We are positive that we are not the only ones who wish that Dan Spivey did not retire in 1995.  This was the year that he returned to the WWE as ‘Waylon Mercy”, which was a persona that he held only for months but is still talked about as one of the greatest “what ifs?” in wrestling history today.  Prior to that, Spivey established his skills in All Japan and in WCW, though in the later he was never able to escape the shadows of other big men mostly that of his Skyscraper partner, Sid Vicious; even though he carried the workload for a then very green Sid.  Had Spivey’s Waylon Mercy character lasted longer, he could have been easily on a Hall of Fame path.

Chris Kanyon started off his WWE run well, but he fizzled out to enhancement status by the end.  This was a shame as although he was not a main eventer in WCW, he was at least allowed to showcase his ample skills.  Kanyon developed an offensive move set that defined innovation and more often than not he would usher a move that had never been seen before. Kanyon would later claim that he was let go by the WWE because of his homosexuality.  Whether that is true or not will remain a mystery, but Kanyon would later commit suicide do to inabilities to deal with his depression.

With all respect to James Dudley, the first real African American manager of note in the WWE was “The Doctor of Style”, Slick.  The jive talking street hustler was one of the more fun characters, but he was rarely paired with a wrestler who complimented his style.  Slick had a decent run, but it has to be wondered if an updated version of his character (even though there is no real manager of note today) could take off better now.

The Great Kabuki may have only competed one match for the WWE (The Royal Rumble in 1994) but he had competed in multiple promotions in the United States long before his lone match for Vince McMahon.  Kabuki was of course always cast as a heel (as all Japanese or like looking performers were from his era), but he holds the claim to fame for popularizing the “Asian Mist” in wrestling.  Kabuki did do well in his native Japan as well as the U.S., though this will not likely be enough to make him the next Japanese wrestler inducted.