All-Purpose 2015 WWE Hall of Fame thread

[The Heenan Family]

Macho Man Randy Savage, Miss Elizabeth, and Ray the Crippler Stevens are the three posthumous inductions who should be considered for 2015.

I really do not think Undertaker should go in this year. Save him for Texas. Although he was billed from death valley, I feel like Sting better fits the California location. Unless the Rock agrees to an induction. If the Rock agrees, that takes care of your celebrity and minority right there. But his schedule doesn't seem to be helping.

If there's a tag team, then I say Demolition. The Freebirds can wait until Texas. The Midnight Express would be cool if Bobby Eaton is healthy enough. I'd even take the Bushwackers. Just please not the New Age Outlaws. They do not need to jump ahead of the line. Jim the Anvil Neidhart should be inducted soon too. It's not right that the other half of the Hart Foundation isn't in the HoF while he's still with us.

For the female induction, if it's not Miss Elizabeth, then either Madusa or Cyndi Lauper.

They need to start inducting some living giants. Not just Kevin Nash, but Vader, Bundy, Gang, Kamala, and Sid. As Stephanie stressed to Big Show, these guys just do not live as long.

Speaking of which, how about Don Leo Jonathan? He lives in western Canada and the trip to San Francisco wouldn't be too rough if he's healthy enough. Other older guys like Ivan Koloff, Ken Patera, the Destroyer, Danny Hodge, and Dominic DeNucci should be inducted while they're still around.

As for the celebrity, as I said it's gotta be Cyndi Lauper. Unless they can somehow strike a deal with the family of Muhammad Ali. I know Hogan is friends with Layla after they did American Gladiators.

Other inductions I wouldn't mind seeing sooner rather than later include Lord Alfred Hayes, Haystacks Calhoun, Professor Toru Tanaka, Rick Martel, Slick, Ravishing Rick Rude, Toots Mondt, Brutus the Barber Beefcake and Dr Jerry Graham.

[Crappler El 0 M]

One name I don't think has been mention in this thread who I could see going in is Lex Luger. He's on good terms with them now and has shot interviews for them and supposedly worked with them in some way with the wellness policy. I believe he can no longer stand for long periods of time, so it's kind of sad that he didn't go in a few years ago.

With 'Razor Ramon' going in last year, I wouldn't be surprised to see either "Diesel" or Kevin Nash going in this year, or possibly the original "NWO" with Hall and Hogan.

[auph10imitated]

Dec 27, 2014 16:27:16 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

Dec 27, 2014 14:28:57 GMT -5 auph10imitated said:

Madusa and Heyman are friends, they never had heat. They are always putting each other over on Twitter and he and his kids went to visit her at Monster Jam not so long ago she posted photos of them on Facebook, he would be the only current person on the roster that has a connection to her. In her recent shoot with Vince Russo she talks about riding with Heyman and Rude in WCW

Shes also still friends with Eric Bischoff, she posted pics hanging out with him and his wife also recently.. , if they could get him to induct her now that would be a pretty controversial and interesting induction!!

Then I was very much mistaken. I've been part of the newsletter/IWC scene for a long time and I was trying to remember something from the newsletters from about 22 years ago. I remembered hearing how they clashed behind the scenes of WCW in 1992. Even though I thought they didn't get along, I was still assuming that both of them were over it by now anyway.

I also read in those old news letters she had heat with Sherri which also wasn't true if you listen to shoots with Sherri and subsequent interviews with Madusa.

Luna never liked Madusa, but I don't think Madusa had any ill will towards Luna. If you listen to any recent Madusa interview, including the Russo shoot she's extremely outspoken if she has heat with people I doubt she would have any qualms expressing it. She has great things to say about all those mentioned. I think her speech would be pretty cool even if it will be WWE tailored

[auph10imitated]

Inducting Beefcake would give good reason to use Hogan. I think these days the inductors are just important as it's more name power.

Hogan for Beefcake (mid carder)
Harley Race for Vader (big guy)
Bischoff for Madusa (female)
Bret for Davey (post humous)
Flair for Sting (headline)

Not sure who id use for Cornette/MX or Demos but a big deal would be using Vince to induct Savage that would give it the justice it deserves

[RadcapRadsley]

Dec 27, 2014 14:41:53 GMT -5 BJ Sturgeon said:

↓↓↓↓

I would LOVE that HOF class(-LOD ripoffs) but 3 posthumous inductees will never happen again. Bam Bam at his peak was legit the most fun big guy to watch in a match ever but I think he will probably never make WWE HOF.

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2014 12:47:39 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

Jim Cornette would probably want to go in with Eaton and Lane (and perhaps Dennis Condrey) as the Midnight Express, rather than go in solo.

I'd prefer to see Cornette solo.  His career has been a hell of a lot more than just "The Midnight Express' Manager".  Surely he would want the rest recognized as well, no matter how much he loves the Midnights. 

At the very least you would be doing his career a huge disservice not mentioning his time with Camp Cornette, The Heavenly Bodies and about 3 dozen other wrestlers. 

[RadcapRadsley]

Dec 27, 2014 17:53:43 GMT -5 The Heenan Family said:

Macho Man Randy Savage, Miss Elizabeth, and Ray the Crippler Stevens are the three posthumous inductions who should be considered for 2015.

IMO Stevens either is Inducted in 2015 or probably never. They seem to be almost done with pre expansion era guys(unless they want a tape library) but since he was a legend in the Bay Area it would make sense to induct him as he would put more buts in seats then some modern era guys.

[Crappler El 0 M]

Dec 27, 2014 18:30:17 GMT -5 @laveyan said:

Dec 27, 2014 12:47:39 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

Jim Cornette would probably want to go in with Eaton and Lane (and perhaps Dennis Condrey) as the Midnight Express, rather than go in solo.

I'd prefer to see Cornette solo.  His career has been a hell of a lot more than just "The Midnight Express' Manager".  Surely he would want the rest recognized as well, no matter how much he loves the Midnights. 

At the very least you would be doing his career a huge disservice not mentioning his time with Camp Cornette, The Heavenly Bodies and about 3 dozen other wrestlers. 

That is certainly a good point and he does deserve to go in as a manager of other wrestlers (like Camp Cornette) and perhaps for Smokey Mountain Wrestling and helping WWE establish a developmental system. However, I believe Jim Cornette said on his podcast that he wants to be inducted with the Midnight Express, though I don't know if he has stipulated if it has to be all the members or if it could just be Eaton and Lane. Cornette would probably like Dennis Condrey to go in as well.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

If Johnny Rodz (I recognize he's contributed a lot to wrestling, especially as a trainer. But to the public at large he's a JTTS) and Koko B. Ware can be in the HOF, then anyone can be in. That's why I hate people poo-pooing the idea of Pillman or Bigelow being inducted.

Dec 27, 2014 14:28:57 GMT -5 auph10imitated said:

Madusa and Heyman are friends, they never had heat. They are always putting each other over on Twitter and he and his kids went to visit her at Monster Jam not so long ago she posted photos of them on Facebook, he would be the only current person on the roster that has a connection to her. In her recent shoot with Vince Russo she talks about riding with Heyman and Rude in WCW

Shes also still friends with Eric Bischoff, she posted pics hanging out with him and his wife also recently.. , if they could get him to induct her now that would be a pretty controversial and interesting induction!!

After Bischoff hands her HOF ring, he should pull out a waste paper basket from underneath the podium and psych everyone out about a potential recreation of Medusa trashing the Women's Title before they hug and she takes the podium.

[MolotovMocktail]

Given Itami and WWE's wish to make headway in Japan... a Puroresu star makes sense. Muta, Ultimo, Lyger makes the most sense for the American audience, and Ultimo has the advantage of resonating in Mexico too. But if they want to make headlines in Japan, you have to be talking about Baba, Tsuruta, Misawa and Kobashi. And given Japanese values, you'd have to do Baba first, even though Kobashi has the advantage of still being amongst the living. And he was conspicuously backstage at the last Japanese tour

I'm pretty sure Muta, Liger and Ultimo are all still active, so they may want to wait until after they retire. What about Tiger Mask-he was as big a name, and has seniority as far as his career timeline.

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2014 18:36:55 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

Dec 27, 2014 18:30:17 GMT -5 @laveyan said:

I'd prefer to see Cornette solo.  His career has been a hell of a lot more than just "The Midnight Express' Manager".  Surely he would want the rest recognized as well, no matter how much he loves the Midnights. 

At the very least you would be doing his career a huge disservice not mentioning his time with Camp Cornette, The Heavenly Bodies and about 3 dozen other wrestlers. 

That is certainly a good point and he does deserve to go in as a manager of other wrestlers (like Camp Cornette) and perhaps for Smokey Mountain Wrestling and helping WWE establish a developmental system. However, I believe Jim Cornette said on his podcast that he wants to be inducted with the Midnight Express, though I don't know if he has stipulated if it has to be all the members or if it could just be Eaton and Lane. Cornette would probably like Dennis Condrey to go in as well.

I just think that having him go in especially with the Midnights would be a bit of a disservice either way.  Either Cornette gets the full attention he deserves and the Midnights become secondary, or they're the focus and it washes over tons of Cornette's career.

[walterharrow]

Roman Reigns

There is no better way to make him look strong than to induct him into the Hall of Fame and then have him become WWE Champion the next day (they could also induct the Shield to make Reigns look even better by having him be the first man inducted twice on the same night)

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2014 19:29:53 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

Given Itami and WWE's wish to make headway in Japan... a Puroresu star makes sense. Muta, Ultimo, Lyger makes the most sense for the American audience, and Ultimo has the advantage of resonating in Mexico too. But if they want to make headlines in Japan, you have to be talking about Baba, Tsuruta, Misawa and Kobashi. And given Japanese values, you'd have to do Baba first, even though Kobashi has the advantage of still being amongst the living. And he was conspicuously backstage at the last Japanese tour

I'm pretty sure Muta, Liger and Ultimo are all still active, so they may want to wait until after they retire. What about Tiger Mask-he was as big a name, and has seniority as far as his career timeline.

Satoru Sayama is still VERY active.  He's worked a dozen matches this year.

[Mid-Carder]

I would think it's highly unlikely that Elizabeth would be inducted if Savage isn't, so they won't do Liz on her own. Savage is a possibility

[RadcapRadsley]

Dec 27, 2014 19:22:44 GMT -5 tigermaskxxxvii said:

If Johnny Rodz (I recognize he's contributed a lot to wrestling, especially as a trainer. But to the public at large he's a JTTS) and Koko B. Ware can be in the HOF, then anyone can be in. That's why I hate people poo-pooing the idea of Pillman or Bigelow being inducted.

If it were me Pillman and Bigelow would be going in but since the Benoit incident only 3 people have gone in posthumously from the 80/90s. Yokozuna who is cousins with The Rock,Hawk who went in as part of a group with 2 living people and Paul Bearer a non wrestler unassociated with steroids or recreational drugs.

[MolotovMocktail]

Dec 27, 2014 19:38:12 GMT -5 @laveyan said:

Dec 27, 2014 19:29:53 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

I'm pretty sure Muta, Liger and Ultimo are all still active, so they may want to wait until after they retire. What about Tiger Mask-he was as big a name, and has seniority as far as his career timeline.

Satoru Sayama is still VERY active.  He's worked a dozen matches this year.

I stand corrected. Probably thought he was retired since we're on at least Tiger Mask IV now. In that case, I would say Baba-he was the Japanese equivalent of Andre the Giant, a former NWA Champion, and a successful promoter

If Taker retires this year, he should headline. If not, wait a year. Assuming he's not, my class would be:

-Randy Savage (inducted by Hulk Hogan-they made up shortly before Randy died)
-The Rock (inducted by HHH)
-Vader (inducted by Sting)
-The British Bulldogs (inducted by Bret Hart)
-Brian Pillman (inducted by Steve Austin)
-Leilani Kai (inducted by Wendi Richter)
-Roy Shire (old San Francisco-area promoter; inducted by Roddy Piper-Roddy worked San Francisco a lot pre-WWF)
-Giant Baba (inducted by Hideo Itami)

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2014 21:03:48 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

Dec 27, 2014 19:38:12 GMT -5 @laveyan said:

Satoru Sayama is still VERY active.  He's worked a dozen matches this year.

I stand corrected. Probably thought he was retired since we're on at least Tiger Mask IV now. In that case, I would say Baba-he was the Japanese equivalent of Andre the Giant, a former NWA Champion, and a successful promoter

If Taker retires this year, he should headline. If not, wait a year. Assuming he's not, my class would be:

-Randy Savage (inducted by Hulk Hogan-they made up shortly before Randy died)
-The Rock (inducted by HHH)
-Vader (inducted by Sting)
-The British Bulldogs (inducted by Bret Hart)
-Brian Pillman (inducted by Steve Austin)
-Leilani Kai (inducted by Wendi Richter)
-Roy Shire (old San Francisco-area promoter; inducted by Roddy Piper-Roddy worked San Francisco a lot pre-WWF)
-Giant Baba (inducted by Hideo Itami)

I agree with you except for I'd split the Rock and Randy Savage up.  They're both surefire headliners, there's no need for both in the same year.  I'd put Savage in this year, Taker in next year and Rock in 2017.

I'd also sub out Shire for Stevens.  Nothing against Shire, but his old partner deserves it first.

[MolotovMocktail]

Dec 27, 2014 21:14:24 GMT -5 @laveyan said:

Dec 27, 2014 21:03:48 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

I stand corrected. Probably thought he was retired since we're on at least Tiger Mask IV now. In that case, I would say Baba-he was the Japanese equivalent of Andre the Giant, a former NWA Champion, and a successful promoter

If Taker retires this year, he should headline. If not, wait a year. Assuming he's not, my class would be:

-Randy Savage (inducted by Hulk Hogan-they made up shortly before Randy died)
-The Rock (inducted by HHH)
-Vader (inducted by Sting)
-The British Bulldogs (inducted by Bret Hart)
-Brian Pillman (inducted by Steve Austin)
-Leilani Kai (inducted by Wendi Richter)
-Roy Shire (old San Francisco-area promoter; inducted by Roddy Piper-Roddy worked San Francisco a lot pre-WWF)
-Giant Baba (inducted by Hideo Itami)

I agree with you except for I'd split the Rock and Randy Savage up.  They're both surefire headliners, there's no need for both in the same year.  I'd put Savage in this year, Taker in next year and Rock in 2017.

I'd also sub out Shire for Stevens.  Nothing against Shire, but his old partner deserves it first.

The reason I had Rock in there, was I'm pretty sure WWE wants a living headliner. My list already has 3 dead guys in it, so it's pretty unlikely as is.

I was torn on Shire and Stevens too. If it's Stevens, I'd have Pat Patterson induct him.

[andrew8798]

On Cornette he has said he would accept if they offer it to him

And on Liz could be a tough sell with her family

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2014 21:16:56 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

Dec 27, 2014 21:14:24 GMT -5 @laveyan said:

I agree with you except for I'd split the Rock and Randy Savage up.  They're both surefire headliners, there's no need for both in the same year.  I'd put Savage in this year, Taker in next year and Rock in 2017.

I'd also sub out Shire for Stevens.  Nothing against Shire, but his old partner deserves it first.

The reason I had Rock in there, was I'm pretty sure WWE wants a living headliner. My list already has 3 dead guys in it, so it's pretty unlikely as is.

I was torn on Shire and Stevens too. If it's Stevens, I'd have Pat Patterson induct him.

I get you on the living headliner thing. You're probably correct that Savage is going to be relegated to a "semi-main" spot for the year he's entered in... either way I hope they really ramp it up with happy stories from Steamboat, Lanny, Hogan and others.