Current WWE Inductees
When Ray Traylor first emerged on the national scene it was a large suit clad bodyguard, Big Bubba Rogers. When he arrived to the WWF, he donned the gimmick of a sadistic prison guard (a job he actually had) and achieved his best success.
We are trying to think of a time when Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat had a bad match with anybody. We couldn’t. When you combine that fact with a near twenty year body of work, you know you are talking about someone special. He never won the world title for the WWE, but he did capture…
The WWE Hall of Fame inducted Antonio Inoki, who might lay claim as the greatest Japanese wrestler of all time. However, he was not the most important, that would be Rikidozan, who is not only the “Father of puroresu” but the man who helped restore pride to the Japanese after World War II.
Following in the footsteps of a successful family is never easy, but Rikishi (as Fatu) was able to carve his own path with his cousin, Samu to create the Samoan SWAT Team (later the Headshrinkers) and win multiple tag team titles. That alone would make it a successful wrestling career, but after multiple attempts Solafu…
Rob Van Dam never won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship (in the original promotion anyway), but he was without question one of the best wrestlers ever to star for Paul Heyman’s renegade promotion and one who will always be synonymous with the promotion.
The father of the “Most Electrifying Man on Sports Entertainment” was quite charismatic himself. With his quick jabs and Ali shuffle, Rocky Johnson captured many regional championships (mostly in tag teams) and would capture Tag Team gold in the WWF along with Tony Atlas. Johnson was an excellent mid card talent who had a very…
It is very sad that it took until 1992 for Professional Wrestling to finally have their first African American World Champion. That man was the College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Ron Simmons, whose brute strength and quiet charisma made him an excellent choice for that honor. A star in WCW and in the WWE,…
Say what you want about the win loss record of S.D. “Special Delivery” Jones, but it was his job to be a baby face enhancement worker who always put up a good fight before eventually going down to defeat. Jones did this job admirably for years and it was because of selfless people like him,…
As one of the first African American stars in the industry, Sailor Art Thomas was a popular star who received many World Championship Title Matches in the early 60’s. The American wrestling world was not ready to embrace a black Heavyweight Championship, though had evolved to the point where they could cheer him in the…
Scott Hall may be another name in the discussion of “best wrestler never to win a World Championship”, though few would have thought based on his first eight years in the business that he would be World Championship material.
Immortalized in plastic by both the WWE and GI Joe, Sgt. Slaughter cornered the market on the military gimmick in wrestling. He had major runs in multiple promotions and was successful regardless of whether he was pandering to fans to antagonizing them. Slaughter’s lone WWF World Title was as an Iraqi sympathizer and it is…
The Icon. The Main Event. The Showstopper. The Heartbreak Kid. Mr. Wrestlemania. Every nickname that Shawn Michaels bestowed upon himself was boisterous and reeked of an arrogance that seemed impossible for a man to live up to. The amazing thing was that he was that good and lived up to every moniker that was associated…
An anti-establishment star before anyone really knew what that was; Sputnik Monroe was considered to be the most interesting character of the Memphis territory, which may say it all! Monroe was surly, a heavy drinker, and a unique looking figure with his gruff exterior and shock of white hair down the middle of his head.
The state of Texas has given wrestling superstar after superstar, though none of them could have been a better brawler than Stan “The Lariat” Hansen. Nobody played the part of a deranged cowboy better than he did either.
Although he was considered a transitional champion (bridging the WWF World Championship by beating Pedro Morales and losing the title to Bruno Sammartino a week later), you have to be considered a solid wrestler to have been given the strap in the first place.
Considering how many Tag Team titles that Stevie Ray won, it is initially inconceivable that he seems to have little shot for the Hall of Fame, but despite being the larger of the two brothers (with Booker T) in Harlem Heat, he was not half the wrestler that Booker was.
As of this writing (Spring 2013) Sting is still very much an active competitor in TNA Wrestling, but as he is well into his 50’s, we feel comfortable with ranking him at this time. When it is all said and done, Sting may never wrestle a match under the WWE banner, and though that will…
The patriarch of the Hart Family, Stu Hart was an accomplished wrestler, but this isn’t the reason that he got inducted. Stu was a successful promoter in the Calgary area, making that territory a region worth watching. More over, Stu Hart’s primary contribution to wrestling was as the trainer to countless future superstars that would…
Despite her long career in the WWE, Sunny actually didn’t have her first WWE wrestling match until the battle royal at Wrestlemania 25. Then again, during her peak while working for Vince McMahon, she didn’t have to. Although Sunny was not the first non wrestling female of note in the WWE, (Elizabeth holds that honor)…
Does the induction of Antonio Inoki pave the way for other past stars of New Japan? If it does, the next logical choice would have to be Tatsumi Fujinami who held their version of the World Heavyweight Championship on six different occasions.