How would you improve the WWE Hall Of Fame

[dsotm5150]

Seeing as we all are opinionated and at times highly critical of the Hall Of Fame, obviously we can't change anything about who's been or being inducted but going forward how would you change the HOF? I've got two things I'd like to see done.

First and foremost, I'd like to see a legitimate physical WWE Hall Of Fame Museum. Somewhere that pays tribute to the past, present and future of wrestling in general. With all the history that WWE has at its exposal from WCW to ECW to the numerous territories it owns to its lineage starting back in the '50s as CWC. So the amount of stuff at their disposal is almost endless. This would be a far better idea in my opinion than attempting another wrestling version of TGI Fridays.

2. I'd like to see a fan voted inductee added every year. It wouldn't be hard to do. Start a write in campaign night after wrestlemania leave it open for 3 months and then take the top 5 choices and and make voting available till the end of the year. Most votes gets the nod. Obvious guidelines would be has to have worked for WWE or its subsidiaries, and be for the most part be retired.

Itd be a great way for fans to be engaged about the HOF and to see talent that deserve the HOF that get overlooked to get the recognition they deserve.

 

[Makaveli31]

I think an online Hall of Fame would be better where you could click on an inductee and watch matches, promos, angles, etc....of the different inductees. The thing is that so much of the young audience has NO CLUE who these guys are and weren't even born when these guys were at their best. I read one post where the poster referred to Boss Man as an "Attitude Era" guy. True but the bulk of his success came during the late 80's early 90's era.

The WWE will never produce a Boss Man DVD or a Koko B. Ware DVD but if their include matches and promos of these guys fans will understand why they are in the HOF. Not just say "well he was a mid-card guy, or he never won a World title" etc.....

 

[TDFG]

1. Physical Hall Of Fame.
I like the idea of that, HHH has been pushing for this to happen.

2. Fan involvement. Pick a category i.e tag-team. WWE selects 3 options, the poll runs from the Raw after Royal Rumble to the Raw after Fastlane. Each WWE Network subscriber gets 1 vote.

3. Cut down the number of inductees to a maximum of 4 or 5 per year to make it more special.

 

[Burritocover]

Make it shorter. Last year was 4 hours and it was way too long. I think rather than shorten their speeches they should induct a few less each yeah. No more than 5. I also don't think they need to induct a celebrity every year. There are a few who totally deserve it but when they do them every year that's how they end up with Drew Carrey and Refrigerator Perry in it. If keep it just to people who really had some sort of impact.

 

[dsotm5150]

I think an online Hall of Fame would be better where you could click on an inductee and watch matches, promos, angles, etc....of the different inductees. The thing is that so much of the young audience has NO CLUE who these guys are and weren't even born when these guys were at their best. I read one post where the poster referred to Boss Man as an "Attitude Era" guy. True but the bulk of his success came during the late 80's early 90's era.

The WWE will never produce a Boss Man DVD or a Koko B. Ware DVD but if their include matches and promos of these guys fans will understand why they are in the HOF. Not just say "well he was a mid-card guy, or he never won a World title" etc.....

That is an outstanding idea. While you can watch some superstar stuff when you click on their name it usually is reserved for the major highlights, so it would be an great idea to expand on.

 

[Navi]

What they should do is just add it on to the Performance Centre. That way not only fans could come and visit in a city where there is lots more to do. If I was in Florida I would go and pay to get in to see it, plus maybe get a chance to meet one of my fav's from NXT.

Considering that wrestling is a niche sport, you would have to attach it to something fans would be interested it. No one for example would make the trip to Milwaukee or St. Louis just to see a worn out pair of Ric Flair's trunks, or would they?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Seeing as we all are opinionated and at times highly critical of the Hall Of Fame, obviously we can't change anything about who's been or being inducted but going forward how would you change the HOF? I've got two things I'd like to see done.

First and foremost, I'd like to see a legitimate physical WWE Hall Of Fame Museum. Somewhere that pays tribute to the past, present and future of wrestling in general. With all the history that WWE has at its exposal from WCW to ECW to the numerous territories it owns to its lineage starting back in the '50s as CWC. So the amount of stuff at their disposal is almost endless. This would be a far better idea in my opinion than attempting another wrestling version of TGI Fridays.

2. I'd like to see a fan voted inductee added every year. It wouldn't be hard to do. Start a write in campaign night after wrestlemania leave it open for 3 months and then take the top 5 choices and and make voting available till the end of the year. Most votes gets the nod. Obvious guidelines would be has to have worked for WWE or its subsidiaries, and be for the most part be retired.

Itd be a great way for fans to be engaged about the HOF and to see talent that deserve the HOF that get overlooked to get the recognition they deserve.

From what I understand, at least according to recent articles, WWE plans to have a physical hall of fame in operation at Universal Studios in Orlando to coincide with WrestleMania XXXIII next year. A physical HOF is something that's been in the works for a few years and part of the issue has been to come up with a cost effective way of doing so. If a HOF is going to be on the lot of Universal Studios, that'll go a helluva long way in attracting people to the HOF if, for no other reason, than curiosity. Universal Studios is one of the biggest tourist traps in the country and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a good deal of non-wrestling fans checked out the HOF simply because it's on the lot at Universal.

As far as giving fans a vote, I think it'd be too chaotic to realistically pull off because too many fans these days are too damn fickle or conspiracy theorists. Even if they did go with the write in campaign, It wouldn't take long for the "the voting was rigged since there's no way this guy got more votes than my guy" complaints, there'd also be complaints about whether or not the fan voted inductee should or shouldn't headline the induction, then there'd be the same old complaints about what qualifies someone as "deserving" to be put into the WWE Hall of Fame. Also, there are a lot of great, noteworthy legends that a lot of modern fans aren't all that familiar with and who's contributions to wrestling may not be appreciated. For instance, I'd bet both my nuts that some fans, somewhere would bitch if Lou Thesz, the innovator of the powerbomb, STF, belly to back suplex, 4 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, holder of said championship for a total of 3,749 days, the grappler's grappler, etc. were to be inducted.

One idea I had, though I know it'll never happen, would be to have the induction ceremony on the Friday & Saturday night before WrestleMania. As it's unlikely WWE will cut down on the number of inductees, this could be a way of keeping the whole show shorter and they could compensate by having two headliners for each year. Watching the HOF, while fun, is also more than a bit boring and maybe this would help. Or, as has been mentioned, fewer inductees each year could work too.

 

[bjarvis]

Each Hall of Fame class following the same structure:

1 Main Event - Headline
1 other singles talent
1 Tag Team
1 Female Wrestler
1 Manager/Non-Wrestler
1 Foreign talent (e.g. Jushin Liger, etc.)

Voting begins 1 Dec - 31 Dec. This is general voting.

After that - the data is collated, and the top 10 (or even 5) in each category (and yes, you'll get stupid answers) is presented to the public in a check list poll on the 15th of January. Voting ends 15th of February.

Results are presented, starting the following RAW (this removes the stick up WWE's butt in regards to Chyna, etc.)

Also a physical Hall of Fame.

 

[sikkbones]

the Fan's choice option works well for the transformer's hall of fame every year.. with Vince and co's embracing of the web for things like taboo tuesday or cyber sunday I am actually suprised that they haven't gone this route...

then agian, a Bunch of Internet trolls from this method would probably make Virgil or bastion Booger your next inductee.....

 

[sikkbones]

From what I understand, at least according to recent articles, WWE plans to have a physical hall of fame in operation at Universal Studios in Orlando to coincide with WrestleMania XXXIII next year. A physical HOF is something that's been in the works for a few years and part of the issue has been to come up with a cost effective way of doing so. If a HOF is going to be on the lot of Universal Studios, that'll go a helluva long way in attracting people to the HOF if, for no other reason, than curiosity. Universal Studios is one of the biggest tourist traps in the country and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a good deal of non-wrestling fans checked out the HOF simply because it's on the lot at Universal.

As far as giving fans a vote, I think it'd be too chaotic to realistically pull off because too many fans these days are too damn fickle or conspiracy theorists. Even if they did go with the write in campaign, It wouldn't take long for the "the voting was rigged since there's no way this guy got more votes than my guy" complaints, there'd also be complaints about whether or not the fan voted inductee should or shouldn't headline the induction, then there'd be the same old complaints about what qualifies someone as "deserving" to be put into the WWE Hall of Fame. Also, there are a lot of great, noteworthy legends that a lot of modern fans aren't all that familiar with and who's contributions to wrestling may not be appreciated. For instance, I'd bet both my nuts that some fans, somewhere would bitch if Lou Thesz, the innovator of the powerbomb, STF, belly to back suplex, 4 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, holder of said championship for a total of 3,749 days, the grappler's grappler, etc. were to be inducted.

One idea I had, though I know it'll never happen, would be to have the induction ceremony on the Friday & Saturday night before WrestleMania. As it's unlikely WWE will cut down on the number of inductees, this could be a way of keeping the whole show shorter and they could compensate by having two headliners for each year. Watching the HOF, while fun, is also more than a bit boring and maybe this would help. Or, as has been mentioned, fewer inductees each year could work too.

Anyone expect them to start taping matches there with signs for the sheep to Cheer or Boo with no idea of storylines like Impact and Wcw before them did?

gotta Love universal studios...

 

[MattBrady425]

What they should do is just add it on to the Performance Centre. That way not only fans could come and visit in a city where there is lots more to do. If I was in Florida I would go and pay to get in to see it, plus maybe get a chance to meet one of my fav's from NXT.

Considering that wrestling is a niche sport, you would have to attach it to something fans would be interested it. No one for example would make the trip to Milwaukee or St. Louis just to see a worn out pair of Ric Flair's trunks, or would they?

What about the idea of having the physical HOF building in the WWE headquarters in Stanford?

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

the Fan's choice option works well for the transformer's hall of fame every year.. with Vince and co's embracing of the web for things like taboo tuesday or cyber sunday I am actually suprised that they haven't gone this route...

then agian, a Bunch of Internet trolls from this method would probably make Virgil or bastion Booger your next inductee.....

Booger the John Scott of the WWE

It's funny you mentuoned the internet polling though because around the time of Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday and when the WWE was using fan voting for their Tough Enough segments they did have a poll around the time to ask the fans who should be inducted in the HOF next. The one who ended up winning was Bret Hart and at the HOF Bret Hart was indeed inducted.

My solution is just to limit the inductees to four a year (maybe more if you are inducting a stable or tag team). That way the HOF ceremony can be shorter and you don't burn the possible future inductees too quickly. The moment guys like Edge, Shawn Michaels, or Austin were inducted and headlined the HOF class I kind of realized that WWE was running out of people to induct. Not that those people were undeserving it's just that those names either were too recent it would have been better if they let time help bring more nostalgia to guys like Michaels, Edge, or Austin before inducting them. Like WM29 Sammartino headlined the HOF class but Foley and Backlund were in the same HOF class and I felt they could have waited a few more years so that both men can headline a HOF year.

 

[sMark]

I will devide inductees by categories, 1 should be inducted in each and every one of them each year:
- WWE Legend
- not WWE Legend (WCW/ECW/AWA etc)
- Tag Team/Stable (WWE or any other promotion)
- a Diva (WWE)
- Backstage worker (WWE)
- Manager (WWE or any other promotion)
- Celebrity
- Great midcarder
Then each year WWE will have someone to induct

I will also devide rings by Golden and Silver, because not everyone deserve a golden one

 

[Elchicano15]

I think I'm one of the few that find 4, 5 inductees a year a tease. I'm quite happy with 6 or 7. As a previous poster mentioned we have a great inductee structure.

1 Main Event/Headliner
2.Top Mid Card guy
3 Tag Team/Faction
4.Posthumous inductee.
5.Female/Diva
6.Celebrity.........Yeah Yeah. No matter what, we'll always see a celebrity wing. Some I don't mind going in, but there's a lot that are in there that I forgot worked with WWE that I didn't care to see. (e.g Drew Carey, Arnold)
7.Manager/Promoter/non wrestler or if they can't find someone, an old international sensation. Basically a miscellaneous one because I see I've already got 7 now. I don't think I'd have a poll. I was never one to trust Wrestling polls like Cyber Sunday, Tabboo Tuesday or what they did on RAW. I'm sure it would be rigged. I like the surprise notice in the new year. Someone else mentioned people might troll and vote Bastian Booger or Virgil. LOL That could be a possibility to.

I can see us with this structure for the next 10 years. As time passes, current performers status' will accumulate, and perhaps be on the road to retirement while we still have a handful of other performers that have yet to go in as well.

As to what I would change, I would get rid of the Warrior Award. (Sorry I don't mean to sound like a D!ck, but there's another time and place for that, just not the HOF) I would also have a wing for Referees. Maybe put them in my Miscellaneous/Non wrestler category. I'd give them the nod every year or every other 2 years. Those guys work just as hard as the performers having to go on the road just as much, help set up the stage, and they can take some bumps as well.

 

[JJohns]

The problem that I have with some of the structures being presented is that we come to "What defines a Main Eventer" "Legend A is best known for his career in promotion B, but spent a cup of coffee in 1973 working for WWWF, so is he a WWE Legend or a Non-WWE Legend".

As far as Fan Voting for Wrestling Hall of Fames, I've seen it done on other web sites, and seen that workers that were offered up that should have gotten in didn't, and workers that shouldn't have gotten in have. Kinda like what WWE is already doing with their HoF, but more so.

People talk about how WWE is running out of people to induct, and yet there is still, and these names aren't persona non grata (to my knowledge) with WWE at the moment, DDP, Vader, Mike Rotunda, JBL, Sid, Demolition, William Regal, The Steiners, and Brian Pillman that can be inducted, as well as DX and The Hart Foundation (the Tag Team, not the faction due to issues with Martha Hart still) creating double inductions for Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

The only thing that I would do to improve it is go down to 4 inductions (Tag Teams and Factions would only count as one induction) a year.