We are in Wrestlemania season. Several things come to mind when we get there. Most fans speculate who will face who in a match, including what are the main events and who is challenging champions for titles? To me, I wonder what past talented superstars will be inducted into The WWE Hall of Fame (HOF).
This idea of having a WWE Hall of Fame is very good. It all started back in March 1993 on an episode of WWE Monday Night Raw in which they made Andre The Giant as the first-ever inductee, which happened to take place a couple months after his passing. Andre was the only inductee of his class. If anybody deserves to be in a class by themselves, it was truly the eighth-wonder of the world.
From 1994-96, the WWE decided to do an annual multi-people HOF induction ceremony, which would take place in a hotel ballroom on the eve of a WWE PPV event taking place in a traditional WWE market. The only people who would be invited to attend those events would be past and present WWE talent, current employees working in the office, and families of those people being enshrined. Basically, those events were not open to the public for anyone to buy a ticket and attend. Back then, each class would have seven people be inducted in the WWE HOF. The voting, such as nominating people as finalists and making a final decision, would be done by people working in the main office of the WWE headquarters, which is located in Stamford, CT. I wish they also took votes from fans who buy an issue of the WWE magazine by having a page to cut off to send in your vote to the main mailing address of the WWE.
One thing that was terrible about that time was Pedro Morales wasn’t able to attend the 1995 WWE HOF ceremony. Some WWE office people didn’t know that Morales was working as a spanish-speaking commentator for WCW, which is a rival promotion of the WWE. Somebody should’ve known better because it was a conflict of interest to honor him when Morales couldn’t attend. The WWE inducted Morales anyway with Gorilla Monsoon (1994) being his presenter and Savio Vega accepting that honor on his behalf as if Morales was posthumous. Morales eventually passed away because of Parkinson’s disease in February 2019.
From 1997-2003, for some unknown reason, the WWE decided not to hold an annual ceremony. I can’t tell you who would’ve been inducted into the WWE HOF during that time if there was an annual induction ceremony. I know Big John Studd (2004), the Wild Samoans (2007), Rocky Johnson (2008), Bob Backlund (2013), High Chief Peter Maivia (2008), Mr. Fuji (2007), and more to name would’ve been inducted in one of those classes. So far, wrestlers from the WWWF era (1963-79) such as former World Champion Ivan Koloff, former Intercontinental Champion Ken Patera, Dominic DeNucci, and Tony Garea haven’t been inducted into the WWE HOF and they should’ve been by now. Inductees such as The Honkey Tonk Man (2019), Stan “The Man ” Stasiak (2018), Stan Hansen (2016), Jake “The Snake” Roberts (2014), Prof Toru Tanaka (2019), Laary Zbszko (2015), Hillbilly Jim (2018), Haystacks Calhoun (2017), and Ray Stevens (2020) were inducted way too late but at least they are enshrined.
In 2004, the WWE finally decided to bring back the WWE HOF induction ceremony. It happened to take place on the eve of WrestleMania XX. And to get publicity for this WrestleMania weekend, they decided to induct former MLB OF/IF Pete Rose as the first celebrity inductee into the WWE HOF, along with ten other past WWE talent. Who more qualified than Mean Gene Okerlund (2006) to emcee the 2004 WWE HOF ceremony? Bobby “The Brian” Heenan had the most enjoyable speech in making reference of the WWF being forced to be renamed to the WWE. Former pro wrestling star-turned (MN) Governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura got to go on last to accept his induction into the WWE HOF. Of course, somewhere during that ceremony, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had to step in and say a few remarks, which happened to close that ceremony. And it became a tradition to do the annual WWE HOF ceremony during the weekend of Wrestlemania.
From 2005-present, I am glad the WWE decided to use better places than a hotel ballroom to do their annual HOF ceremony during WrestleMania weekend. From 2005-07, they used amphitheaters for their annual HOF ceremony. When I attended The 2007 WWE HOF Ceremony at The Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, MI, it was packed to the rafters and so on. I was blessed to have bought one of the last tickets to attend that event. After that night was over, I had a feeling that they would have to move this annual event to NBA/NHL-size venues and it started sooner than I thought from 2008-19 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The 2022 WWE HOF ceremony will take place on Friday, April 1 at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Dallas, TX.
All HOF’s have something negative about themselves and the WWE is no exception. All HOF’s have some politicking involved about who should be selected for induction in an upcoming class.With the WWE acquiring video libraries from the AWA, WCW, Mid-South/UWF, and other NWA-member federations, they decided to induct the top stars from those federations in the WWE HOF to capitalize on owning those rights. I don’t like how the WWE brass selects past pro wrestling talent from other federations who have never worked a show or wrestled one match for the WWE. WWE means WWE, including the WWF and the WWWF and not WCW, NWA, and AWA. Talent like Abdullah The Butcher (2011), Stevie Ray (2019), Bullet Bob Armstrong (2011), manager J.J Dillon (2012), manager Gary Hart (2020), Jusin Thunder Liger (2020), and announcer Gordon Solie (2008) never worked a show for the WWE in their respective role in what they each got inducted as. I must note J.J worked as a front-office executive for the WWE from 1989-96 and also as a substitute challenger for the WWE Intercontinental title held by Tito Santana (2004) during an April 1984 card at Madison Square Garden (in New York, N.Y). J.J never worked as a manager in the WWE like he did in those NWA-member federations. That is one of my biggest gripes about the WWE HOF.
Another bad thing about the WWE HOF is when they announce that they will induct people too soon. Like all HOF’s, I wish the WWE held an eligibility standard to induct new enshrinees. Whether it would be the WWE or another federation, I would prefer that they have all talents wait five years after they work a full-time wrestling schedule before being nominated. It would also help to think about other worthy candidates from the WWWF and WWF eras. Point being- the WWE selects several past talents for induction sooner than you predict while there were several other past talents from (the 1970’s and ’80s) a long time ago who haven’t gotten their call to the hall. The WWE brass have selected talent just to please the current WWE-viewing audience and to have them sign some kind of contract for WWE legends. I believe past wrestlers such as Edge (2012), Bill Goldberg (2018), Beth Phoenix (2017), Booker T (2013), Mark Henry (2018), Titus O’Neil (2020), The Bella Twins (2020), and The Dudley Boyz (2018) were selected way to early than we all could’ve expected.
Another piece of criticism I have is making anybody who wins The Warrior Award is automatically a WWE HOFer-regardless of what he or she accomplishes in their life. If any Warrior Award recipient(s) deserved to be inducted into the WWE HOF, it would be Sue Aitchison (2019) and Rich Hering (2021) because of what they did for the WWE for over 30 years. Aitchison is known for helping the WWE get involved with outreach programs, such as The Make-A-Wish Foundation. She had past and present stars, such as Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, and John Cena, get involved and grant over 6,000 wishes to children battling life-threatening diseases and illnesses Hering has worked for the WWE as a vice president dealing with government relations and risk management, such as dealing with athletic commissions. Hering played the role of a priest to marry Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth for a mock wedding to end SummerSlam ’91. Other recipients won The Warrior Award because of facing medical challenges. The most famous recipient of that award was TV journalist Joan Lunden (2016), who became the second winner of that award because she fought and defeated breast cancer in 2014. Granted, Lunden is a great journalist and a mother of several sons who love pro wrestling but she never had a full-time job in the WWE. The only projects that she did for pro wrestling were making a special appearance on a WCW TV show confronting Madusa (aka Alundra Blayze in the WWE; 2015) and being a guest host on WWE Monday Night RAW to promote the WWE’s involvement with The Susan G Komen (For The Cure) Foundation. I wish the WWE brass found a past WWE referee, such as past referee Tim White, to give this award to. I do like the concept of The Warrior Award but it shouldn’t always constitute induction into the WWE HOF.
I can talk all day-from noon to midnight- about the WWE HOF. Other criticisms that I have of the WWE HOF is I don’t like some wrestlers becoming two-time HOF inductees, inducting celebrities who never worked a full-time schedule, how they do the nominating, who should’ve been inducted in a certain class, and that there is no museum for people to visit and look at which WWE stars are immortalized for life. I must note that wrestlers got to be two-time inductees because they were a part of a tag team or a faction. I did hear a story that the WWE tried to find a facility to use as a museum to display memorabilia and artifacts of those people enshrined in the WWE HOF, such as old title belts and promotional posters to plug a wrestling card. Like I said, I love the idea of having the WWE HOF. I only am happy for those people selected, who had a memorable stint in the WWE for at least six months. The WWE HOF needs to fix their credibility.
