Considerations for the Hall of Fame

 

With the Hall of Fame around the corner, and the huge glaring name missing from the list is Randy Savage, I thought I'd construct a list of probable names that should "one day" end up in the WWE Hall Fame.  

Owen Hart

Let's face it, the only thing keeping Owen out is his widow, Martha Hart.  As long as there's a lawsuit existing between the WWE and Martha Hart over the death of Owen Hart (which took place 14 years ago), Owen will never be in the Hall of Fame.....which is sad!  Bret Hart has made peace with Vince McMahon, Martha should do the same, if anything, so his kids can see his place in the WWE.  

Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Not withstanding the fact that Jake has never carried a major title and that his drug use was documented in Beyond the Mat, Jake Roberts was a solid worker in the WWF back in the mid eighties.  Once you got past Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper.....you ran into Jake.  For me, the angle he worked with Rick Martel was genius.  Back before there were monthly pay per views, Jake chased Martel all over the world for months until they finally met up at Wrestlemania VII.  Jim Ross was quoted one time in saying that Jake's mind is boarder line genius when it comes to making matches.  Plus, there's no Austin 3:16 without Jake.

The NWO

If you're going to put the 4 Horsemen in the Hall Fame, The NWO (just the original three) belong as well.  When Hogan turned heel to help boast the NWO's credibility, it also boasted WCW over the WWF.  Plus, while I would never put both Kevin Nash or Scott Hall in the Hall of Fame....on their own, together, along with Hogan, they were marketable, they were impressive, and they dominated WCW.

"Ravishing" Rick Rude

Just this guy's promos should put him in the Hall of Fame.  He was such a heat-getter that the crowd loved to boo him out of the building.  Here's the real kicker though, Rick Rude was a smart wrestler too.  Ask anyone in the locker room back then, he carried The Ultimate Warrior when the Warrior was on top of the world.  Rude was a legitimate tough guy and a hell of a hand to have in the ring.  As far as titles are concerned, he is a former WCW "North American" Champion, former Intercontinental Champion, and a former United States Champion. 

Honky Tonk Man

With the Honky Tonk Man, you get two different people.  The Honky Tonk Man is the longest reigning Intercontinental champion.  Wayne Ferris (his real name) is all about the dollar bill.  The reason he hasn't entered the WWE Hall of Fame yet is because the price isn't right for him.  He was a talented midcarder who had a gimmick that worked.  

Paul Bearer

With the passing of William Moody, his character of Paul Bearer belongs in the Hall, hands down!  He propelled The Undertaker's role in the WWF to astronomical feats.  If you want to go a little deeper, he made life hell for the Von Erichs in WCCW in the early 80s.  From Undertaker, to Kane, to Mick Foley, Paul Bearer was at the forefront their careers (yes, Mick Foley was well known as Cactus Jack before then, but didn't make it until he became Mankind).  

ECW

Not the brand that Vince McMahon attempted to bring back, but the original ECW, helmed by Paul Heyman.  Paul Heyman took an organization and changed the landscape of wrestling with his extreme style of wrestling.  ECW created superstars like The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Raven, and Shane Douglas, just to name a few.  Because of ECW, the WWF took their concepts, entered the Attitude era, thus creating Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, and The Rock.  

Retrospective: WCW Television Title???

 

Back when WCW was running wild on TBS, they had four titles that represented the company.  They had the NWA/WCW World title, which Ric Flair generally held all of the time.  The United States title would usually be around the person who would be next in line to win the NWA/WCW title.  The Tag Team titles would usually go to a team like The Road Warriors, The Nasty Boys, The Freebirds, teams that had been together for years.  Then we have the WCW Television title.  I'd like to call this the Bobby Eaton/Arn Anderson title, because normally guys like them would hold it.  They would never be in contention for the World title, and they would probably never be given main event status.

For me, it reminds me of the useless title of the WWF European Title, a belt that was given to Davey Boy Smith to keep him happy, granted he dropped it as soon as Shawn Michaels gained power in the WWF.  The idea of the WCW Television title was that the champion could only defend it....on T.V.  How lame is that?  Every title was usually defended on T.V.....some on pay per view as well.  Don't get me wrong, guys like Steve Austin, Lord Steven Regal, Ricky Steamboat (after he already won the World title years before), Barry Windham, Lex Luger (bet that kept him happy), and so on.  WCW never had any interest in pushing Austin back then, Regal was a nice hand to have, but Bischoff wasn't about to place the entire company in Regal's hands, and Barry Windham was tough talented, but not marketable.  

Did the WCW Television Title have it's place in wrestling history, sure!  I just don't think that WCW handled the place that the title could have truly been used for.  Thank god Vince McMahon doesn't want go back to those times, he probably had his hands full with the European title, Hardcore title, ECW title, and even the World Heavyweight title....belts that have out lived their usefulness too! 

Why The Rock will chase wrestling fans away from the WWE

FINALLY, THE ROCK HAS COME BACK...but for how long?  Ever since The Rock came back to the WWE in 2011, we can count the amount of appearances he's made on WWE programming on two hands.  Since he's been back, he's hosted Wrestlemania, had three singles matches and one tag team match, challenged the WWE Champion to a match....8 months down the line, and has pushed other superstars away from main eventing the big shows.  Remember when Hulk Hogan won the WWF title back in 1993 from Yokozuna at Wrestlemania IX (I was there), and didn't appear on TV until June at the King of the Ring?  That's what this is!  As far as I'm concerned, the only thing The Rock has done productive is update the WWE Championship belt.

CM Punk held the WWE Championship for 400 plus days, a feat that hasn't happened since Hulk Hogan held the title for the first time.  In the 90's and 2000's, the WWE title has been more like musical chairs.  Austin would hold it for a few months, Triple H would win it and hold for a month, then The Rock would regain it, then Kurt Angle would enter the mix and win it, then Kane would hold it for a day, and so on and so on....  Then we entered the John Cena era and while having him represent the company as champion, he drew more in chasing the title, as long as either Randy Orton, Batista, Alberto Del Rio, or Rey Mysterio held the title.  CM Punk brought legitimacy to the title.  Then, with The Rock's challenge at the Royal Rumble, which was put in place the day after Wrestlemania the year before, it was only a matter of time before we knew the belt was coming off him.  

This does set the stage for Cena winning the belt back at Wrestlemania against The Rock, and winning his rematch on top of that, but the damage has already been done.  The World Heavyweight title is a non-factor (probably should of been retired when WCW went under, in my opinion), Dolph Ziggler's Money in the Bank title shot has been pushed back, CM Punk now faces The Undertaker at Wrestlemania instead of attempting to reclaim the title, and Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show are no longer in the title picture.  The company can't revolve around a guy who is a part time contributor.  The sooner the title comes off The Rock, the quicker "wrestling fans" will come back to the WWE.  

The Wrestlemania Dream Match that needs to happen

20-0 at Wrestlemania is impressive.  None of the WWE Hall of Famers can claim that.  No one except one person:  The Undertaker.  Throughout his 20 wins, names like Triple H (3 times), Shawn Michaels (2 times), Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Kane (2 times), Randy Orton, Edge have all fallen to the streak.  But if The Undertaker wants to cement his wrestling legacy, he needs to face one more person.  That would be Sting!

Sting, who at this moment is a TNA stallworth, has never wrestled for Vince McMahon, although both sides always claim that they were close a time or two.  While the two of them met in WCW, long before Mark Callaway became The Undertaker, Sting did not come over during the WCW transition to the WWF in 2001.  At the time, Sting claimed that Vince didn't handle the WCW talent properly and that signing with Vince would be the same as Bret Hart signing with WCW back in 1997, which didn't work out so well for Bret.  

So how do we get this to happen, my answer is Triple H!  Triple H is in position to take over the WWE after McMahon steps aside, and he has already made tons of headway.  The first impressive thing Triple H has done was get Bruno Sammartino to come back to the WWE and be a part of their Hall of Fame.  Bruno, who had always bashed Vince and his product, claim that it focused on sex too much and not enough wrestling, saw the changes that Triple H was making.  He saw that wrestling was becoming more kid friendly again, the WWE was taking care of their wrestlers with their wellness program (lets face it, with no union, the wrestlers are left to fend for themselves after they retire), and that their development program in Florida was top notch.  I'm sure Bruno's view of McMahon might be the same it was back in the early 80's, but he was smart enough to see how Triple H was changing the landscape.  

If I was Triple H, here's what I'd do!  I'd call Dixie Carter, tell her that I need Sting for 4-8 weeks.  I'd have the WWE pay whatever TNA is paying him for those 4-8 weeks, plus add bonuses for merchandising and public appearances.  Most importantly, I would keep the storyline just Sting/Undertaker.  The only match Sting would wrestle would be Wrestlemania because seeing Sting wrestle John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Ryback, Sheamus, whoever would make Sting's appearance look more tainted.  The last thing you want to show is Sting's weaknesses to you top talent.  Have both Undertaker and Sting cut a series of promos with each other, get your legendary shot of Sting and Undertaker facing off with the Wrestlemania banner hanging in the back, that alone would shoot up your buyrate.  After Wrestlemania, Sting goes back to TNA and then it's business as usual.  Triple H has shown to be a smart business man, this would be smart!

No disrespect to CM Punk, I'm sure both him and The Undertaker will tear it up this year, considering that CM Punk is your best wrestler on the roster and his 400 plus days as WWE Champion was more impressive than anything WWE has had since the John Cena era.  However, The Undertaker is getting older, Sting is getting older, and Wrestlemania is turning 30 next year!  The window of opportunity is closing on these two, so Triple H needs to make this happen!

The WWE Hall of Fame is still incomplete

While getting Bruno Sammartino to enter the WWE Hall of Fame was a major feat, given his dislike for Vince McMahon and the product that Vince promotes, there is still one glaring name that is missing from the WWE Hall of Fame.  While names like Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Mick Foley have entered the Hall of Fame, Randy Savage remains off the list!

Randy Savage entered the WWE in the mid 80's and quickly climbed the ladder of success in the WWF.  His feuds with Hulk Hogan, Ted DiBiase, and The Ultimate Warrior were top draws all over the country.  During a time when Vince McMahon was only interested in pushing one man, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage quickly became a fan favorite to WWF crowds.  From his promos, to his flying elbowdrops, to the fact that he had the prettiest manager to accompany him to the ring (that being Miss Elizabeth, his wife at the time), Savage was not only able to carry the torch for a while, he drew money for the WWF in the process, something that was near impossible for any other superstar to do during the Hogan era.  

During 1994, the WWF and Randy Savage parted ways.  Some say that it was due to the office not wanting to go any further with Savage and were ready to push the New Generation along with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.  Some say that Savage wanted a change of climate and WCW was able to provide that.  There was even a rumor going around saying that Randy and Stephanie McMahon had an elicit affair, given that Stephanie was under age at the time.  That rumor only gets stronger since Vince refuses to even mention Savage's name on his programming.  As Randy entered the WCW, he shot right to the top and had very memorial moments with Ric Flair, Diamond Dallas Page, Sting, Lex Luger, and of course Hulk Hogan and the whole nWo storyline.  

Out of all of the feuds Randy had in his career, the one that always gets mentioned is his match with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at WrestleMania III.  For the longest time, that match was ranked the number one match in WrestleMania history, and it was a match that saw Steamboat capture the Intercontinental title.  Considering that he won both of his WWF World titles at WrestleMania (IV and VIII), his match with Steamboat is among the top 5 matches ever!

Given the fact that the WWE has inducted other names like Pete Rose, Bob Ucker, Donald Trump, and Mike Tyson and Randy Savage is always overlooked, in my mind, the WWE Hall of Fame will remain incomplete.  So does Randy Savage belong in the Hall of Fame?  OH YEAH!!!