Big, Dumb Wrestling Stuff: WWE Hall of Fame Part 1 -- The Misfits

Each year, one of the centerpieces of Wrestlemania week is the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Typically, the year’s honorees begin to be revealed weekly just after the Royal Rumble, the event which kicks off the “Road to Wrestlemania” officially. Thanks to the WWE’s status in sports and entertainment, coverage of and reaction to the announced names extends from not just WWE.com and the traditional WWE programs to mainstream outlets like ESPN.com, USA Today, and E! Entertainment News.

Though there is no physical structure members of the WWE Universe can visit to learn more about these heroes of the squared circle as there is for other sports greatest athletes, membership into this hallowed Hall is just as revered. Upon his induction into the WWE HOF in 2015, Kevin Nash equivocated the honor with winning his first championship. In a sport where kingdoms are built and legends are made by championship reigns, this is quite a claim. In number, there are only 164 total members and of those, 105 have been inducted as individual honorees (excluding those inducted under the Legends banner). Quite impressive considering the number of wrestlers, federations, and territories that have run across the globe over the course of the last 100 years.

Because of the exclusivity associated with the invitation to join these hallowed ranks, there is much controversy and discussion concerning past, present, and future honorees. Generally, the arguments are broken into four general questions:

Who is in the hall that shouldn’t be?

Who are locks as future honorees?

Who isn’t a mortal lock but is deserving nonetheless?

Who is NEVER getting in (or why it doesn’t seem like they ever will)?

So which ten wrestlers (or sports-entertainers) serve as answers to each of these questions? For the purposes of finding answers, I’m only going to consider singles performers inducted individually. There is no need to debate whether or not Chris Von Erich (most notable for tragedy), Donald Trump (eww), or Lou Thesz (absolutely) belongs, as all were elected as part of a group or as a celebrity or legend. Also, placement on analyst isn’t indicative of most/least deserving, only that the listed falls into that category.

Now then, at the risk of finding myself on the receiving end of a stink face, let’s start with the members that maybe shouldn’t be...

“Really? They’re in?” or “The Hall of Very Good”

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine

Wendi Richter

Tito Santana

Koko B. Ware

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

Rikishi

The Godfather

The Big Bossman

Don “The Rock” Muraco

Nikolai Volkoff

Now, there are some fantastic workers on this list who compiled quite a list of accomplishments over the course of their long careers. In fact, most of these performers held titles in multiple territories throughout that era. Their inclusion on this list is not meant to demean or degrade their legacy. In fact, their very presence in this category only exists because they have already achieved Hall of Fame status. In short, their legend is already written and the opinions of a mark, keyboard jockey changes nothing.

It’s that it is called the “WWE Hall of Fame” not the “WWE Hall of Very Good” (h/t to my friend Scott for introducing me to that phrasing in regards to the baseball HOF about 15 years ago, though there is little chance he ever reads this).

When looking over the list of members, there should be feeling of awe and reverence, not confusion and wonderment. That these 10 names comprise 10 percent of individually inducted wrestlers is astounding. Even in a sport which is openly subject to storylines, there is little tangible evidence to support those listed being included in the pantheon of wrestling’s greatest ever.

The standard for inclusion into a given sport’s hall of fame was once described to me as this: the sport’s history could not be fully written without including this athlete. Ask yourself how many of these names fill that criteria.

Sure, Greg Valentine had one of the most bloody matches EVER versus Roddy Piper at Starrcade ‘83 (Piper experienced permanent hearing loss as a result) and had brief runs as WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team champion, but he was never in the upper echelon of superstars during the Rock N Wrestling era.

Tito Santana is much the same. Santana is the only man not named Hulk Hogan to appear in matches at each of the first nine Wrestlemanias, a two-time Intercontinental and Tag Team champion but did anyone ever buy a PPV to see Tito wrestle?

Wendi Richter was a huge part of the “Rock N Wrestling” era, but the women’s division wasn’t exactly deep at the time. Truthfully, it was Cyndi Lauper and Moolah who were the stars of the program, Wendi was more of the wrestling stand-in for Cyndi. Considering she was the victim of the “Original Screwjob”, it’s almost incredible that she was inducted at all.

Rikishi? Really? He’s more famous for his ass than anything else, including a storyline where he ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin. Over the course of his WWE run, Rikishi played so many characters (much like fellow list-mate The Godfather) that all floated near the mid-card, it’s very hard to consider any of them long-term successes (except for when The Godfather was known as Papa Shango and he made the Ultimate Warrior sweat blood. That was pretty dope.)

Duggan? He won the inaugural Royal Rumble but is still more known for yelling than anything in-ring. He also possessed the absolutely most boring signature move ever: the three point stance into shoulder tackle.

Bossman? A racist, Southern cop character who handcuffs guys to the ring ropes and hits them with a nightstick and was later hung to death by the Undertaker at Wrestlemania XV inside Hell in a Cell only to return as fully alive? Blah (and absolutely ridiculous, btw).

Don Muraco? No, despite being an IC champ. (but please watch Fuji Vice on the WWE Network)

Nikolai Volkoff? The first thing anyone thinks of is the USSR’s national anthem, not his time as Tag Team champ with the Iron Sheik.

And then there is Koko B. Ware. I don’t care how “over” he was in Memphis, the Frankie the Bird was more “over” than him during his time in WWE.

Again, these are inductees of the WWE Hall of Fame.

Combined WWE championships between them? 2, both by Wendi Richter.

Lots of good, just not great.

Next: Part 2: Who are the locks to be inducted soon?

Personally, I think Valentine and Santana definitely belong. Valentine was a stalwart of the tag division, first with Brutus Beefcake and then with Honky Tonk Man. He always got good heel heat, and his faceplant was equal with Flair's at the top of the business. Remember that the "Rock 'N Wrestling era" was very much dominated by Hogan and the monster of the month programs thrown at him. All the other faces were left a rung below on the ladder, so Valentine was an integral part of holding down the midcard against that glut of faces.

Santana was in that glut of midcard faces, but was consistently high on the card, both as a singles and tag competitor. For a while, he was arguably the second ranking face behind Hogan on the card. "Chico" was also the constant target of a slew of hilariously racist commentary by Jesse Ventura (the 80s were a different time), for which he deserves special recognition. I understand your criteria, but in Santana's heyday, the only reason people bought PPVs was to see Hogan body slam larger and larger opponents.

Past that, I generally agree. Richter was a flash in the pan, but I do appreciate that she was willing to stand up against Moolah, as she was probably the worst thing about wrestling ever. Rikishi never did much for me, and I really disliked Duggan. Bossman may be the closest to me, as he had quite a bit of longevity and was generally a heat magnet as a heel. His face run is not worth discussing. Muraco was a good hand in the 80s, but there was very little notable about him. They tried to pass him the Billy Graham torch at one point, but he just didn't have the charisma to carry it. Koko B Ware is an absolute no. Volkoff is tough for me, as he and the Iron Sheik were two of the first villains I really remember in wrestling, and I can still hear the Soviet anthem in my head to this day thinking about him. While he was a very memorable character, I just don't think he accomplished enough in his career to get in.

Also, when I first opened this threat I thought it was going to be about these guys and was really intrigued what your case for them was going to be.

@kingbonesaw: It was definitely a consideration. God the Attitude Era was amazing for both good and bad reasons. Thanks for the comment!

@redwing42: Honestly, Valentine and Tito were the best of the group to me as well.

What worked against Valentine IMO was that while he was a reliable worker and worked body parts as well as anyone ever, he just wasn't particularly interesting to me neither when I was a kid nor even as an adult who feels like he knows what "good" wrestling looks like. Also, I can't get the image of Valentine in Rhythm and Blues with his hair dyed black out of my brain.

As far as Tito goes, he was a great mechanic but was super-bland. His high point for me was when he was in Strike Force with Rick Martel. I thought they were well-suited as a team and were split up too soon after Martel returned. Oh, and if I had a dollar for every "flying burrito" from Ventura...

Thanks for the comment and Cpl Cajun FOREVER!

So not to deflate your momentum when it comes to writing these or anything but... the WWE hall of fame is just who does Vince feel like putting in there every year. I am not going to claim it means nothing because it does mean something, just not the end all be all that some people claim it is. If your looking for a more "accurate"(I guess this is the right way of putting it) wrestling hall of fame, look up the Wrestling Observer hall of fame. Dave Meltzer treats the history of wrestling (specifically the non-wwe areas) with far more thought and respect then Vince McMahon ever will.

And for the record Wendi Richter was a big star in Women's wrestling by the standards at that time. And Big boss man was a great worker that moved incredibly smooth for as big as he was and was reliable.

@dizzyhippos: Thanks for reading and for the comment. The inclusion of GOAT jobber Johnny Rodz makes it readily apparent that Vince and his capos make the call as to whom is inducted (though for his contributions to enhancing and building talent, I could see Rodz being inducted under the Legends category rather than as an honored individual).

Careful what you say boy! Or the dog gets it! You hear me punk?!

@lime_slime: Oh Kennel From Hell, what a weird storyline/match concept you were. It will probably prove more interesting still than whatever is planned for the House of Horrors match this Sunday.

Thanks for reading and the comment!

Based on the title, I thought you meant that the band Misfits was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, based on their short and terrible inclusion in some late-90s WCW action.

@ralphmoustaccio: I totally forgot about that! Late 90s WCW was a train wreck.

Thanks for reading and the comment!

So uhhh, Drew Carey?

@lasse_momme: Yeah, that's why I mentioned excluding the "Celebrity" wing of the WWE HOF from consideration, as those honorees are among the most curious.

Thanks for reading and the comment!

@jhevans51: Sorry dude, should have read the post more thoroughly. This is a cool idea, I'm looking forward to the next one (once I've finished reading this one again, of course)

@lasse_momme: No worries! Part 2 is up now and part 3 will be up tomorrow. Hope you enjoy them!