This is one of the lighter classes, except for the headliner.Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels is a yes vote.  Moving on.

Legion of Doom

They’re the most dominant tag team ever, bar none.  Yes the Dudleys won a lot more titles, but to even suggest that the Dudleys are at the Road Warriors’ level is laughable. The Road Warriors feuded with the Horsemen in the late 80s.  That alone makes them a huge deal.  This isn’t even remotely close and it’s an easy yes.

That pretty much ends the good Hall of Fame picks this year.  Let’s get through the rest of them.

Sunny

I can accept this one given how insanely popular she was, but the first Diva inducted should have been Liz.  Considering the INSANE legal trouble Sunny has gotten into recently, this is one of those that WWE likely regrets.  Also, Sable should have gone in before Sunny.  I’m ok with this one but it definitely has its flaws.

Jim Duggan

Uh…….yeah.  Duggan is in that group of people with Hillbilly Jim and Koko B. Ware: he didn’t accomplish much (although Duggan accomplished a lot more than they did) but he’s so beloved that it’s hard to turn him down.  It’s just hard not to like this guy on some level as he never came off as menacing but rather a guy who loved America and wanted to do the right thing, while also being incredibly goofy.  At least Duggan won something of note in his career, as he won the first Royal Rumble as well as the WCW US and TV Titles.  As for being in the Hall of Fame, I’ll go hide in a shelter somewhere before telling the fans that no, he doesn’t belong in there.  I feel dirty for saying it though.

Bob Armstrong

This is another one where it’s more because of his family than anything else.  Bob is the father of wrestlers Steve Armstrong (wrestled in WCW in the early 90s), Brad Armstrong (good wrestler in WCW), Brian Armstrong (more famous as Road Dogg) and referee Scott Armstrong (the blonde one with that annoying hitch in his count).  As for Bob, he wrestled under a mask for years as the Bullet in Alabama and other parts of the south.  While he’s a big deal down there, that’s really about all he’s done.  To me, that isn’t enough to be in the Hall of Fame.

Abdullah the Butcher

This falls under the same category as the Sheik: yeah he’s legendary, yeah he’s been around forever, yeah he was innovative, no I don’t want him in the Hall of Fame due to all of the stuff he’s done to hurt wrestling by making hardcore more popular.  That’s all there is to this one.

Drew Carey

Yeah he’s here too.

Like I said, this is a pretty lame class other than the headliner.

All-American Wrestling
Date: February 24, 1985
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura

This is another one of those shows that I have a fair few episodes of from this era. This is one of WWF’s weekend shows and I think it ran on Sunday mornings. It was one of their bigger shows and it ran nationally. We’re about 5 weeks from Wrestlemania and this is the six days after the War To Settle The Score, so this is probably going to be talking about Hogan vs. Piper. Let’s get to it.

By the way, this is one of those shows that shows clips from everywhere so no location listed.

Terry Gibbs/Carl Fury vs. Junkyard Dog/Tony Atlas

Atlas and Gibbs start us off and Atlas easily breaks a full nelson. Both jobbers are easily thrown around and here’s JYD. He throws Fury around for a bit before turning it back over to Atlas. Gorilla press and a splash end this. On a level of squashes, this was pretty squashy.

Off to Gene in the Control Center where he says what’s coming.

UPDATE! With Alfred Hayes!

This one is about the Lady’s Championship as Lelani Kai beat Wendi Richter recently. We get a clip of Moolah beating up Richter during a promo. Richter is going to use her return clause. That would be at Wrestlemania.

Pete Pompeii vs. The Spoiler

There’s no referee. Spoiler is a masked guy with Johnny V as his manager. Johnny is taking pictures during the match. This is in Ontario. It’s another squash with Pompeii getting in some small offense but nothing that makes any real difference. Spoiler wins with the Claw.

Lou Albano is freshly face and has been raising money with Cyndi Lauper for charity. However he wants to talk about his fifteenth team to be champions. He brings in Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham who he SWEARS is the best team they’ve ever seen.

Gene says this is our feature match.

Bret Hart vs. Rene Goulet

This is Bret’s MSG debut and he’s just a kid in black and red trunks. Bret takes him down to the mat with a headlock and then does the same with an armbar. Goulet gets in a knee to the ribs to break that up and hooks a bearhug. Goulet bites Bret a lot and shoves him onto the announce table. Now it’s a claw hold which Bret eventually breaks up. A slam gets two for Goulet.

Bret grabs a sunset flip out of nowhere for two. Rene is your traditional pompous Frenchman and plays to the crowd as rudely as he could. Off to a chinlock and then the Claw again because once wasn’t enough. Bret gets knocked to the floor and Goulet poses on the ropes. Hart comes back in with a sunset flip that had the crowd very excited. Here’s Bret’s comeback with an atomic drop and abdominal stretch. There’s the backbreaker and a legdrop.

Goulet rams him into the corner and pulls out a foreign object from his tights. Bret grabs a sleeper (his finisher apparently, which Gene calls a Singapore Sleeper which is a new one on me) and it gets the win for Bret. Goulet still has the object (can you really call it foreign with him?) after the match.

Rating: D. Bret is one of the best ever but he needs more than this to work with. Goulet was really boring and was usually just there to put over young guys like Bret or Hillbilly Jim. When you use the same rest hold multiple times, you can usually tell that a guy isn’t anything special. Boring match but the fans liked Bret.

Time for the Pit!

The guests are Mr. Fuji and Jim Neidhart. That’s a unique pairing. Fuji says he’s sorry Muraco isn’t here tonight. Apparently Fuji is managing Neidhart. That must have been pretty short lived. Anvil introduces himself and Piper says he loves them. That’s it.

Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff vs. Aldo Marino/Tony Garea

Garea has seen better days. The evil foreigners (as opposed to the nice foreigners) do their singing and IRAN NUMBER ONE RUSSIA NUMBER ONE thing. Garea vs. Sheik starts things off. After about 50 seconds we get contact in the form of a Garea headlock. The fans are freaking over Garea hurting Sheik. Off to Aldo who keeps up the headlocking. Volkoff gets in a boot though and the bad guys take over. Belly to back suplex kills Marino and it’s off to Volkoff. He piledrives Marino and the gorilla press backbreaker ends this massacre.

Rating: D. Garea was so fun to watch back in the day but his prime was about five years before this. Not much to see here but it was a squash near the end of a show so there’s only so much criticism you can give it. Boring match and it was just barely long enough to rate, which is very pesky.

Fuji says he’s beautiful and successful. He and Muraco communicate with their minds. Muraco pops up and shouts BANZAI. He’s got the Asiatic Spike now. Muraco sounds high as a kite and says they’re both evil.

Overall Rating: D. I can’t say it’s good because they’re all over the place with this show. Literally as they were in about 4 different arenas. This is another in the pile of WWF shows that has a random assortment of matches, most of which aren’t any good. Bret’s debut in MSG is cool to see but other than that, not unless you’re a big fan of this time period.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Apparently he was in a tag match.  Pictures and video (from WWE’s official Youtube channel) included.

He doesn’t look great but Undertaker could sit in the ring and have a ham sandwich at Wrestlemania and get a big ovation.

My guess is a match with Punk which would likely be the best bet.

Thoughts/predictions?

The class is a bit more diverse this time.Ted DiBiase

It has long since been my opinion that Ted DiBiase is the greatest heel of all time and I stand by that statement to this day.  The man was the personification of evil and was absolutely perfect in the role.  That evil laugh of his is closer to scary than sinister and the shot of him at the Main Event wearing the WWF Title makes me angry to this day.  Considering I love the guy and he still makes me mad, that’s a sign of something very special and definitely someone worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Antonio Inoki

This is another example of someone that isn’t much of anything in WWE but worldwide he’s one of the most important figures of all time.  Inoki is a legend in Japan and is the equivalent of a Senator over there.  He was a huge star back in his day and one of the most famous names in the history of Japanese wrestling.  If we’re talking about a wrestling Hall of Fame, there is no way to not have Inoki in it.  This is another easy yes.

Wendi Richter

Richter is one of those people that you probably haven’t heard of because of how short her stint in the company was.  The time she did have in the company was VERY impressive though as she was so popular that she was actually main eventing house shows.  Think about that for a minute: women’s wrestling in 1985 main eventing shows.  That’s how over Richter was.  On top of that, she was one of the catalysts that started the Rock N Wrestling Connection.  The problem is that she wasn’t around that long and left abruptly (not directly her fault, it was a legit screwjob finish to a match), so I don’t think I can give her a spot.  It’s not one I’d fight to the death over though.

Mad Dog Vachon

His real name was Maurice but he’s far more famous as Mad Dog.  Vachon was a huge deal in the AWA and held five world titles.  He isn’t that well known in the WWF but he did make a cameo where his leg was used as a foreign object in a match between Shawn vs. Diesel.  Other than that he’s most famous for being Luna Vachon’s uncle and that’s about it as far as the WWF goes.  However, he’s VERY famous outside of the WWF and with a resume like he has, it’s almost impossible to say no to him.  Vachon is another yes.

Gorgeous George

This is arguably the guy that brought professional wrestling into the American home.  He was credited with selling as many TV sets as Milton Berle (look him up you young whippersnappers).  George is famous for bringing characters to wrestling rather than just guys in trunks doing moves on each other, making him the original sports entertainer.  Also, he was the first man to come to the ring with music playing (despite what about 857 other wrestlers claim).  There’s a case for George being the most influential wrestler of all time and I wouldn’t argue that much against it.  In case you didn’t get it, this is a yes.

Stu Hart

Aside from being arguably the greatest wrestling trainer of all time (Verne Gagne might have something to say about that but there’s a solid case for Hart), he did this:

He wrestled a tiger. A TIGER.

If that isn’t enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, I don’t know what does.  Stu is a yes.

Bob Uecker

Yeah sure why not.

This was a good class with a lot of people that modern wrestling fans might not have heard of, which is a good thing.

This keeps coming back to me.Why is the show called Monday Night Raw?  Raw means uncooked or brand new.  What does that have to do with wrestling?  I’ve wondered this for 20 years now and I still don’t get it.

So if you listen to Glenn Beck, may God have mercy on your soul.

Now that we have that out of the way, we’ll get on to stuff that is actually news.Anyway, apparently Beck said that wrestling fans are stupid or something like that.  This may or may not have been due to the Colter/Swagger story but every time I tried to look it up my head started hurting because I was reading too much Beck nonsense.  Either way, this video popped up on WWE’s Youtube channel.  Watch the whole thing.

While I usually hate seeing kayfabe’s corpse beaten up even further and while I always loathe Glenn Beck’s nonsense, I couldn’t help but smile at hearing people far smarter than him explain why wrestling is far better entertainment than his latest conspiracy theory about how everyone is out to get your freedom and the only way to save yourself is to buy both his latest book and whatever product is sponsoring him this week.

Anyway, any thoughts on this?

Now THIS is a stacked class…..on top at least.Steve Austin

Steve Austin is a yes.  Moving on.

Ricky Steamboat

This is turning into a boring post.  Ricky Steamboat might be the greatest pure good guy in wrestling history and put on some of the greatest matches in wrestling history, including arguably the best match of all time.  I’ve heard people say he might be the best in ring performer ever, and I think I’ve proven my point by now.  Steamboat is a yes.

The Funks

This would be Terry and Dory Jr.  About two and a half years ago, I was lucky enough to get to meet Mick Foley at a book signing.  Someone asked him who he thought was the greatest wrestler of all time and he almost immediately said Terry Funk, based on how he can go from one style to another like it was no trouble at all.  What people often forget is that Terry Funk held the NWA World Title in the 70s for well over a year.  That’s in addition to all the hardcore stuff that he’s done since he first announced his retirement, THIRTY YEARS AGO.  Dory has even more success with titles, as he held the same NWA World Title for over four years, which is the second longest reign in title history.  The Funks are in with ease.

The Von Erichs

No specific Von Erich but rather the entire family (Fritz, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris).   This is where I start to have problems with this class.  At the end of the day, I don’t think I would put any of the individual Von Erichs into the Hall of Fame other than MAYBE Fritz or Kerry.  Some of the other ones barely ever wrestled and when they did it was very low quality stuff.  The Von Erichs were huge in the 80s but after that they (literally) started dying off in a hurry.  I can’t go with this one as there’s just not enough there other than a great run in Texas for a few years.

Bill Watts

This is one of those that I’m really not sure about.  He did indeed have a very solid run as a booker in Mid-South, but when he got to the big time in WCW, things fell apart in a hurry.  As a wrestler he was a solid territory guy and the reports on his racism issues are all over the place to the point where it’s hard to tell how true they are.  Even if he was, that doesn’t really make a difference as far as talking about someone’s greatness.  At the end of the day though, I don’t think I can say yes to him, although it’s not a vehement no.

Howard Finkel

Oh come on.  IT’S THE FINK.  How in the world do you expect me to say no to the guy whose voice is synonymous with with WWF?  If the Fink isn’t in the Hall of Fame, there’s no point in having one.  Easy yes.

Koko B. Ware

This is the name that people point to when they want to show that the Hall of Fame has nothing to do with in ring accomplishments.  Off the top of your head, name something that Koko did that meant anything on a large scale.  He was somewhat something of note in the USWA/Memphis wrestling but other than that, the guy is famous for having a bird as a pet.  Koko is a no, although he did have a SWEET missile dropkick.

This is like an upside down egg: big on top, terrible on the bottom.

Now this is a headliner.Ric Flair

This is another one that does not need an explanation.  Ric Flair is a yes vote.

Peter Maivia

Based on everything I can tell, Maivia is on this list because his grandson agreed to induct him.  That grandson would be named the Rock and he hadn’t appeared on anything associated with WWE in years.  Maivia didn’t do much on the national stage but he wasn’t really around in the time of a national promotion.  At the end of the day though, I don’t think there’s enough on his resume to be in the Hall of Fame.  He was a talented wrestler, but he’s just not that great overall.

Rocky Johnson

Also inducted by the Rock, Johnson at least has a stronger body of work than his dad did.  Johnson was part of the Soul Patrol with Tony Atlas who were the first black world tag team champions.  Allegedly Johnson was going to be the top guy in the company before Hogan showed up and took the spot instead.  Other than that Johnson isn’t incredibly famous for his work in the ring, but he was a pretty big deal in the early 80s.  Again though, as for being in the Hall of Fame I’m thinking no.  The problem at the end of the day is that Rock inducting both he and Maivia seemed to be the whole reason for them getting in, and that’s not a good thing.

Mae Young

Young was a big deal back in the old days of women’s wrestling, but the problem is it’s still women’s wrestling.  No matter how you look at it, women’s wrestling has almost always been seen as a side show to its male counterpart.  Now that being said, it certainly doesn’t take away what Young has accomplished.  When you consider that Young was in her late 70s when she debuted in WWE and is still a fun attraction today, it’s hard to say she doesn’t belong in the WWE Hall of Fame.  If nothing else for the stuff she’s allowed the cameras to film her doing.

Eddie Graham

Graham is a name that most of you likely don’t know, but to say he was influential is an understatement.  Basically, think of a modern booking idea or technique.  The odds are that Graham thought of it first and someone stole it from him.  He was also a wrestler with a lot of success, but he’s far more famous as a booker than a wrestler.  Graham ran Championship Wrestling From Florida for many years, (Wrestlemania was held in Orlando this year).  Graham was one of the most versatile minds in wrestling history and easily belongs in any wrestling Hall of Fame.

Gordon Solie

Speaking of Florida, Solie was commentator on CWF for years.  He was known as the Dean of Professional Wrestling and made Jim Ross look like a hack when it came to calling matches.  Solie called matches for the better part of ever and was always entertaining to listen to.  He’s kind of like your local baseball commentator: he just feels right to listen to.  This is another layup for any wrestling Hall of Fame.

The Brisco Brothers

It’s a shame that Jerry is only remembered as one of the Stooges because he was amazing in the ring in his day.  Jerry was much more famous as a tag wrestler but he was excellent in the ring no matter what he did.  he was also an amateur champion and could hang on the mat with anyone.  That being said, he paled in comparison to his brother Jack.  Jack Brisco isn’t that well known by the modern generation but he’s one of the very best wrestlers that ever lived.  He was a two time world champion back in the days when that was still a huge deal.  The Briscos are both yes votes, but Jack is an emphatic one.

This isn’t the best class in the world.  The main appeal of this class was one of the presenters rather than the wrestlers and it’s one of the classes that make you scratch your head at some of the selections.  Still though, it has Flair and Brisco so I can’t complain much.

It may be weaker at the top but it’s very strong throughout.

Dusty Rhodes

While not much in the WWE, he was HUGE elsewhere and one of the most influential people in the history of wrestling.  If you want to talk about someone who is a lifer in wrestling, Rhodes is a good place to start.  He debuted 45 years ago and is still active in wrestling today.  Think about that for a minute.  That’s a LONG time to do anything, let alone be in wrestling.  Rhodes is a yes, and if you’re not familiar with some of his stuff from the 70s, look it up.  It’s far different than what he’s most famous for.

Curt Hennig

Hennig is one of those guys where the more I see of him, the more I’m impressed by him.  He had nearly unlimited talent and one of the best gimmicks in wrestling history.  Hennig came as close to living up to the name Mr. Perfect as you could get and the various sports vignettes he had were some of the best promos ever.  He never won the WCW or WWF World Title but he had a year long reign as AWA World Champion which is still solid enough to count for something.  This is another easy yes.

Jerry Lawler

Lawler is another guy that is legendary in the indies and one in particular, but he’s equally if not even more famous for being the co-voice of Monday Night Raw and therefore the WWF as a whole.  Lawler has been doing commentary for about twenty years now as well as still wrestling occasionally.  He’s never won a title in the WWE but he’s never needed to.  Lawler has long since been at the level where his reputation is safe no matter what he does.  Lawler is another yes and one of the few people who would make it into both the WWE Hall of Fame and any other wrestling Hall of Fame as well.

Nick Bockwinkel

This is another name that isn’t that well known by a lot of young fans but he certainly should be.  Bockwinkel was the father of the smart heel, as he was very crafty but also very skilled in the ring.  Before him, most heels were monsters that a hero would have to vanquish.  Bockwinkel came along and changed the entire idea, showing that heels could win with their minds instead of brute force.  He’s very similar to Ted DiBiase in that regard, which makes him a very influential man indeed.  He held the AWA World Title for over eight years combined and the tag titles for over three years.  That alone makes him an easy yes vote.

Mr. Fuji

I love Mr. Fuji!  (Five points if you get that reference)  This one might surprise you.  Fuji was a pretty lame manager, but he was a very accomplished tag wrestler.  He was a five time WWF Tag Team Champion and holds the record for most days spent as a tag team champion.  He held a tag title for 932 days.  Billy Gunn is second at 916 and had twice as many reigns.  The next place down is over seven months shorter.  Fuji managed Demolition during a large portion of their record tag title run and also managed Yokozuna to the WWF Title.  On top of all that, he was in FUJI FREAKING VICE (look that up if you want some old school hilarity).  I was thinking no at first but a little research says he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Jim Ross

If Jerry Lawler is in, Jim Ross has to be in too.  He’s been the voice of the WWE for what seems like ever now and he continues to be a great commentator.  His acting isn’t exactly top notch half the time and he can be more than a little annoying, but the best way I can sum up JR is this: he and Lawler on commentary just feels right.  Ross was also a force behind the scenes as he was VP of talent relations for a long time.  He’s a jack of all trades in wrestling and again I have no problem with him being inducted.

The Sheik

Not the Iron Sheik but just the Sheik.  This is a guy you probably haven’t heard of but if you’re a fan of ECW or Mick Foley or Terry Funk, you need to research this guy.  He’s arguably the father of hardcore wrestling in the US and was legendary in his main territory of Detroit.  Sheik also trained Raven and Sabu, which may or may not be a good thing in your eyes.  As for being in the Hall of Fame, this is more of a personal issue but I’m saying no.  Hardcore wrestling has done more to hurt wrestling than anything else and Sheik introduced the style to the world.  I’m saying no based on that alone.

The Wild Samoans

This is the team that started the entire tradition in the wrestling world.  From The Rock to Yokozuna to Rosey to Roman Reigns, it all started here.  The Wild Samoans were a very successful tag team and won multiple tag titles over the years.  Afa also has been a successful trainer and trained Mickey Rourke for the movie The Wrestler.  This is another team that is a yes, although there are a few other teams I would put in over them.

This is one of the most stacked classes from top to bottom ever and probably the best one yet with no huge negatives.

Apparently Swagger was arrested last night after the Smackdown tapings on an undisclosed traffic offense.  No word on if alcohol was involved or not or if this is legit or storyline based.  I don’t see any indication that it’s an angle though.  Also no word on what this means for Wrestlemania.  It’s still early enough to change the match if need be.

Update: Apparently it was DUI and possession of marijuana.  Bye bye Wrestlemania.  Nice going Jack.