd edition of Raw, slamming Yokozuna. Johnson went on to take on the former WWF Champion’s team at Survivor Series. In the end, Johnson, Shawn Michaels, Sid, and The British Bulldog defeated Yokozuna, Razor Ramon, Owen Hart, and Dean Douglas.

This began a steady rise up the card for Johnson and at King of the Ring 1996, he defeated Goldust – now AEW’s Dustin Rhodes -to win the Intercontinental Championship, becoming the first Black champion to win the belt. At the time, many thought it was only a matter of time until he would go on to win the WWF Championship.

Unfortunately, Johnson suffered a huge setback that August when he was diagnosed with kidney problems that put him on the shelf for several months, forcing him to miss a defence of his title at SummerSlam and a WWF Championship match the night after. To add to his troubles, he also had to vacate the Intercontinental Championship.

When he returned in 1996, Ahmed Johnson feuded with the Nation of Domination led by Farooq. This included a brief partnership with The Undertaker. However, he turned on The Phenom to join the Nation himself and challenged Undertaker for the WWE Championship. Unfortunately, another injury prevented the tile match from happening. Johnson departed WWF in February 1998.

In 1999, he returned to wrestling for a brief stint in WCW as Big T, joining Booker T’s brother Stevie Ray as ‘Harlem Heat 2000’. The storyline didn’t last long and Johnson was let go from the company in the first half of 2000.

Ahmed Johnson accused Shawn Michaels of holding him back in WWE

While injuries seemed to be the main cause of Johnson’s lack of a push during the latter half of his WWF run, he believes that there was also an issue with Shawn Michaels not wanting him to reach the main event.

During an interview with Gregory Iron of Iron-On Wrestling in 2022, he spoke about the backstage politics that prevented him from winning the WWF Championship

“They didn’t want to see me pushed that high. I don’t know [why], personal reasons? I was green, I’ll say that. I was still green and learning, but I think I was ready for the world title shot. Because Shawn had the belt and everything, he basically got to pick who he was going against, he was running the show back then and he was basically picking who was going against him.”

H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.