Is anyone really surprised?  Rather than face what would have been a 100 game suspension for violation of the MLB drug policy, Manny Ramirez retired today from the Tampa Bay Rays.  Statistacally, Ramirez has few equals.  He leaves the game with 555 career Home Runs and a whopping career OPS of .996, and there is nobody that can question his on-field credentials for a bust in Cooperstown.  But we all know that it does not work that way does it?

It has been made very clear what the baseball writers stance is on PED users.  Mark McGwire's HOF support dipped below 20 percent, and Rafael Palmeiro couldn't get half of that.  Both of those athletes were considered HOF locks at one point too, and now they are both as far as Mario Mendoza.  Ramirez is arguably a better player than both of them, but the man who helped propel the Red Sox to their first World Series win in over 80 years seems like a distant memory.  After forcing his way out of Boston, Los Angeles and getting caught twice (the first player to do so) using PEDs, it seems like Ramirez' HOF chances have gone the way of McGwire of Palmeiro.  We always knew he was eccentric, but finishing a career with a 1 for 17 span with winless Tampa Bay was not what anyone expected.  Sadly, there will be many who will say that this how his career deserved to end. 

With the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony being held tonight, we here at notinhalloffame thought we would take a look at the complete class.  We have inductions here that absolutely delight us, suprise us, baffle us and disgust us.  Of course, why should this class be any different than any other year?

#3 Shawn Michaels

We kind of thought he would be going in this year.  The Heartbreak Kid lost his retirement match to the Undertaker at last year's Wrestlemania and despite the multitude of grapplers who have claimed to call it a career, we really believe Michaels.  There is little reason to list his resume here, and we don't think an argument could be made against this induction.

#4 The Road Warriors

Again, there can be no argument about this duo.  We had them as our highest rated tag team and it can be claimed they were the most important pairing of all time.  They held titles everywhere, but not that often.  Frankly they never needed belts to be over, and many fans just assumed they could take them whenever they wanted.  This was an induction we thought may never occur as both Animal & Hawk (especially Hawk) have said many derogatory things against Vince McMahon, but so have others who have appeared in the WWE Hall of Fame.   The real question here should be what took so long!

#43 Abdullah the Butcher

This one shocked us!  It is not that we don't feel that this induction is warranted (it is), but considering that Abdullah had no real WWE experience, his induction really caught us by surprise.  A true Hardcore and International superstar, Abdullah the Butcher makes a welcome induction to the WWE Hall of Fame.

#59 "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan

Hoooooooooooo!  The Hacksaw was a great upper mid card face for years in the WWE, and though his WCW tenure was not at the same place on the card, he remained over with the fans.  He was not a technical star, nor was he ever a World Champion, but the hard nosed brawler worked the everyman American gimmick effortlessly for decades.  We are fine with this induction.

#103 Sunny

Okay....we don't exactly hate this induction.  When they call Sunny the original Diva it was no misnomer; she really was.  Our issue is that if a non wrestling female is to get into the Hall, it should be Elizabeth.  Of course, you can't induct her without inducting Randy Savage, and that is entirely other can of worms that we open up on a different page on this site. 

#131 Bob Armstrong

When they announced that Wrestlemania was going to be held in Atlanta many fans and websites speculated that the 2011 Class would be peppered with WCW stars.  The speculation had a lot of merit, as Atlanta was the home of the former top promotion and there were many great names that could be chosen with a heavy WCW pedigree.  This list would include Arn Anderson (who works with the WWE today), Lex Luger (who was even featured on a "where are they now" on wwe.com), Barry Windham, Tully Blanchard or Diamond Dallas Page.  There was talk of the Four Horseman going as a whole, and even the possibility of Bill Goldberg as a "WCW" representative.

They didn't go that route and instead went full on Georgia with "Bullet" Bob Armstrong.  The Bullet was a very good wrestler and was behind the scenes in many regional promotions, but this is hardly worthy of the "Georgia" or "Promoter" inductee that usually populates a class.  Nothing agianst Armstrong, but they could have done better.

#150 Paul Ellering

Let's call it what it is....a throw in with the Road Warriors.  No offense, Paul.

Unranked: Drew Carey

It is bad enough that there is a celebrity wing.  It is even worse that the wing they do have is made of three people who have a combined WWE experience of being beat up by Kane (twice), a sloppy battle royal and a handful of funny backstage moments at two consecutive Wrestlemanias.  However, it is down right pathetic that two minutes (unadvertised) in a Royal Rumble match is Hall of Fame material.  Drew Carey is hands down the worst entrant to the Hall (which says a lot), and while we understand that the WWE wishes to emphasize the "E" in their acronym, they can do WAY BETTER THAN THIS.   Begin the countdown for Snooki's induction in ten years.

With all of that gang, we have some work to do to revise this list for the next year.  We figure it will take us about three to four weeks.  Who should move up, who should move down, and who new would you like to see?

Let us know!!!!

What A Rush!

Now we're talking.  After a few suspect announcements for the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame Class, our highest rated Tag Team, The Road Warriors have been announced to the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011.   We had them ranked at #4, which makes two of top 10 (along with #3 selection, Shawn Michaels) selected this year.   We were worried about this class....we are not anymore.