WWE to announce 2005 Hall of Fame inductees

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

If you slap Hogan, Steamboat, Dibiase, Orton, Hening and a couple others on the covers, they can profit very well.

 

The 2004 one did very well. Now they can use more modern workers from the 80's with a more accessible collection and more familarity to fans.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Rick Martel? Life long mid-carder. Too many better options before he should get there. Try again in 20011.

 

Koko B. Ware? A low card comedy act? WTF?

 

That didn't stop them from inducting Santana and Valentine.

[CBright7831 0]

When Vince's limo driver gets inducted, anybody can get inducted.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Rick Martel? Life long mid-carder. Too many better options before he should get there. Try again in 20011.

 

Koko B. Ware? A low card comedy act? WTF?

 

That didn't stop them from inducting Santana and Valentine.

WTF II???

 

Tito and Greg V. were both employed for the better part of 10 years (Tito more so) Neither were a "comedy" act. (El Madator be damned)

 

Both won Tag Gold and IC gold when those belts meant something, and both had fueds that drew money with multiple people.

 

Koko can't touch that.

[alfdogg 0]

I'm going to assume that Deon was talking about Martel and just forgot to cut the part about Koko out.

 

Also, Martel is a former AWA World champion and I think I remember reading about Vince saying they're responsible for recognizing accomplishments from all promotions.

[Guest TheHulkster]

You know who should be in the Hall that nobody has mentioned:

 

The fucking Road Warriors

 

They were a big deal for many years and are probably the biggest drawing tag team of all time by a large margin.

 

Orton getting in before Piper would be wrong. Orton was pretty much a glorified lackey. He was a good wrestler, but the WWF/E was built on Piper's back almost as much as it was on Hogan's.

[Guest Ransome]

It would be nice if there was at least some parameters for getting into the HOF, eg, the wrestlers are only eligible for HOF nomination (say) 20 years after they debuted in the WWF.

 

Although, it's not as if it has any credibility right now anyway, given that 'Unpredictable' Johnny Rodz is in, whilst Bruno Sammartino is not.

 

I can see them putting Bob Orton in the HOF, not for his achievements, but to further the Randy Orton megapush.

[Guest Kimaster1976]

Roddy Piper will definetely not be at WrestleMania as he will be co-hosting UK Celebrity Wrestling on TV in England during that period.

[Fökai 0]

Rick Martel? Life long mid-carder. Too many better options before he should get there. Try again in 20011.

 

Koko B. Ware? A low card comedy act? WTF?

 

That didn't stop them from inducting Santana and Valentine.

Valentine, at the very least, is LOVED by the MSG crowds, which I'd suspect that motivated Vince to put him in the Hall.

 

Need proof? Valentine, a very successful heel in the late 80's, did a face turn in 1990 for no other reason to capitalize on the crowd reaction -- at Madison Square Garden, or course.

[Scroby 0]

Just some people I think should be inducted, weather it be this year or not....

 

Hogan

Piper

Bret Hart

Owen Hart

British Bulldog

Dynamite Kid (kinda 50/50 on him honestly)

L.O.D.

Cyndi Loper (i have no clue how to spell her last name correctly) as a celeb induct.

Curt Henning

Earthquake

Undertaker (unless they wanna wait until he's retired...finally)

Jake Roberts (doubt it will happen anytime soon.)

Ted Dibiase

and Sherri Martel

 

Those are just a few I can think of right now.

[deancoles 0]

Sherri Martel

Can't see Sherri getting in, the only women who'll get in anytime soon are Cyndi Lauper and Elizabeth.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

I'd like to see:

 

Hulk Hogan

Ricky Steamboat

The Iron Shiek

Roddy Piper

Ted Dibiase

Rick Rude

Curt Hennig

Jake Roberts

Rick Martel

Cowboy Bob Orton

Koko B. Ware

Rick Martel? Life long mid-carder. Too many better options before he should get there. Try again in 20011.

 

Koko B. Ware? A low card comedy act? WTF?

Dude, you have John Tenta on your list, for no other reason that he's sick & happens to be a nice guy.

[spman 0]

I'd like to see:

 

Hulk Hogan

Ricky Steamboat

The Iron Shiek

Roddy Piper

Ted Dibiase

Rick Rude

Curt Hennig

Jake Roberts

Rick Martel

Cowboy Bob Orton

Koko B. Ware

Rick Martel? Life long mid-carder. Too many better options before he should get there. Try again in 20011.

 

Koko B. Ware? A low card comedy act? WTF?

Dude, you have John Tenta on your list, for no other reason that he's sick & happens to be a nice guy.

Hey, he may not have been a master of Technical wrestling, but John Tenta was always an entertaining character. Whether he was a face or a heel, he was always over no matter where he was, simply because of his size. Even as badly as WCW tried to bury the guy, he still would get a louder pop then half the roster at the time. Earthquake deserves to be in the HOF just as much as JYD or John Studd do.

[nl5xsk1 0]

I was beaten to it by a few posts, but the first person(s) that I thought of were the LOD/Road Warriors ... if nothing else because I can see Vince making a one-disc DVD for them and what better way to publicize the new DVD then by inducting them to the HOF. Presenter: Bubba Dudley

 

And, regarding the Rick Martel induction, again I think it'd be DVD related. If/when Vince ever decides to do an "AWA's Greatest Hits" type-of-DVD, you'll see Martel gaining some more attention, if not an actual HOF induction. (and, when you think about it, an AWA DVD would be pretty swank ... Hansen, Freebirds, Road Warriors, Martel, Hall & Hansen, Midnight Rockers, hell, even Bruiser Brody)

[JHawk 0]

The WWE HOF has zero credibility until Bruno Sammartino is in it. Bar none. The man was World Champion longer than anybody else in WWE history during an era where you didn't hold the title unless you were a top draw.

 

Johnny Rodz and Pete fucking Rose are in the goddamn thing, but no Bruno?

[Guest Frank_Nabbit]

(and, when you think about it, an AWA DVD would be pretty swank ... Hansen, Freebirds, Road Warriors, Martel, Hall & Hansen, Midnight Rockers, hell, even Bruiser Brody)

And that was just from early 86, 3 months before they went down the shitter

[nl5xsk1 0]

(and, when you think about it, an AWA DVD would be pretty swank ... Hansen, Freebirds, Road Warriors, Martel, Hall & Hansen, Midnight Rockers, hell, even Bruiser Brody)

And that was just from early 86, 3 months before they went down the shitter

No doubt, Frank ... I think a lot of their earlier stuff is too non-wwe for them to release ... I just can't see Vince & company giving Bockwinkle, Gagne (either of them), Crusher & Bruiser, etc, the free publicity. I purposely tried to only list future wwe'ers (except Brody, who's just too cool NOT to list).

 

/just remembered 4 more that might get the nod on a AWA DVD: Zbyszko (they could reference his feud with Bruno and then show his AWA stuff); Lawler (he was the AWA champ for a stretch at the end); Nord the Barbarian (future Bezerker) and, of course, Eric Bischoff as a rodent-haired announcer. They could even reference that Baron Von Raschke was the Powers of Pain manager for like a month.

[Promoter 0]

The WWE HOF has zero credibility until Bruno Sammartino is in it. Bar none. The man was World Champion longer than anybody else in WWE history during an era where you didn't hold the title unless you were a top draw.

 

Johnny Rodz and Pete fucking Rose are in the goddamn thing, but no Bruno?

I think that is why Vince is trying to get Hulk Hogan in there. I think I remember Jim Ross saying that to be inducted the wrestler should be retired at least 5 years which Hogan isn't. The problem is that the HOF needs credibility and Hogan can give it. In all honesty, Bruno Sammartino should be in the damn thing whether he wants it or not(might put him posthumously if he continues to negate the offer). Bruno's acceptance is kind of important being the pioneer champion of the company, but I'm sure JBL holding his belt isn't making him any happier.

 

The Hall of Fame really needs these guys in it for it to be anything serious in the long run.................

 

Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino(should be in before Hogan and the rest actually), Bret "Hitman" Hart(whom Vince might be wooing for next year and will show it's about truly respecting history and not just politics), Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, British Bulldogs, Ric Flair, and LOD/Road Warriors. Without these guys in it the whole thing is a joke and politics.

 

People like Earthquake have no business being in the HOF with all due respect. The "celebrity wing" isn't a bad idea, but how could Pete Rose get in before Mr. T who helped bring mainstream press to Vince's second biggest windfall in his career WrestleMania?(Hulkamania was his first)

[spman 0]

People like Earthquake have no business being in the HOF with all due respect. The "celebrity wing" isn't a bad idea, but how could Pete Rose get in before Mr. T who helped bring mainstream press to Vince's second biggest windfall in his career WrestleMania?(Hulkamania was his first)

 

Why not? Most of the major stars of the 60's and 70's have been inducted, and we've already named most of the really big main event names from the 80's that still have to be inducted, so why not have significant mid-card guys too? Guys like The Nasty Boys, Earthquake, The Rougeus, Curt Hennig, Mike Rutundo, Matt Borne and others were just as important as anyone else.

[spman 0]

The names that were announced on Smackdown so far are:

 

Mr. Wonderful

Iron Sheik

Nikolai Volkoff

Cowboy Bob Orton

Jimmy Hart

 

I agree with all so far, but Nikolai? Meh, memorable gimmick, but never really rose above the level of B Show jobber.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Maybe they're including Nikolai's work as one of The Mongol's.

[Promoter 0]

I'll give you Mr. Perfect, Rotundo, Rogeaus, Ricky Steamboat, Dibase and Matt Borne(stars of that nature). The Nasty Boys and Earthquake were more flavour of the month and did not help that much imo. The reason I think they should be more strict is that the HOF will then turn into a gimmick(next thing we know Triple H gets put in there during his bid to break Flair's record in 2008 or something) or become a whore like the wwf title or I-C title in 1999 where everyone got it. The HOF won't be special anymore and a big reason why I think Bruno doesn't accept the offer is the reason that anyone seems to be thrown in there. It's kind of disrespectful.

 

I think we have to look at how this whole thing forumlated and what the purpose it can serve for REAL. In 1993, Vince put Andre the Giant as the first entrant. It was done so to make Andre immortalized in wwe folklore. He had to DIE before a thing even existed. Then the wwf made the HOF in 1994-95 when they started the "new generation" campaign because they probably thought the glory days of the 80's boom was over and they needed to make it seem like a new generation was here. They inducted guys like Pedro Morales and Fabolous Moolah because they tried to show that they were stars before the Hogan/Savage era(whom they were mocking at the time). Johnny Rodz I can see why they put in there because he helped develop a lot of talent by being a glorified jobber. His work was important.

 

They brought back the HOF last year to coincide with the anniversary of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden and put people like Muraco and Billy Graham in there along with 80's icons Ventura/Heenan. Since Vince owns everything now he probably thinks his HOF is THE HOF for wrestling and put Harley Race in it. I just can't see the reasoning in throwing everybody in the thing. You might as well put tag teams like Power and Glory and Warlord in it. I can understand gimmick wrestlers like Kamala because the character stood out and made 80's wrestling what it once. It represents a timeframe, but that doesn't mean it needs to have every nook and cranny. Not a bad list so far. I think Nikolai's stuff with Iron Sheik as a tag team is being considered as well. They will justify it with that because Iron Sheik's title reign kayfabe wise was nothing but a squash.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

RD Reynolds on the Hall of Fame inductees thus far:

 

"I can think of a lot of guys more deserving, but I will say this: if Orton comes to the festivities wearing a cast on his arm, all is forgiven.

 

That, or Orndorff must thank Gary Spivey in his induction speech.

 

Yeah, one of those two things has to happen."

[Slickster 0]

I like how they've only inducted lifelong heels so far this year.

 

Iron Shiek is in my opinion only a HOFer because he was the transition from Backlund to Hogan.

[IWD 0]

Some more to consider:

 

Bob Backlund

The Funk Brothers

Stan Hansen

Arn Anderson

Rick Rude

Barry Windham

Steve Williams

Terry Gordy

Mr Fuji

Wahoo McDaniel

Cyndi Lauper

 

Cheers.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I like how they've only inducted lifelong heels so far this year.

Hart, Volkoff, and Orndorff were faces at one point or another in their major careers.

 

Hart from about early 1993 (after Money Inc attacked him) to late 1995, when he turned on Hogan to manage The Giant for a short while.

 

Volkoff after the Soviet Union fell to when he was "Bought' by DiBiase.

 

Orndorff from...I think after Mania I to that time he attacked Hogan in 1986.

[MARTYEWR 0]

I find it interesting how out of the five selected, only two have been in the "50 Greatest WWE Superstars" book produced about a year ago (Sheik and Orndorff).

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I met Jimmy Hart at an indy show here 2 weeks ago. He's a nice guy.

[Guest krazykat72]

Some more to consider:

 

Bob Backlund

Backlund was offered it last year and turned it down.

There was speculation (by Dave Meltzer) that it might have had something to

do with Pete Rose being announced.

 

 

 

-Paul Jacobi-

[Slickster 0]

I like how they've only inducted lifelong heels so far this year.

Hart, Volkoff, and Orndorff were faces at one point or another in their major careers.

 

Hart from about early 1993 (after Money Inc attacked him) to late 1995, when he turned on Hogan to manage The Giant for a short while.

 

Volkoff after the Soviet Union fell to when he was "Bought' by DiBiase.

 

Orndorff from...I think after Mania I to that time he attacked Hogan in 1986.

I KNOW, but compared to their entire careers they were faces for a short period of time. And when you think of Jimmy Hart, do you think of his years managing the Honky Tonk Man or the Mega-Maniacs?