The WWE Hall of Fame has reactivated its legacy wing for the Class of 2025, and Kamala, Ivan Koloff, and Dory Funk Sr will be inducted.

This is the first time the Legacy Wing has been used since 2021, and it has been criticized in the past as many of the inductee's families were not aware of the induction until it was announced publicly.  It is not known now if this is the case for these three.

Born James Harris in Mississippi, Harris first began wrestling in 1978 but adopted the Kamala gimmick in 1982 under the advice of Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler.  It was a money maker, with Harris taking the gimmick across the country through multiple territories, including the WWE, where over three runs in 1984, 1986-87 & 1992-93, he had multiple main event runs and challenged for the WWF World Heavyweight Title.  He passed away in 2020.

From Quebec, Oreal Perras debuted in 1963 and first gained success as the Irishman Red McNulty, but it was not until he became “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff that he achieved stardom.  Koloff joined the WWWF in 1969, and in 1971, he shocked the wrestling world when he pinned Bruno Sammartino to win the World Heavyweight Title.  It was a brief run, as Pedro Morales dethroned him three weeks later, but throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Koloff worked in the WWWF/WWF and was often at the top of the card.  He also succeeded in the NWA throughout the 1980s, leading the Russian faction while winning Tag Team gold.  He passed away in 2017.

Dory Funk Sr. is best known as the father of Terry and Dory Funk Jr., who both became NWA World Heavyweight Champions, but the family's patriarch ran a successful territory in North Texas for decades.  This is also a posthumous induction, as he passed away in 1973.

While we are happy for these selections, Kamala and Koloff could have easily been done when they were both alive.

We will be revising our Notinhalloffame WWE list after Wrestlemania.

 

 

 

 

First off, our apologies as this took longer than anticipated, but we are finally ready to unveil our new WWE list of those to consider for their Hall of Fame. With the exception of our Rock and Roll list, the 375 wrestling performers we have ranked are the largest that we have here at Notinhalloffame.com.

While the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame saw twelve of our ranked wrestlers (28. Bill Goldberg, 36. Stan Stasiak, 40. El Santo, 43. Jim Londos, 45. Jeff Jarrett, 65. Mark Henry, 84. Lord Alfred Hayes, 104. Hillbilly Jim, 180. Ivory, 182. Sputinik Monroe, 188. Hiro Matsuda and 191. Boris Malenko) selected however nobody from our top 25 was chosen. As such there is not much of a difference between last year’s list and this one.

Still, we always adapt and we have made some changes that we are excited to tell you about!

Here is the new top ten:

       1. Vince McMahon. Love him or hate him, he is the WWE and the reason why many of us watch professional wrestling. McMahon was ranked #1 last year and will likely hold this spot until he is  
       dead. Triple H said that the only reason he isn’t in is because Vince wouldn’t let him! Literally this is the case of “over his dead body”.

      2.  The Undertaker. Speaking of the dead, The Undertaker returns at #2. The “Deadman” is certainly on the last leg of his career though we don’t know how many matches he has left in him. This
           is only a matter of time as he will likely go in as soon as the WWE feels that he is finished.

3. The Rock. From one of the most popular professional wrestlers to one of the most successful movie stars, Dwayne Johnson likely has a standing invitation for the WWE Hall of Fame. The only question is if he can fit it into his busy schedule!

4. Triple H. Because of his position as COO, it would be hard for it not to be considered shady if he gets into the Hall of Fame, but his body of work in the ring is worthy and just on his work in the re-creation of NXT alone he has won over many of his harsh critics. We think he is likely to take the Vince McMahon approach in that he won’t let himself get inducted…at least for now.

5. Ivan Koloff. Born in Quebec but representing the Soviet Union, Ivan Koloff wrestled for decades and was the man who ended Bruno Sammartino’s eight year run as the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion. Koloff wrestled everywhere in the U.S. and Canada and was a bona fide headliner everywhere. Sadly any induction for him now would be posthumous, as he died a couple of years ago.

6. Chris Jericho. Jericho may be very much active (he just recently won the IWGP Intercontinental Title) but we have a rule on our Notinhalloffame.com wrestling list that once you reach the age of 46 you automatically move from the futures to the main list. Jericho likely still has many more small runs in him in the WWE but will be a main event inductee when he is ready.

7. Bruiser Brody. Brody famously died when he was stabbed by a fellow wrestler in Puerto Rico, which ended the career of the best brawler in professional wrestling history. Brody was a true rebel of the industry and while he was not associated with the WWE his legend fits in that institution.

8. Kane. Notably the above seven have the same ranking as last year. Kane however has moved up from #11 to #8. Like Jericho, Kane is still somewhat active in the WWE, though the man named Glenn Jacobs is focusing more on his political career. Like Chris Jericho, Kane’s age places him on our main list as opposed to the Futures.

9. Batista. Batista dropped one spot from #8. While his last run was not a career highlight the former multi-time WWE Champion has been vocal about wanting one more run followed by an official retirement. Hopefully he succeeds in obtaining that wish.

10. Owen Hart. Hart moved up from #12 but as long as there is Martha Hart the odds of Owen making the WWE Hall of Fame seems slim. Owen remains one of the locks that the WWE is afraid to pull the trigger on. Honestly, who can blame them?

While there were no additions in our top 100 there are certainly new names on our Notinhalloffame.com WWE list.

The highest new entry is R-Truth, who based on our mandatory age limit (discussed above with Chris Jericho) is now on our main list. Truth debuts at #189.

As always we here at Notinhalloffame.com continue to look at others who we may have missed. As such we have some new entries on our now Notinhallofame.com WWE 375.

Former AWA World Heavyweight Champion, The Mighty Igor debuts at #244. Former regional faux Japanese headliner Kenji Shibuya makes his first appearance at #271. Former Cleveland legend Johnny Powers debuts at #313. The final three entries, which are new are Count Billy Varga #373, Neff Maivia #374 and Akira Taue at #375.

Notably Daniel Bryan who was ranked #9 has been put back into our futures.

You know what we want you do to!

Take a look at our new list and cast your votes and offer us your opinions.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thanks you for all of your support!

Another Hall of Fame Class equals for us another Hall of Fame revision.

Approximately seven weeks ago, the WWE Hall of Fame inducted the Class of 2017, which took many off of our list.  This included:

Kurt Angle (Ranked #6)

Toots Mondt (Ranked #17)

“Ravishing” Rick Rude (Ranked #20)

Haystacks Calhoun (Ranked #32)

The Rock and Roll Express (Ranked #41)

Diamond Dallas Page (Ranked #47)

Rikidozan (#68)

Dr. Jerry Graham (#80)

Teddy Long (#134)

June Byers (#199)

Beth Phoenix (#240)

With the removal of these wrestlers, we have moved one wrestler from the future candidates section (The Big Show), and have added more additional performers who we may have forgotten before.  Rankings have changed based on your votes and comments and continuing career analysis.

Let’s get right to it, shall we?

While it is a controversial choice for some of you, we just can’t move the owner of the WWE, Vince McMahon out of the top spot.  Love him or hate him, most of you who started watching professional wrestling did so because of the marketing brilliance of McMahon. 

The Undertaker returns at #2.  With his recent retirement at Wrestlemania it is widely speculated that he will be inducted next year.  Frankly, we are hoping that is the case.

The Rock also returns at the same position, #3.  Like the Undertaker, when the Rock gets in, he will without question be the headliner. 

Triple H returns at #4.  While the resume of Triple H is certainly Hall of Fame worthy, though with him being a high ranking executive, it is actually a lot harder to induct him.  Maybe this is “Vince 2.0”, and he will be on this list for years to come. 

The late Ivan Koloff moved up two spots from #7 to #5.  There was talk about inducting him two years ago, but now any induction for the former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion would be posthumous.

Chris Jericho had a huge jump from #8 to #6.  While he is coming off of one of his most entertaining years in the ring, Y2J is 46 years old and older than the mandatory age of 45, which we placed to move Futures to the main list, even if they are active competitors. 

Bruiser Brody took a bit of a tumble as he dropped from #5 to #7.

Dave Batista, whose Hollywood run tells us he won’t be returning to the WWE anytime soon climbed one spot to #8.

Recently retired Daniel Bryan went up one spot to #10.  Bryan currently serves as the Smackdown General Manager.

Rounding out the top ten is The Big Show, our lone transfer from the Future Candidates Section to our main list.  While Show is in the best shape of his career, he will be 46 in February and is clearly on a reduced schedule.  He has been hinting retirement for years.

Here are the other new entries:

Seiji Sakaguchi at #153.

Alfonso Dantes at #186.

The Von Brauners at #197.

Jun Akiyama at #216.

Angelo Poffo at #292.

The Missouri Mauler at #314.

Bill DeMott at #338.

Dan Severn at #343.

Justin Credible at #353.

Pak Song at #355.

Stevie Richards at #359.

Duke Keomuka at #361.

Earl Hebner at #363.

Judy Martin at #367.

Ray Mendoza at #369.

Balls Mahoney at #370.

Hayabusa at #372.

Perro Aguayo Jr. at #373.

Al Madril at #374.

Bill Alfonso at #375.

Tony Anthony at #376.

Jamie Noble at #377.

The Disco Inferno at #378.

Velvet McIntyre at #379.

Sweet Daddy Siki at #380.

We have also increased our list from 365 to 380, and will likely add 20 more by the year’s end to bring it to an even 400.

You know what we want you to do!

Take a look and cast your votes and offer your opinions as those help us shape our future Notinhalloffame.com WWE List.

This is has not been a good 24 hours for Pro Wrestling.

George “The Animal” Steele, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, passed away at the age of 79. 

“The Animal”, born Jim Myers, was a native of Detroit, Michigan and played college football at Michigan State.  He would later become a teacher, but like many college football players he would turn to professional wrestling where in his home city he donned a mask and performed as “The Student”.  It wasn’t long before he caught the attention of Bruno Sammartino, the World Wide Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion and owner of the Pittsburgh territory. 

Losing the mask, Myers would adopt the George Steele name in Pittsburgh and became a wild in ring wrestler, using foreign objects yet still showcasing technical ability.  Steele would join Bruno in the WWWF and would feud with Sammartino for the WWWF World Title, performing in numerous sold-out shows in the Northeast. 

The WWWF would remain his home for decades and the Animal would go up and down the card and would later challenge Pedro Morales for the World Title, and Sammartino again when he regained the championship.  When Vince McMahon Jr. took over the reigns of the newly named World Wrestling Federation, he had Steele become more Neanderthal like and he would speak only in monosyllabic gibberish.  Steele would receive title shots against Hulk Hogan, but despite his numerous high profile matches, it was his face turn on the first Saturday Night’s Main Event for which he is best known for.

Steele would become a beloved fan favorite and would notable feud with Randy “Macho Man” Savage for the Intercontinental Title, and for the affection of Elizabeth.  He would end his in ring career in 1988, though would sporadically return on camera on occasion.  He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995.

Ivan Koloff, another wrestling legend also passed away. 

Born Oreal Perras in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Koloff would begin his career as Red McNulty, only to become one of many kayfabe Russians.  Billed from Ukraine, “The Russian Bear” would enter the WWWF in 1969 and would become the World Champion, ending the seven year plus reign of Bruno Sammartino.  It was a brief reign as Koloff would hold the belt for under a month losing it to Pedro Morales, but it cemented him in WWE folklore.

In and out of the WWF throughout the 1970’s, Koloff would have a more famous run in the NWA, most notably in the 1980’s as the leader of the Russians, a stable consisting of himself, his “nephew”, Nikita Koloff and Krusher Khruschev. 

Koloff’s name had been thrown about for the WWE Hall of Fame, though he has yet to be selected. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of George Steele and Ivan Koloff at this time. 

A quick way to get heel heat in the world of Professional Wrestling is to declare your hatred for the United Sates and take on the persona of one of their enemies. More often than not, these performers were not from those countries, but back in the 70’s and 80’s had you told anyone that Ivan Koloff was not really a Russian, it would be hard to find anyone to believe you.