To be perfectly honest, I don't think there's a single wrestler in the WWE HOF where you can say it's an "absolute travesty" that they're in. Sure the HOF has lower and mid-card guys, and even jobbers, but the pro wrestling business isn't just about main eventers and champions. There are many different roles that make up the entire wrestling business. Just as you have to have main event champions that draw in crowds, you also have to have mid card and low-card wrestlers to fill out the cards and keep the fans watching for the main events. You have to have announcers who tell the stories of the wrestlers. You have managers who add so much more to the overall story. You have to have referees who are the glue that holds the in-ring product together. And of course you have to have promotors and bookers who create and put together the shows. A Hall of Fame should tell the story of whatever subject it's representing. Be it football, or rock and roll, or pro wrestling, all roles need to be represented to tell the entire story, and thus the WWE Hall of Fame which is supposed to be a pro wrestling Hall of Fame (yeah, not just a WWE one, it's becoming a full-fledged pro wrestling HOF), should include people of all roles, main eventers/world champions, mid-card wrestlers, lower card/jobbers, managers, tag teams, announcers, and promotors. Even celebrities, who have played a major role in the WWE becoming the household company that it is today. As great as Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper were, and as much of a genius as Vince McMahon was, it was Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T in the 1980's and Mike Tyson in the late 1990's that helped bring the masses to the WWE. All should be acknowledged for their role in wrestling and WWE history.
And so while guys like Koko B. Ware, Johnny Rodz (another life-long jobber), and lower-to mid card guys like Ivan Putski, Tito Santana, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, etc. have just as much a right to be in there as iconic superstars like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, and Bret Hart.
And yes the WWE has plenty of wrestlers and non-wrestlers who never performed for the WWE in the HOF. And I frankly feel that's a good thing. WWE, knowing that they pretty much ARE PRO WRESTLING in America, have acknowleded their duty in that they not only have to keep WWE history alive, but also that of the entire pro wrestling industry alive. ECW is dead. WCW is dead. The NWA is pretty much dead. The AWA is dead. All of the territories from 1948-until the early 90's are dead. WWE is the household name of professional wrestling. And if WWE doesn't step up to the plate to give all of the wrestlers, promotors, announcers, managers, of all of these dead companies their due and some credit and respect, then they'll never get it and they'll be long forgotten. Sure there's an actual legitimate pro wrestling HOF (a very good one at that) located in the New York area presently, but they don't have the funds that WWE has, nor do they have the name value. As great as that HOF is, it's possible that it could eventually lose funding and go out of business. HOpefully that never happens, but what if it does? WWE is doing a great thing by inducting non-WWE wrestlers/promotors/announcers, etc. into it's Hall of FAme. In turn it also bring more legitimacy to it's HOF. While people snicker and call it a sham because of people like Pete Rose and Drew Carey being in there, at the same time you see truely legendary, classic wrestlers and personalities like Gorgeous George, Verne Gagne, Antonio Inoki, Nick Bockwinkel, Gordon Solie, Mil Mascaras, etc. and if you have to acknowledge it has some legitimacy to it.
The only real complaint I have about the WWE HOF is the fact that Randy Savage isn't in it yet, and that they have yet to build an actual HOF building. I attended Wrestlemania 28 in Miami this year, and was of course at the Fan Axess event. They had a "mini-HOF" which showed memorabilia from throughout WWE history and it was absolutely amazing to walk through and look at. That's only probably a small sampling of what WWE could offer in an actual HOF building. I kind of think that instead of all the money they've invested in this WWE Network (which doesn't look like it's ever gonna get off the ground), they should've instead invested in a HOF building, which I'm sure would generate serious revenue. Not only could they feature memorabilia, they could have yearly features/displays on certain wrestlers or territories (like the RNRHOF does for certain artists and genres/periods of music), of course have sections for all of their present HOFers with encarved handprints and/or signatures. Feature montly Q&A sessions with wrestling legends and current superstars. And they don't even have to rent out as big a building as the RNRHOF. I think it would be a successful venture that WWE should seriously consider getting off the ground.
But anyways, back to the topic. I don't really think there's anyone, wrestler-wise that doesn't deserve to be in there. I'm annoyed with this ideal that if you're not a world champion then you don't have any business being in there. That's ridiculous. The Great Khali has won a world championship but Rowdy Roddy Piper and Ted Dibiase never did. Should Piper and Dibiase immediately forfeit their HOF rings and spots to make way for the Great Khali? Really?
I think every HOF inductee presently deserves their spot. Now as far as celebrities go, Drew Carey has no business being in there. Even for the celebrity wing, he did little for the WWE. Pete Rose, William Perry, Bob Uecker, and Mike Tyson deserve it though. So does Donald Trump, Sylvester Stallone, Mr. T, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, and Andy Kaufman. I wouldn't have a problem with Aretha Franklin either beings she sang the National Anthem at two Wrestlemanias.
