Committee Chairman

RRHOF inductees set.

Mar 21, 2015

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony is less than a month away and the inductors have been announced for this year’s inductees.

Ringo Starr will be inducted by his fellow bandmate with the Beatles, Paul McCartney. For those of you (myself included) who thought this was a sure way to get McCartney as a prominent part of the celebration, you (we) were probably right.

The legendary Stevie Wonder will induct Bill Withers into the Hall of Fame. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen Withers name spelled without the “s” in multiple articles…a testament to the lack of knowledge from music writers these days.

Patti Smith will be inducting Lou Reed.

Peter Wolf, the lead singer of the J. Geils Band will be inducting The Paul Butterfield Blued Band. (Huh?)

Fall Out Boy (who for many are the next generation’s Green Day) will be inducting…Green Day.

Steve Cropper will be inducting the “5” Royales.

John Mayer will be inducting Stevie Ray Vaughn (Seriously?)

It has not yet been announced who will be inducting Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

Overall, there are some fairly strange inductees, but as this was a strange group of choices to begin with, why not, we suppose.

Other performers scheduled are Jimmy Vaughan, Tom Morello, Beck, John Legend, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on April 18 and will be broadcast on HBO on May 30.

Tatsumi Fujinami to the WWE HOF

Mar 20, 2015

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

The WWE Hall of Fame has announced that Japanese legend, Tatsumi Fujinami will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and become along with Antonio Inoki, the second Japanese wrestler inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Fujinami has a past history with the WWE, as he would win the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship in 1978 and would often appear for them at the fabled Madison Square Gardens and was also at the Showdown at Shea card where he successfully defended the championship against Chavo Guerrero. Internationally, Fujinami made that championship relevant in Japan, where it become one of the highest regarded Junior Heavyweight Championships in that country.

The mid 1980’s saw Fujinami move up to the heavyweight division and in 1988 he would defeat Big Van Vader for the vacated title to win his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He would hold that belt six times in total over his career as well as the IWGP World Tag Team Championship five times.

While he was known in the WWE in the late 70’s and early 80’s, his biggest mark in an American promotion was winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair in 1991 at the Tokyo Dome, though that title change was not recognized by WCW at the time and Flair would “win it back” at the main even of Superbrawl in St. Petersburg, Florida.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com applaud the WWE Hall of Fame for looking internationally and would like to congratulate Tatsumi Fujinami for receiving this honor.

Bas Rutten to the UFC HOF

May 23, 2015

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

With the revamping of the UFC Hall of Fame, we here at Notinhalloffame.com will be unveiling our first UFC list this fall. With that in mind, and with the new categories that was announced earlier in the month, UFC Owner, Dana White ahs announced (and a surprising way as he did it in person on an episode of AXS TV’s “Inside MMA”), that former champion, Bas Rutten will be inducted into the Pioneer Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.

From the Netherlands, Rutten would begin his fighting career in Muay Thai Kickboxing and would be scouted to join Pancrase, a hybrid fighting group based in Japan in 1993. The Dutchman would win the King of Pancrase three times and finish that portion of his career with a 25 – 4 – 1 record, but the United States and UFC came calling and he would join that organization in 1998.

In his second (and what would be his last) fight for UFC, he would win the UFC Heavyweight Championship but it was a title he would be unable to defend. He vacated the title to drop down to Middleweight (his more natural weight), but his past injuries would catch up to him and he would not compete in UFC again.

Still, Rutten’s charisma gave him a very successful post-MMA career which saw him not only as a television host, but garnered him movie roles and endorsements.

It had already been announced by the UFC that 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist, Jeff Blatnick will be inducted in the contributors wing. Blatnick was a commentator for UFC 4 to UFC 32 and is credited for helping to establish the modern rules of the sport and coining the term of “Mixed Martial Arts” as opposed to “No Holds Barred”, which was how it was perceived at the time.

This is a posthumous induction as Blatnick passed away in 2012 due to complications from heart surgery.

It was also announced that the Matt Hughes VS Frank Trigg fight from April 16, 2005 will be also inducted in the fight wing.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Bas Rutten for achieving this now more than ever important accolade.

Kurt Warner: 2015 HOF Finalist

Jan 29, 2015

Published in Hall of Fame Debates

Having a lot of fun doing our Baseball debates with two of my bloggers, DDT and the Phillies Archivist, I wanted to repeat the same idea with this year’s Football Finalists, but due to time constraints I will take a deeper look at each candidate myself and offer a few thoughts as to their Hall of Fame candidacy

Next, I take a look at Quarterback Head Coach, Kurt Warner.

Of the three first year eligible players (the others being Junior Seau and Orlando Pace), Kurt Warner is easily the best story. We all know the story of Warner who went from small Northern Iowa, to bagging groceries to the Arena League to the World League to Super Bowl Champion. It is an amazing story and the perfect counter to Seau’s suicide, and let’s face it…nobody carries a better Hall of Fame resume than the former Linebacker so you would think they HAVE to put him in. If Seau is a lock (and he should be) isn’t the story of Warner the one they want front and center?

Does that mean Kurt Warner is a Hall of Fame player?

I have always thought that though he is a two time MVP, and a one time Super Bowl Champion that he was on the fence for enshrinement. He had three great seasons with the Rams (1999 – 2001) where he led the NFL in Completion Percentage every season, twice in Touchdowns and twice in QB Rating. Basically, for a three year stretch he was the top QB, though he had a lot of offensive power surrounding him.

He would have two very good seasons in Arizona, taking them to a Super Bowl, but this also a man who had years of doing not much of anything, and his induction would be based on three great years, two good ones, and the rest being average to mediocre.

Accumulatively, and especially with the inflated stats that Quarterbacks are now accumulating, his 32,334 Passing Yards and 208 Touchdowns won’t seem as impressive to future generations, but what he was able to accomplish in Arizona with not nearly the help he had in St. Louis will probably put him in…especially with a story this good.