2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Bischoff should go in. I'd like to see Shiavone go in. Long career and he was the voice of WCW for a while in some good years.

Triple H will go in. He and HBK will join Naitch as double inductees for DX. Hall, Nash, and Hogan could go in as nWo and be double inductees.

Jericho
Lesnar
Angle
Goldberg
Luger
Owens
Henry
Taz
Dreamer
Heyman


But if Godfather can gonjn, let's put in Droz, Headbangers, Oddities, Val Venis, D'Lo and Marc Mero.

Women
Sable
Ivory
Victoria
Mickie

And lemmetellya bro sweah ta gah or I'll go in that gahddamn grave Vince Russo should go in the Hall bro!

 

I would also like to nominate The Beast From The East, Bam Bam Bigelow.

 

Have we mentioned Daniel Bryan yet?

 

Bryan feels like the Terrell Davis of the WWE Hall of Fame debate (such as it is). Great career while it lasted, but did he do enough in that brief period to be considered one of the all-time greats? Through no fault of his own his three WWE title reigns amounted to 65 days and maybe two or three actual defenses.

 

Bryan's legacy is going to rest squarely on how far guys like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles and the like get.

If Bryan didn't get over as much as he did, and to a lesser extent Punk, the WWE would've never given those guys another look but because Bryan came in with a massive following and it organically took over the company, his influence on the product is clear. I could totally see him get inducted for that alone though I will agree his WWE career on its own doesn't necessarily make him a lock.

 

Good point about Bryan's larger legacy with the indy guys. Didn't think of that.

 

If we're listing HOF candidates that are still active, recently retired, or nearing retirement, there's a ton:

Kane
Undertaker
Mysterio
Jericho
Triple H
Christian
Angle
Styles (depending on how they view his TNA and Japanese work)
Big Show
The Hardys (as a tag team; Jeff might be worthy of inclusion on his own as well)
The Dudleys

 

If Schaivone deserves a mention, then Lance Russell ought to be a lock. He's been a Memphis institution for roughly 60 years.

Jushin Liger, definitely. He pretty much defined the modern cruiserweight.

Heyman will, at some point. He had so many contributions even before his Lesnar advocate role, which has been his best work.

Lord Alfred Hayes is a major snub. He was a mainstay of their announce team all through the 80s.

Cyndi Lauper belongs in their celebrity wing. Without her, there's no Rock N Wrestling. She was as important as Mr. T was to the first Wrestlemania.

Some other ones that I don't think have been mentioned:

Sabu, RVD, Haku/Meng, Iron Mike Sharpe.

 

Brie Bella is retiring way sooner than expected. Wrestlemania will be her last date with the company as she's gonna leave to take care of Daniel Bryan, who's apparently dealing with some health issues (which explains why he cancelled MSG, the European tour & AXXESS this week). This is also why Brie wasn't on TV this week.

It's probably those seizures he was talking about in post-retirement interviews but I've also been reading about Bryan dealing with depression. I just hope that isn't the case. It's been so hard for him to be forced to retire; the last thing he needs is dealing with depression.

 

If this is truly a pro wrestling Hall of Fame, Daniel Bryan was a lock before he ever set foot in WWE.

 

Good to see a mention of Lord Alfred Hayes, in addition to his announcing gig he was a great heel manager in the AWA.

 

WWE made a faux "Nitro" opening, for if WCW had won the war.

WCW Nitro's open if WWE lost the war