Quite often in the 1980’s, the WWE was able to take regional stars and break them into a National audience.  Dick Slater was not one of those fortunate ones, as the “E” totally whiffed on him turning him into a happy redneck nicknamed “The Rebel”.  Outside of Stamford, Slater was at his best as a rough heel, and he headlined regional promotions for years.  He did have multiple mid card runs in WCW and proved to be a dependable hand there.  Regardless of his misuse in WWE, Slater’s personal issues will likely prevent him from ever being considered by WWE brass.

Robert Fuller’s biggest national exposure was as the heel manager, Col. Robert Parker in WCW, but fans in Tennessee had watched Robert Fuller for well over fifteen years prior in the ring.  As the “Tennessee Stud”, Fuller ran rough shot throughout the South and even had a hand running the Continental Promotion for a spell.  Should Fuller ever get a serious look for a Hall entry, it would have to be based on his work in the South and to a lesser extent WCW, as his WWE run as Jeff Jarrett’s manager, Tennessee Lee was very much forgettable.

His WWE exposure was limited to a tag team match at Wrestlemania VII and a pair of Royal Rumble appearances but in Japan, there are few held in higher regard than Genichiro Tenyru.  Through cross promotions with the WWE, he had chances to face many of their stars in Japan with his formation of the SWS promotion.  Tenyru would later form another promotion (WAR) but on either chronological side of his own promotions, he was a huge star and multi time champion for All Japan.  Generally, Japanese stars should struggle to get into the Hall but few have the resume and WWE tie in that Tenyru has had.

Many wrestling fans got their first look at Paul Jones as the heel manager of an army of wrestlers in the NWA, but for years he was one of the top wrestlers in the Mid Atlantic and Florida regions winning multiple individual and tag team belts.  In the NWA promotions he wrestled in, he was a great utility man who could be used as a face, a heel, and any spot on the card.  Like many on this list he his handcuffed by his lack of WWE experience and that most of his in ring work was not seen by many of today’s generation.