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.

It could easily be argued that Lance Storm was one of the top technical wrestlers of whatever promotions he was in.  Considering that he competed in ECW, WCW and the WWE, the above statement becomes even more impressive.  Lance Storm had main even talent but he was mainly used in the mid card.  This isn’t to denigrate what he accomplished in the ring (as few reach the elite level), but he was such a natural talent that excelled at making people look good while making a victory over him seem important.  Few could do that, though if “we could be serious for a moment”, we would have loved to have seen him in a World Title program.  He deserved that opportunity.

Some have argued that Chris Adams’ greatest contribution to wrestling was training a young Steve Austin.  We will argue against it as the “Gentleman” was a major star in World Class and a part of the some of the most memorable angles of that promotion’s history.  With his spectacular “superkick” and ability to work as a pure baby face or despicable heel, Chris Adams did well in both Dallas and Memphis.  Adams however he was basically a jobber in WCW and had many personal demons that would eventually do him in.  A posthumous induction seems unlikely at this stage.

A legitimate Olympian who competed for the United States in the 1968 Olympics, Bob Roop translated amateur credibility to a professional one.  Roop competed for the Grahams in Florida for the bulk of his career and though he held their Heavyweight Championship three times and was a technical marvel, he may have achieved his greatest notoriety as Kevin Sullivan’s crazy henchman in his Army of Darkness stable.  If the WWE Hall of Fame was just based on wrestling workrate, Roop would be in, but we know that this is not the primary criteria for it.