WWE
Compared to the other Halls of Fame that we discuss on our website, this one is hands down the most fun and the hardest to calculate. Keep in mind, that there is no actual WWE Hall of Fame where fans can go and see their heroes. There are no set criteria to get in the WWE Hall of Fame. Wins and losses don’t exactly matter when the matches are predetermined. It does not even seem to matter if you even wrestled for the WWE as some of their inductees never drew a paycheck from Stamford. This is as subjective as they come so with that we made a criterion of our own which did incorporate (in no particular order) impact, ability, innovation championships won, legacy and their use in the WWE. The only two rules we set was that the wrestler in question was not currently an active competitor on a full-time basis unless that wrestler was 46 or over. Once a wrestler becomes 46 that individual moves from the Futures to the Main List at the time of revision.Until Then, Whatcha gonna do when Notinhalloffame.com runs wild on you!
Sincerely,
The Not in Hall of Committee.
The amount of wrestlers who shaved their head and donned a Soviet gimmick is numerous, but none were a more gifted physical specimen than Nikita Koloff. Looking like he belonged as the opponent for Rocky in Rocky IV (though that came after Nikita’s debut), Nikita Koloff looked like the new breed of Russian athlete: one who would destroy you by…
We have to admit that we hate it when current WWE performers talk about becoming “the Marty Jannetty” of their team. Jannetty may not have had a career that came close to what Shawn Michaels did, but honestly how many could?
A standout professional wrestler in the 1940’s, “Wild” Bill Longson, was a three time National Wrestling Association Champion. His final reign came at the hands of the legendary Lou Thesz and Longson is credited as being the last National Wrestling Association Champion and one of the top heels of the 1940’s.
A superstar in the All Japan Promotion, Tommy “Jumbo” Tsuruta was the man who unified the three major champions in the promotion and was the first ever “Triple Crown” Champion. As impressive as that was, it was just a portion of what he would accomplish in professional wrestling.
Tall men with exceptional girth may be a rare sight on the street but in the world of professional wrestling it is actually commonplace. What wasn’t standard was for those wrestlers to have agility, skill and a solid workrate. In the case of George Gray, A.K.A., the One Man Gang, all those attributes were present.
One of the few wrestling personalities who can legitimately say that he had equal success as a wrestler and as a manager, Wild Red Berry infuriated audiences for more than four decades.
One of the best tag team wrestlers in wrestling history, Ole Anderson caught a break because of his looks. No, it wasn’t because he was exceptionally good looking (he wasn’t) but because he looked like Gene and Lars Anderson.
Although multiple wrestlers would don the “Tiger Mask”, nobody embodied the character better than the original, played by Satoru Sayama. He was a lightning quick combatant who was the precursor to many of the high flying lighter Japanese wrestlers who followed. It may have taken a colorful mask for him to draw the attention of the fans (especially the younger…
One of the purest wrestlers of all time has to be Billy Robinson. His catch as catch can style helped to influence the Japanese shoot style and he was putting on classic matches across the world winning titles everywhere he went.
Often when you look the large men in wrestling you assume that they got into to Professional Wrestling just because when you are that big, it “makes sense” to do that. In the case of John Tenta, the big man was actually in wrestling all of his life.
A quick look at Ron Garvin would not make you think you are looking at a star. He was not very big (by wrestling standards) and not the best interview. However once he got in the ring, he was tough, capable and looked like he could take anyone apart.
The words underrated and overrated are brandished often wrestling. Although Dick Murdoch was much respected he could very well have still been vastly underrated. He was a tough Texan capable of delivering a technically brilliant masterpiece or a full out brawl.
Many current wrestling fans may not be familiar with the name of Jackie Fargo, but long before Jerry “The King” Lawler ruled the Southern wrestling scene Jackie Fargo was perfecting the art of the wrestling brawl and was a star south of the Mason Dixon Line.
Tommy Dreamer may not have been the best wrestler in ECW, but he was its soul. There from the beginning to the end, Dreamer won the hearts of the harsh ECW fan base with his resilience and was rewarded with the “He’s Hardcore” chant that may not seem like much of a compliment, but was symbolic in ways that words…
Although El Santo may have been the first megastar of Lucha Libre, Gory Guerrero has to be considered the first great wrestler of Mexican history. As Santo’s former tag partner, Gory ascended in the ranks of popularity, but it was a brutal heel (Gory was so named for his “gory” ability to draw blood) that he truly shone. Despite that…
The next wrestler has to be considered the toughest wrestler on this list. In fact, any informal poll of wrestlers conducted would likely name Haku as the man would least want to mess with in a legitamite fight (ask Jesse Barr and his glass eye about that). Regardless of his out of ring exploits, Haku was an underrated worker who…
By the time 1986 rolled around it was clear to anyone following the NWA that Magnum T.A. was being groomed as a future World Heavyweight Champion. Had he not had a car crash that ended his career, all bets are that he would have gained that coveted belt.
Bronko Nagurski was already an established Back in the National Football League when he got into Professional Wrestling in 1933 and on the gridiron he would take the Chicago Bears to three NFL Championships. His accomplishments in the squared circle were arguably equal, as he would win multiple titles, among which the coveted National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title twice,…
We are going to borrow from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which cites influence as a key criterion to get into their Hall of Fame. Mixed Marital Arts has certainly influenced professional wrestling but it was Ken Shamrock (we are not counting Kama the Supreme Fighting Machine) who was the first to truly bring MMA to the WWF.
George Woodin started his career late (at age 29) but once he did, he ustilized his natural athletic background from his days of football and amateur wrestling and became a superstar in the American South as Mr. Wrestling, a character he was born to play.