17-time MLB All-Star Pete Rose, who had a special connection to WWE in the late 90s, has passed away at 83. News of his passing was confirmed on Monday evening by TMZ. ABC reported that no signs of foul play were found, and his cause of death will be determined by a coroner.
While Rose is best known for shattering many of MLB’s all-time statistics, including most career hits, he never joined the Baseball Hall of Fame due to a massive gambling controversy that landed him on the league’s permanent ineligibility list. ESPN has described him as “embattled,” being a highly notable figure in the sport but not one that was without huge scandals.
Just a few years after he took his last at-bat for the Cincinnati Reds, Rose had a brief yet notable string of appearances in WWE programming.
At Wrestlemania XIV in 1998, Rose served as a special guest ring announcer for a singles match between Kane and The Undertaker. As part of his appearance, he took a Tombstone Piledriver from Kane.
A year later he attempted to get revenge on Kane during his Wrestlemania XV match against Triple H. However, he was given a piledriver for his troubles once again.
The storyline continued to Wrestlemania 2000, where Rose failed for a third time to interfere in Kane’s tag match alongside Rikishi against X-Pac and Road Dogg.
In 2004, Rose became the first-ever person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s Celebrity Wing. Rose would make a few more sporadic appearances over the next decade, including as guest general manager of Monday Night Raw in 2010.
