gold star for USAHOF

WWE Hall of Fame: The Celebrity Wing

Doesn’t it always seem that Professional Wrestling seeks the approval from the mainstream media?  For years, the pseudo sport has always used celebrities from other sports and forms of entertainment.  Some have been successful, some not so much, but the goal of every “stunt casting” was always to broaden their appeal and attract a new audience.  The WWE Hall of Fame created a celebrity wing to honor such individuals; again with the hope of attracting attention.  Currently, the “wing” only houses Baseball legend Pete Rose, and one year phenom, William “The Refrigerator” Perry.  We at NIHOF aren’t exactly thrilled with idea of a celebrity wing, but since it exists, we feel that we have come up with a list of five potential inductees for the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame.
The tradition of tying in boxing and wrestling has been a long one.  Muhammad Ali was a huge part of that stemming from his match against Antonio Inoki, confrontations with Gorilla Monsoon and other assorted appearances while he was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the…
One of the things that took the then WWF into the mainstream was its association with MTV and the “Rock and Wrestling Connection”.  The link came to them in the form of Cyndi Lauper, who in the mid 80’s was one of the biggest stars…
If there was a celebrity who totally immersed himself in wrestling more than Andy Kaufman did, we have no idea who it is.  His feud with Jerry “The King” Lawler was legendary and he played a heel better than the bulk of the WWE roster…
When the WWE began the program that saw Floyd Mayweather take on the Big Show at Wrestlemania, wrestling fans worldwide let out a collective groan.  How could this match be any good, people wondered and who did Paul Wight anger in his return to the…
Lawrence Taylor may have been the undeserving recipient of the main event match at Wrestlemania XI, but he did not embarrass himself once he got into the ring.  He did all the necessary work leading up to the match (including a very realistic beginning to…
Regis Philbin was a lot more than the guest Announcer at Wrestlemania VII. When other talk show hosts would shun wrestling, or be condescending to the performers when they were their guests. Philbin, who was a television personality for years before most people knew him…
A long time fan of professional wrestling, Shaquille O’Neal first appeared on wrestling programming when he was with Hulk Hogan when he won his first WCW World Heavyweight Title.  O’Neal would later host Monday Night Raw and most recently appeared as a surprise entrant in…
During the year where the WWE had their idiotic “Guest Host” idea for Monday Night Raw, it was evident which celebrities were fans of the product and which ones had no idea what WWE stood for. Very quickly, when Maria Menounos hosted the show, it…
Clearly a fan of professional wrestling, William Shatner has appeared on WWE television a few times, the first of which saw him teach Jerry “The King” Lawler a lesson on RAW. Shatner would actually return to induct the King into the WWE Hall of Fame,…
A major Hollywood Star (this is Wolverine after all), Hugh Jackman made multiple appearances on Monday Night Raw. His most notable appearance saw him land a right cross to WWE Superstar, Dolph Ziggler in a match, which looked more convincing than many of the punches…
A life long fan of professional wrestling and the WWE, Arrow star, Stephen Amell, parlayed his love of the business and social media to land a tag team match against Stardust and Wade Barrett at Summer Slam.  Amell proved to be quite the athlete and…
Yes we know that this man should NEVER have had the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the booking at that promotion’s timeframe could be considered among the worst in wrestling history.  Still, David Arquette’s cross promotion did bring attention to WCW and his on screen…
Those who saw him perform in the ring will never say they saw a talented in ring performer, but when Dennis Rodman competed for WCW he did so at a time when he was among the most known Basketball players in the world.  His association…
The man who portrayed “Zeus” in No Holds Barred actually had a much more notable role as “Deebo” in the Friday movie series, but for our purposes, Tom “Tiny” Lister is Zeus.  Zeus would headline Summer Slam in 1989 in a tag team match, and…
Yes, Motorhead is the favorite band of Triple H, but it is appropriate for the WWE HOF isn’t it?Lemmy and company performed at multiple Wrestlemanias and created some iconic WWE music.  The death of Lemmy might help propel the British Heavy Metal band into the…
Jon Stewart was a major star and did not have to participate in WWE television to further his own agenda.  He did in a brief “feud” with Seth Rollins while he was still hosting his late night Comedy Central Show but afterwards he appeared at…
Ronda Rousey may have been a regular visitor to WWE events, but her surprise participation at the WWE Wrestlemania in San Francisco was what the “ESPN World” paid attention to.  Based on that, she is not that far away from being a WWE Hall of…
The former Price is Right host made only one WWE Guest Host appearance on Monday Night Raw but Bob Barker arguably had the most memorable one.  Does that make him a WWE Hall of Fame inductee?  We are not sure, but this is a better…
The heavy metal god hosted Monday Night Raw (with his wife Sharon) and was arguably one of the more entertaining guest hosts they had.  Ozzy Osbourne’s 2009 Raw appearance was not his first foray into the “E”, as twenty-three years prior he appeared at Wrestlemania…
In 1995, Baywatch star, Pamela Anderson was considered the hottest woman in the world, and the WWE got her to appear at the Royal Rumble that year with the premise that she would accompany the winner to their Championship Match at Wrestlemania.  Anderson appeared at…