Future Hall of Famers? - Bull Nakano Y/N?

[Trill Co$by]

Before I begin, yes this is in the right spot. The Hall of Fame boards on here is for the WrestleZone Hall of Fame. This is in regards to the WWE Hall of Fame itself. Second, this isn't a one time topic. I plan to make this a series about others who should be in the Hall of Fame. Now I'm not going to bring up the obvious people like Macho Man, Owen Hart, The Rock, etc who will definitely be future HoF inductees. But rather, this series will feature some that the younger generation may not know, but definitely [in my opinion] belong in the HoF.

And to begin this series, I'm going to start with someone who [in my opinion] seems to be completely forgotten as far as women wrestlers go. Bull Nakano, who is best known for her time in the WWE (then WWF) when she was one of the biggest rivals for Alundra Blayze, a current WWE Hall of Famer in her own right. After making a name for herslef in Japan, Nakano would enter the WWE Universe in 1994 where she would go on to capture the WWF Women's Championship.

During her time in WWF, and later in WCW, Nakano would become one of Alundra Blayze's most recognizable rivalries and really set the bar for what women's wrestling should be. Some would say, she is even one of the last legit women's wrestlers before the WWE switched to the models over the wrestlers.

On a personal level, my first sight of Nakano honestly came after stumbling upon a "best of Nakano" series on Youtube some time ago [I believe in 2008] and was instantly a fan of hers. She's really got a vicious side as far as her character goes, and everything she seemed to do just made sense to me.

So, what do you think? Should Nakano be inducted? If so, who should do the honors of bringing her in to the WWE Hall of Fame family?

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

WWE Hall of Fame? No. There's way too many divas that made a much bigger impact than Bull Nakano did in WWE. She would be so far down the list that it would take 20+ years for them to get to her. Chyna, Jacqueline, Ivory, Molly Holly, Luna, and several others could make just as rightful of a claim to the HoF as Bull Nakano, and those females had much longer tenures with the company.

Does she deserve to be in a wrestling hall of fame? Absolutely. She's one of the best joshi workers of all time. She didn't have a ton of exposure in America though, and the casual fans that make up the current "WWE Universe" wouldn't know who she is even if they did induct her.

 

[chicagokmc]

I was about to say "no" (your argument is extremely subjective based on an actual title reign of just 134 days in WWE) but I did some research on who has already been inducted. Based on all that, if Sherri Martel and Wendi Richter are important enough to WWE decision makers to put in (sarcasm), sure somewhere down the line induct Nakano.

 

[CeramicDuck]

I understand where your coming from with your argument, but to say Bull Nakono was one of the last good female wrestlers is really saying she was one of the last ugly female wrestlers.

Other women since her have been pretty good workers...

Ivory, Trish, Lita, etc were all good wrestlers and some of the girls right now are pretty decent.

If they want to do a throwback womens induction some time down the line I would rather see them induct The Jumping Bomb Angels, just because they were pretty damn cool during their very brief time in WWF.

Alundra Blayze/Medusa should go in but she may throw the ring in the trash on TNA, hich is a shame

 

[SeriousProfessional]

With the majority (so far) on this one. In relative terms, not only was Bull Nakano not around WWF for very long but it was also during a downturn in wrestling's popularity on TV here in the States... a lot less eyes on the product than just a few years before and a few years after.

Bull Nakano was an incredible worker with her own distinct character and personality but did not do enough or stay around long enough to ever get into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Also, not sure what the OP is smoking but would you please pass that shit? Alundra Blayze current Hall of Famer? Negative. Madusa was the best overall female worker in the States period for almost two decades and will NEVER get in the Hall of Fame because of the trash can incident.

 

[HBsam31]

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
AJW Championship (1 time)
AJW Junior Championship (1 time)
All Pacific Championship (1 time)
WWWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WWWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Dump Matsumoto, Condor Saito, and Grizzly Iwamoto
Japan Grand Prix (1988)
Tag League the Best (1985) – with Dump Matsumoto
AJW Hall of Fame (1998)

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
CMLL World Women's Championship (1 time)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2001)

World Wrestling Federation
WWF Women's Championship (1 time)

I remember her feud with Alundra Blaze from when I was a kid, and remember being pretty impressed with Bull Nakano so I looked up what she did outside of WWE. She has a pretty decent resume of titles as you can see. He impact was not huge in the WWE, but going by her total body of work she definitely deserves a spot somewhere down the line. There are inductees that never even wrestled for Vince, and while I am sure there are many woman's wrestler ahead of Bull for an induction it is unfair to say she should never go in.

 

[JJ15776]

I was about to say "no" (your argument is extremely subjective based on an actual title reign of just 134 days in WWE) but I did some research on who has already been inducted. Based on all that, if Sherri Martel and Wendi Richter are important enough to WWE decision makers to put in (sarcasm), sure somewhere down the line induct Nakano.

Just to be clear, you're not actually trying to imply Sherri and Richter shouldn't be in the HOF, right? Because if you are...I mean, wow. You must not have been watching the WWE when they were around or bothered to read about them. Both are definitively Hall Of Famers.

As for Nakano, I would say yes. Her WWE run was brief, but she was at the top of the women's decision for almost her entire tenure. Combine that with her stellar work outside the WWE, I think you have a Hall Of Famer eventually.

 

[Headman]

IMO you should have to be pretty damn great to be elected to the HOF with a very limited body of work inside the WWE. Her WWE career alone doesn't get her in and honestly she's not Vern Gagne or Abdulah the Butcher famous so I don't see why she'd be a priority at all.

 

[enviousdominous]

I discovered Joshi wrestling back in 1987 as a very young kid. At that time I was watching any kind of pro-wrestling I could find, I was lucky to have an older brother who had connections that could get me tapes of NJPW and AJPW. I was even lucky enough to see old All Star Wrestling bouts, and witness an old favorite named Kendo Nagasaki.

Japanese women's wrestling really stood out to me. I was still pretty deep in the mind-set that everything I saw was real, and they made it pretty easy to believe as much. These women would wreck each other with crazy stiff spots and keep on kicking out until one had absolutely destroyed the other one.

Bull Nakano was the total package when it came to female wrestling. She was dominant, technical and she had a look that could draw on its own.

One of my fondest memories of Bull Nakano was when she briefly came to the WWF with Dump Matsumoto, and the duo took on Velvet McIntyre and Dawn Marie Johnston:

[YOUTUBE]12yefjmqUKY[/YOUTUBE]

The reason I loved this match so much was because I had been watching both programs. Watching Bull Nakano and Dump Matsumoto take on a team from the WWF was like watching Hall and Nash take on The Steiners in WCW. It was two different worlds of sports entertainment colliding. Dump's spot at 5:22 had me marking out like the N64 kid.

Bull Nakano truly did raise the bar for women's wrestling. She was a cult of personality all her own anywhere she went and at a certain point she couldn't draw heat to save her life because the crowd loved her too much to boo her. If I had my way, every one of my Joshi favorites would have a place in the HOF, but I realize why Bull Nakano makes the most amount of sense.

Akira Hokuto, Mariko Yoshida, Harley Saito, Devil Masami, Dump Matsumoto, Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka, Shinobu Kandori, Mayumi Ozaki and Manami Toyota all deserve to be recognized for putting on epic matches that would often make women's wrestling a higher class of entertainment than men's wrestling. Bull Nakano could hopefully get people reviewing some of the greatest matches of all time in women's pro-wrestling, I desperately want this to happen. If it does happen, I would want Madusa to induct her. I absolutely loved her work as well and the two did an awesome job complimenting each other when they worked together.

 

[enviousdominous]

I understand where your coming from with your argument, but to say Bull Nakono was one of the last good female wrestlers is really saying she was one of the last ugly female wrestlers.

You understand that the OP wants to see Bull Nakano entered into the HOF, but instead of relating what that understanding might be so we can all be clear, you're suggesting that any positive recognition of Bull's expertise as a performer is actually the vague assumption that ugliness makes people more talented.

Umm, yeah. The nicest thing I can say about you right now is you don't understand shit, and you were just trying to force a thought out of your head using whatever stupid verbiage impresses people in your social circle.

To say Bull Nakano is one of the last good female wrestlers is an opinion, which can be substantiated with explanation. It in no way reflects on whether or not a pathetic sack like you wants to go down on her, get your head out of the gutter.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In the grand scheme of things, I'd have to say no. It's true she was WWF Women's Champion and she was a major star in All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling. When it comes to the WWE Hall of Fame, however, she just hasn't made nearly the impact to warrant inclusion. Aside from long time, hardcore fans, hardly anybody remembers Bull Nakano. She hasn't been mentioned in WWE since the mid 90s and there've been a number of women to come along who've made far more of a lasting impact.

She and Alundra Blayze put on some really good matches for the title. Neither of them had any real charisma to speak of, but they were good wrestlers. WWE currently has some strong female wrestlers on the card, but Vince just doesn't really see much value in making the Divas more than what they usually are.

It wouldn't bother me if she wound up in the WWE Hall of Fame, but I doubt she will. She doesn't have the name recognition, nor did she make a huge impact.

 

[enviousdominous]

It wouldn't bother me if she wound up in the WWE Hall of Fame, but I doubt she will. She doesn't have the name recognition, nor did she make a huge impact.

Here's what I see happening with the WWE Hall of Fame. They don't want it to be just an "atta' boy" for people who helped make WWE/WWF more watchable. They want it to be a program that rivals the Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame because they want to own and market everything pro-wrestling. They're inducting Carly Colon because they want to be able to broadcast old WWC matches on the Network. For that matter they've inducted Inoki and Gagne.

It's no mystery that I am to this day a huge Joshi mark and might very well be the only person marking out if Bull Nakano is announced as a HOF inductee. The HOF doesn't just have to be a reminder of past stars who in retrospect made a significant impact on the future of the business, it can also be a history lesson of pro-wrestling's most over players through the ages.

There's an entire world of awesome matches that fans of today are neglecting, matches that spell out the origins of some of the WWE's biggest stars. Hell, Harley Saito was doing the Daniel Bryan kicks before they were cool. I don't think that the only consideration for an induction should be name recognition or significant impact, none of my friends knew who in the fuck Carly was until I explained it to them and I couldn't help but mention the Bruiser Brody incident while I did.

I understand that at the end of the day, it's politics that decides who goes in and who doesn't. Besides a cocaine conviction, I see no reason for the WWE to snub Bull Nakano's place among people like Sunny.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The WWE Hall of Fame continues to evolve. At first it was just people that had made an impact for the McMahons. Slowly slowly wrestlers who's biggest impact was outside WWE, or only came to 'New York' for a cup of coffee (like Nick Bockwinkle, Verne Gagne, Abdullah the Butcher) have come to be recognised. This is, in my opinion, for two main reasons:

• the well is running dry on suitable WWE inductees that are no longer active - I firmly believe all the mainstays of the golden era (85-91) and the Attitude Era (97-02) are all deserving to go in - the two most watched eras of wrestling in history. Many of the AE lot are still active though, and many of the GE are already in (still plenty of scope to put more in though)
• the building of a physical Hall of Fane building - in order to attract a worldwide tourism, the WWE recognise the need to include HoF's from elsewhere - otherwise it will literally just be WWE fans that turn up when the building is finally realised

To that end, I do foresee more and more 'outsiders' recognised.

However, I due to the pattern that most intakes follow, that recognition will likely occur at a much slower rate for the ladies. Since women's wrestling is no where near as large as men's wrestling, it stands to reason that WWE will stick with just the one female induction each year, and, as others have noted, there are plenty of women who have had much more of an impact in the WWE than Bull Nakano did outside of it - like Miss Elizabeth, Sable, Luna Vachon, and even Cindi Lauper.

I'm afraid you'll be likely waiting a long time for Bull Nakano to be inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame

 

[CeramicDuck]

You understand that the OP wants to see Bull Nakano entered into the HOF, but instead of relating what that understanding might be so we can all be clear, you're suggesting that any positive recognition of Bull's expertise as a performer is actually the vague assumption that ugliness makes people more talented.

Umm, yeah. The nicest thing I can say about you right now is you don't understand shit, and you were just trying to force a thought out of your head using whatever stupid verbiage impresses people in your social circle.

To say Bull Nakano is one of the last good female wrestlers is an opinion, which can be substantiated with explanation. It in no way reflects on whether or not a pathetic sack like you wants to go down on her, get your head out of the gutter.

OP said Bull Nakano was one of the last great female wrestlers before they traded in wrestlers for models... It's just not true, she was a good wrestler but there have been many good female wrestlers since her and it's foolish to say she was one of the last. She may have been the last good female worker to be around when looks were not as important as work rate (which is a long way of saying ugly/unattractive) but she is far from one of the last good female workers.

 

[enviousdominous]

OP said Bull Nakano was one of the last great female wrestlers before they traded in wrestlers for models... It's just not true, she was a good wrestler but there have been many good female wrestlers since her and it's foolish to say she was one of the last. She may have been the last good female worker to be around when looks were not as important as work rate (which is a long way of saying ugly/unattractive) but she is far from one of the last good female workers.

The point of "Bull Nakano was one of the last great female workers" is a minor tidbit regarding the bigger message that Bull deserves this honor. You brought up the word "ugly", not the OP. The word "ugly" has no place in this discussion, despite how easy it is for you to recognize it as a scapegoat for overlooking talented female performers.

Different eras may have had different stand out female performers, I agree that great female workers didn't stop happening after Bull Nakano made her mark. We can debate all night regarding whether or not Bull was better than Lita, Trish or Sable. If you have any kind of attention span worthy of an adult, you can't deny that Bull Nakano was one of the greatest female performers of all time.