With the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame taking place in New Jersey next year, I'm sure the WWE will try to have a class that represents the New York/New Jersey area which I'm cool with. That's most likely why they made a renewed push to get Bruno Sammartino to accept a headlining induction next year, as there's no one more fitting to be inducted at Madison Square Garden than Bruno Sammartino who still holds the record for most sell-outs by a professional wrestler ever at "The World's Most Famous Arena."
But with Bruno Sammartino declining yet again, I see a possibility of three candidates to serve as the headliner of the class. Those three would be....
Bob Backlund: Other than Bruno, by official WWE records, he's held the World Title longer than anyone else in history (though in reality he lost the title to Antonio Inoki for a week in 1979 only to get it back. That title change was never recognized by WWE), and he also was a mainstay at Madison Square Garden in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He had numerous classic matches as the WWF champion against the likes of Billy Graham, Greg Valentine, Jesse Ventura, Jimmy Snuka, and the Iron Sheik, and even had inter-promotional champion matches against Ric Flair and I believe Harley Race. Realistically, other than Macho Man and Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund is the biggest omission in the Hall of Fame. With his return on Raw last week, hopefully more attention will come to him from the fans as well as WWE itself. And like Bruno, it would be very fitting for Backlund to take his place in the HOF at Madison Square Garden next year.
Macho Man Randy Savage: I don't think I really need to explain why Macho Man deserves in. We all know he deserves in. The question is will it happen. If Vince and the company cave in and give Lanny Poffo what he wants (and supposedly what Randy Savage wanted) and induct Lanny and their father Angelo as well, then it'll happen. However, as right as I feel it would be to have Macho Man headline and close the show (well Lanny close it on his behalf), truthfully it would be a downer to close out the HOF ceremony with a deceased wrestler, plus it has never happened before, and thus it really hurts the chances of that happening. Hence why I think if Macho Man is chosen for induction, I think either Bob Backlund will be inducted as well to counter-blance the "down moment" that will be Macho Man's induction. Or if Backlund doesn't get the nod, they could go with one other guy that also has connections to the New York/New Jersey area.
Mick Foley: Mick Foley's accolades speak for themselves and he is well deserving of being in the HOF obviously. While some say he's not worthy enough to headline a HOF class, I strongly disagree with that as other than Stone Cold and Rock and probably Undertaker, Mick Foley was the biggest star in the early years of the Attitude Era (1998 and 1999). Don't forget that he was in commercials and his first book becoming a No. 1 Best Seller on the New York Times book list brought quite a bit of notoriety to the WWE as he was on major talk shows during that period. So Mick Foley for a briefer time was a bit of a pop culture icon along with Stone Cold and the Rock. But more importantly, Mick Foley is an amazing speaker who is very insightful, hilarious and dramatic. So Mick Foley would be an amazing closer for the show which would work good with the emotional induction of Macho Man. The mood will be pretty down during Savage's induction obviously. So if Mick Foley goes on afterwards to close the show he can bring everyone's spirts up as only he can. When this year's HOF inductees were announced I was strongly against anyone other than Macho Man headlining as I feel it would be disrespectful to his legacy for him to play second fiddle to someone else (namely the Rock who was heavily rumored to be the headliner for this year's induction, though it turned out to be Edge and the Four Horsemen), but I'm kind of open to having a co-headliner with Macho Man as long as it is someone that is a bit below stature of Savage, which is where both Mick Foley and Bob Backlund fall under. If Savage were to be inducted with say the Rock, then he really would be second fiddle to the Rock (as anyone other than Hogan, HBK, Taker, or Stone Cold would be).
Some people might be saying Savage and Backlund are unlikely as if they're not in by now they'll probably never get in. But Savage was getting to be on decent terms with the WWE before he died, and Backlund contrary to popular belief never was on bad terms with the WWE, he just didn't want to go in because he felt his career wasn't finished yet. Jim Ross confirmed this on one of the Legends of Wrestling Roundtables on WWE on Demand a few years ago. So once Backlund is ready to go in, he'll go in, I'm sure. And if the WWE agrees to induct the Poffo family than Savage will go in pretty much on the spot. But even so, why Savage, Backlund, and Foley? Why not Triple H, Goldberg, Ultimate Warrior, The Rock, Undertaker, etc? Unless it's well established that said wrestler is gonna have their last match the next night at Wrestlemania or shortly thereafter (Hulk Hogan being the exception) then those guys aren't gonna be inducted while they're still semi-active at least. That applies to the Rock (who will probably headline Wrestlemania again next year), Undertaker, and Triple H. Their careers are still going so why would they go in yet? Goldberg I suppose is a possibility, but I just can't see WWE making a huge push to induct him so soon as next year. As for the Ultimate Warrior, it seems like with Bruno Sammartino, Triple H is trying to mend the fences a bit with the Warrior with the interview he did a few months back in which he praised the Warrior (which took him by surprise apparently), so hopefully it'll happen in the future, but I don't see it happening next year.
So personally, I feel that WWE is gonna induct at least two of those three headliners next year. Mainly because Bob Backlund just isn't famous enough or remembered enough to headline a class (as you could see with the lack of reception he got at RAw last week), and Macho Man is deceased, and they'll probably never have a deceased wrestler close out the show and headline (though if anyone deserves to it's Macho Man), so if WWE decides to induct either Backlund or Savage, I think they'll either induct both of them to counter-act each other (Savage being famous enough to draw even in death, where Backlund couldn't, and Backlund actually being alive and being able to be there to accept and give a speech where Savage obviously can't), or they'll induct Mick Foley with Backlund or Savage (to draw where Backlund couldn't and to actually be there and give a speech where Savage can't).
If Macho Man gets inducted then we'll have a whole different roster of inductees then if he isn't. As if he's inducted, then that means inductions will be coming for Angelo Poffo and Lanny Poffo, as according to Lanny and his mother, those are the only terms they'll agree to to get Macho Man inducted. So your undercard or manager/non-wrestler inductee will be filled with Lanny Poffo (aka: the Genius), and your old timer/pioneer era wrestler slot will be filled (with Angelo Poffo). Plus it just wouldn't seem right to induct Macho Man and not induct Miss Elizabeth (who would fill the woman and/or manager role). So with Macho Man you also get Lanny Poffo, Angelo Poffo, and Miss Elizabeth which takes four spots right off the bat. Plus Backlund or Mick Foley as the co-headliner, now you're at 5. So there's not many more open spots left after that, as WWE typically inducts about 7-8 entities (wrestlers, tag teams, familys, announcers/managers, and usually a really older, pre-WWF wrestler, or a non-WWF wrestler, plus a celebrity). However if they don't induct Savage and go with just Backlund and/or Foley, then the rest of the Poffos will most likely be passed over as well as Miss Elizabeth which will thus leave plenty more room.
If the Poffo family and Miss Elizabeth are passed over and we get just Backlund and Foley, or perhaps just Foley (I will be stunned if Bob Backlund is picked as the sole headlining inductee), then there will be tons more room for inductees. WWE typically picks 1-2 headliners, a tag team/stable/wrestling family, a celebrity, a female inductee, a manager/announcer, and a promoter or a non-WWE wrestler who either predated WWE or just wrestled in other organizations/territories.
As far as who is worthy, of course headlining inductees would include Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Undertaker, The Rock, Mick Foley, Triple H, etc. Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, and Randy Orton could be future headliners.
Then there's the mid-card to main event (but not quite headlining) WWE stars like King Kong Bundy, Adrian Adonis, One Man Gang, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Honky Tonk Man, The Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel, Earthquake, Haku, British Bulldog, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bam Bam Bigelow, Vader, Goldust, Brian Pillman, William Regal, etc.
Then there's plenty of tag teams like the British Bulldogs, the Killer Bees, Strike Force, Demolition, the Bushwhackers, the Fabulous Rougeaus, Money Inc, the Smoking Gunns, the New Age Outlaws and non-WWE teams like The Rock & Roll Express, the Midnight Express, Harlem Heat, The Steiner Brothers (competed in WWE, but are more known as a WCW team), the Fabulous Freebirds, and the Fabulous Kangaroos (the original great tag team in wrestling history).
And if they have Wrestlemania return to an area of one of the earlier, famous territories, the promotor and/or announcer could be inducted. Such as if they got to Houston again, they could induct Paul Boesch. IF they go to Georgia, induct Jim Barnett, or if they go to the Portland/Seattle area, induct Don Owen, or if they go to St. Louis, they could induct Sam Muchnick. Then of course there's Eric Bischoff (WCW), Paul Heyman (ECW), and Jim Cornette (Smokey Mountain Wrestling) Thus far, the only true full fledged promoter (who wasn't also a wrestler) in there is Vince Sr. Eddie Graham, Bill Watts, Antonio Inoki, Stu Hart, The Sheik, Jerry Lawler, and Harley Race are in there as they were promoters throughout their career, but they were mainly inducted for their actual wrestling careers, not their promoting careers. So I think the Hall of Fame could use more promoters in the Hall of Fame.
As far as announcers/managers, WWE has done a pretty good job of getting most of those in the WWE in the HOF. Lord Alfred Hayes is an announcer that's missing that could be inducted. But there's announcers from other promotions such as Lance Russell of the Memphis territory, Ed Whalen of Stampede Wrestling, Tony Schivanoe of WCW, Joey Styles of ECW, etc. As far as managers, again, WWE has done a good job of getting most of the worthy ones from the WWE in the HOF. There's still Slick, Miss Elizabeth, and Jim Cornette. Outside of WWE, there's Paul Heyman, and Gary Hart.
And with WWE trying to broaden their scope of Hall of Fame Inductees by inducting wrestlers that predated the WWE and/or wrestling who wrestled in different organizations (AWA, World Class, NWA, Stampede Wrestling, New Japan, All Japan, ECW, WCW, independents, etc.). They've started inducting foreign wrestlers with the inductions of Antonio Inoki and Mil Mascaras, and there's plenty more they could go with. Out of Japan there's the other two of the "big three" with Giant Baba and Rikidozan. Not to mention pioneering light heavyweights like Tiger Mask, The Great Muta, or Jushin "Thunder" Liger. There's Jumbo Tsurtu, Tatsumi Fujinami, Mitsuharu Misawa, Riki Choshu, Shinya Hashimoto, just to name a few. Out of Mexico they passed over El Santo who is still the biggest star in the history of Mexico. Also Gory Guerrero or just the whole Guerrero family would work. Also Black Shadow, Blue Demon, Perro Aguayo, El Hijo Del Santo, El Solitario, El Canek.
And with the inductions of Verne Gagne and Gorgeous George, plus Buddy Rogers, Bobo Brazil, Antonino "Argentina" Rocca and Gorilla Monsoon in the early years, WWE has tried to induct stars from the early years of the WWE (WWWF as it was known then) and even predating the WWE. Lou Thesz is an essential inductee in that regard, as well as stars from the early 20th century like Frank Gotch, Jim Londos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, George Hackenschmidt, and Earl Caddock just to name a few. Most members of the WWE Universe probably wouldn't know who those guys are, but to wrestling historians and experts that would go a long way to legitimizing the WWE Hall of Fame by inducting someone like Frank Gotch or Ed "Strangler" Lewis. And of course there's plenty of stars still from the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's that maybe made stops in the WWE from time to time, but mainly wrestled in other territories that deserve induction. Johnny Valentine, Bruiser Brody, Carlos Colon, Dick Murdoch, Gene Kiniski, Pat O' Connor, Danny Hodge, Ray Stevens, Jackie Fargo, Adrian Street, The Destroyer, Dick the Bruiser, Crusher, and Billy Robinson would all be good inductees.
And as far as celebrities go, I feel that Mr. T, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, Sylvester Stallone, Donald Trump, Aretha Franklin, and Andy Kaufman would be the next best candidates, and with Wrestlemania being in New Jersey next year, it seems fitting to have Donald Trump go in as the celebrity inductee, beings his Trump Plaza Hotel, located in Atlantic City, New Jersey hosted Wrestlemanias IV and V, not to mention he's been involved with WWE and Vince McMahon ever since.
Needless to say WWE certainly isn't short of Hall of Fame candidates. They have plenty of inductees for the next 10-15 years at least.
