WWE 2012 Hall Of Fame *OFFICIAL THREAD* - KEEP IT ALL IN HERE!

[LoudClearVoice]

I'm very happy about Edge's induction into the Hall of Fame. He definitely deserved it. If you look at his body of work in pro wrestling, it stands up to anyone, any of the all time greats. Edge was a fantastic heel, and a great tweener. He always struck me as a guy who understood the business and loved the business. He was very entertaining and I definitely miss him.

I, like many others, am very surprised that The Rock wasn't the headliner of the HOF class. Maybe they feel like he shouldn't go in because she's still wrestling (albeit, a couple matches) but I don't see him wrestling again after Wrestlemania so maybe he goes in the next year. I just figured that he'd be inducted into the HOF in Miami, the night before Wrestlemania. Maybe this is further evidence that the Rock will lose to Cena at Wrestlemania as he may have said, or WWE may have said, they don't want him being inducted then losing to Cena the next night.


Anyway, congratulations to Edge and Rocky will be in there some day.

 

[Y2J1245]

I think the "too early" argument goes out the window after you look at the list of WWE Hall of Famers

1. William "The Refrigerator" Perry
2. Bob Uecker
3. Drew Carrey

These individuals marginalize the achievements of the others. Uecker maybe a little different, but for the most part there is no place for these three in something that is to be considered a great WWE accomplishment.

Edge deserves it more than any of these 3.

 

[justtxyank]

In theory I like that the Horsemen are being inducted. Let me get that out of the way.

As an Arn Anderson super fan, this disappoints me. Arn was an outstanding worker and one of the most well respected men in the business. He could work and he could talk. He was always good, even if he wasn't with Flair. He formed good tag teams with Blanchard, Eaton and Larry Legend in WCW. He was a guy you could always pair up with a young worker or an uninteresting worker and get the best out of them.

Arn Anderson deserved to go into the Hall solo. The vast majority of his career has been spent under Flair's shadow.

 

[justtxyank]

Way too soon but then again it's the WWE trying to do what it can to sell tickets. More people will buy HoF tickets now that Edge is going to be inducted.
Makes me sick (even though Edge deserves it) that others who came before him still have yet to be inducted. Is Rock in the HoF yet? Oh man.
Feel free to correct me but these people have been stiffed:
Miss Elizabeth- The freakin first lady of professional wrestling!
Still no Jake the Snake Roberts?
Lou Thesz still not getting the nod?
Stan Hansen?
Randy "Macho Man" Savage- Could be inducted with Elizabeth if need be
Put Jim Neidhart, The British Bulldog, and Owen Hart together and induct them all together for crying out loud! The 3 together have enough accolades to be HoF material.
How the hell isn't Yokozuna in there yet!?
I don't care if Bruno Sammartino has refused to be inducted. Just play a damn video tribute to him. The longest reigning champion in history!
Rick Rude anyone?

1) People need to get the idea of a "snub" out of their minds. He's not snubbing them. The HOF doesn't really mean much to the wrestlers themselves. It means a lot to old school fans, but the Hall itself is really irrelevant. What the workers care about is getting a little shine on tv and getting a paycheck. However, Vince has been turned down by guys who don't want to appear at WM because they can make more money elsewhere. So, my point is that whether or not it is a snub is hard to determine without knowing what happened behind the scenes.

2) On Owen Hart in particular, his widow would sue the WWE if they put Owen in the Hall claiming the E was breaking their settlement by trying to make money off of Owen. Now, perhaps she'd lose in court, but the E has tried really hard to avoid dealing with Martha Hart when at all possible.

3) On Bruno in particular, he wants nothing to do with the E. He hates modern pro wrestling and he hates the E and he hates McMahon. Why would Vince just "induct" him into a meaningless hall that would get Bruno's name back out there around WM time and allow Bruno to maybe get some interviews with papers in Miami or something to trash the E?

4) On Miss Elizabeth, again, we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Her death was tragic. Does anyone here know how her family (assuming she has living relatives) feel about her being inducted? Perhaps they don't want her inducted because they have a painful taste in their mouth about the wrestling business. By all accounts Elizabeth was a first class human being. She ended up dead because she got caught up with wrestlers who were doing drugs and fell into that lifestyle. Watching Bret Hart talk about her death is a painful thing to see. I think a lot of people took her death VERY hard in wrestling and perhaps a decision has been made to let her rest in peace.

 

[Y2J1245]

2) On Owen Hart in particular, his widow would sue the WWE if they put Owen in the Hall claiming the E was breaking their settlement by trying to make money off of Owen. Now, perhaps she'd lose in court, but the E has tried really hard to avoid dealing with Martha Hart when at all possible.

I don't think she would have a huge problem with them making money off him because she allowed him to be apart of the Hart & Soul DVD in 2010. If I were to make a guess about it, I think it would be very difficult for her to sit there, or worse speak on his behalf, at a WWE event in front of all the people. I'm sure she wouldn't want to except any accolades from the company that got her husband killed.

Just my two cents though.

 

[Millennia]

no1 mentioned this and its a BIG reason why EDGE was chosen by " HIS PEERS" to be the FIRST BALLOT Hall of Famer...and that is his excellent choice to step aside early to protect his body, his freakin life...

years ago this would have never been done, one neck surgery, two, three, and keep goin till... till u know what...
Please remember EDGE was in severe pain back in 2004, and was getting injections done once a month just to deal with the pain...
things truly have changed within the WWE... pot & recreational drugs R seriously frowned upon AND NOT ALLOWED.. but were available like candy in the 80's....
EDGE has done something that all of his peers can be proud of, and has truly set an example for all the younger athletes in the industry today.. that your body, your life , your freakin well being is worth more than "being under those bright lights."

that choice alone, which no1 saw coming , was so powerful, and was so not the norm in this business.. and hopefully because of EDGE ... it now is the more accepted thing to do..

something a guy like kurt angle should have done YEARS AGO.. do any of you realize how much pain kurt goes thru daily, the only reason he loves being in TNA is because he spends each day LOADED on strong PainKillers High as a Kite but still needs the more powerful drug - " the limelight"

thank you ADAM COPELAND!

 

[Mustang Sally]

No, it's not too soon. I was just involved in a discussion in another section of this forum in which it was claimed that the memories of wrestling fans is notoriously short and that many didn't even remember wrestlers who were popular a few short years ago. WWE has been inducting a lot of folks who are unknown to today's young fans.

So, okay, let's give them a guy to celebrate who just retired, yet is a sure-fire hall of famer. Medically speaking, he won't be returning, not even for one more match......so why not honor him now?

People spoke of giving such consideration to Owen Hart right after he died. Even though that didn't happen, isn't it nicer to be able to honor a young guy who'll be on hand to give his own acceptance speech?

Let's do it.

 

[THE SWAG]

as much as i love that edge is there, they should have waited until mania was in toronto. the rock should have been the first one in since in the MIA. I ive in miami does anybody know the price range on the tickets to the hof i really want to go but i don't want to pay too much for them

 

[J.J.]

Edge logged 11 years in WWE. To me it isn't his singles success that makes him worthy nut his success in the tag division. 14 time tag team champ. Watching him and Christian hold the tag titles is what made watching the tag division interesting during that period. You look at those tag teams in the early '00s and tell me out of all of them which became the most successful as a singles wrestler. His accomplishments are among the best of anyone in the HOF. In short, definitely not too soon.

 

[justtxyank]

I don't think she would have a huge problem with them making money off him because she allowed him to be apart of the Hart & Soul DVD in 2010. If I were to make a guess about it, I think it would be very difficult for her to sit there, or worse speak on his behalf, at a WWE event in front of all the people. I'm sure she wouldn't want to except any accolades from the company that got her husband killed.

Just my two cents though.

She sued them over that DVD.

Edit: And to be clear, she absolutely 100% has a HUGE problem with them making a penny off of her husband. Go read some of the articles on the matter, including interviews where Bret himself laments that she has taken this stance that has made it to where Owen's fans can't be really remember his legacy the way they should. She is completely, 100%, absolutely undeniably against the WWE doing anything with her husband's name.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I don't think she would have a huge problem with them making money off him because she allowed him to be apart of the Hart & Soul DVD in 2010. If I were to make a guess about it, I think it would be very difficult for her to sit there, or worse speak on his behalf, at a WWE event in front of all the people. I'm sure she wouldn't want to except any accolades from the company that got her husband killed.

Just my two cents though.

Actually, she did take legal actions against the WWE for them releasing that DVD, along with putting Owen in one of Bret's DVDs...


Back on topic, I think that Edge is without a doubt a damn well suited candidate for the hall of fame. He's been responsible for revolutionizing the Attitude Era just as much as Stone Cold and the Rock, or HBK & Bret in the Classics, or even the nWo & Four Horsemen for WCW... there is nothing wrong with Edge being in the hall of fame. He's worked his ass off for nearly 20 years, and has EARNED everything that was given to him.

He's a one in a million who clawed his way up the ladder, who you've never heard one bad publicity about, was genuinely loved by the fans outside the ring (and in the ring), and has been responsible for some of the most amazing storylines in WWE. If you got by titles, he's held more titles than anybody in the WWE, and has won ALL of the titles that there are to hold. He's held Money in the Bank, been King of the Ring, and won the Royal Rumble. Accomplishing most of those feats in the last decade.

Say what you want, but Edge has EARNED his spot in the hall of fame. Just like the Four Horsemen, who I am even more excited about than seeing Edge go in.

For people who know me, they know that I love Ric Flair's career and believe that he's still the best in-ring performer and mic talker of all time. With that said, it's hard to deny the claim that without the Four Horsemen behind him, Flair wouldn't be so popular. And quite frankly, I agree with that claim because it's pretty much a fact. The Four Horsemen as a group elevated the career of not just the original four, but all of the members of the four horsemen... it made them all become the best heels on the planet, and it was the first stable where everyone knew their roles but could EASILY all be same level World Champions one day.

As for why Ole hasn't been inducted, well I think the answer is simple. WWE's taking NWA's Four Horsemen and not AWA's original Four Horsemen.

 

[justtxyank]

As for why Ole hasn't been inducted, well I think the answer is simple. WWE's taking NWA's Four Horsemen and not AWA's original Four Horsemen.

Ole was part of the original Horsemen that was formed in the NWA with Ric, Arn and Tully. It was not formed in the AWA.

Ole has had a feud with the E since the 1980s when Vince purchased the WCW timeslot that belonged to Georgia Championship Wrestling. He has burned so many bridges in the business (for better or worse). He's taken shots at so many people, hates Vince McMahon, hates WWE, hated WCW, hates Eric Bischoff, hates network executives, etc.

Ole Anderson went operation scorched earth on his way out of the wrestling business. He's another one who the E has good reason to want nothing to do with.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

here's my 2012 Hall of Fame class:

1. The Rock (inducted by Steve Austin)
2. Randy Savage (inducted by Ricky Steamboat)
3. Bruno Sammartino (inducted by John Cena or CM Punk)
4. Carlos Colón (inducted by Primo, Epico & Carlito)
5. Yokozuna (inducted by Bret Hart)
6. Female Inductee: Miss Elisabeth (inducted by Trish Stratus)
7. Celebrity Inductee: Donald J. Trump (inducted by Vince McMahon...this would garner loads of publicity!)
8. Tag Team Inductees: The Fabulous Freebirds (inducted by Diamond Dallas Page)

I think its a nice combination of headliners (Rock, Savage) and old-school veterans (Freebirds, Sammartino, Colón), some deceased wrestlers who deserve it (Yoko, Miss Elisabeth) and a celebrity inductee that can draw loads of publicity (Trump).

Wrestlezone just reported that Yokozuna is going to be inducted in the HoF. Yeah, so I got at least one right! Now that Edge and the Horsemen were announced, I'm guessing I'm going to have to wait another year for The Rock and The Freebirds. Oh well, at least Yoko is finally getting in!

 

[RD_21]

First for Edge I think it's too soon and that he is not quite hall of fame material in my head (don't compare to other bad hall of famers, I am just saying if it was a serious 100% legit hall of fame I don't think Edge would be there, not that quick at least. I also can't help but think they did this because his DVD is coming out).

Now the question that I have and that I haven't seen anyone ask is... do you think the WWE will let Flair appear? I know TNA would it's publicity for them and they granted that permission to Mick Foley but WWE didn't wanted him. I know some guys who were working for TNA were in attendance (Flair for HBK induction if I recall correctly) but actually having him on stage.

Or is his contract with TNA up?

 

[EdgeHead21]

When I first saw the March 31st bit I knew in an instant, don't know how but knew. I don't think it's to soon at all, I mean why wait a few years? He's retired and obviously not going to wrestle again unless he wants to end up in a wheelchair. How many guys retire with the World Heavyweight Championship? More than deserving is Edge.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

He deserves it no doubt BUT they should have done it for next year in Toronto it would have been where he is from (as I'm sure you all know). But Christian is also from Canada (not from Toronto though) this is why it made more sense to do it next year I mean who else has a bigger history with Edge that Christian?

 

[Twiztid Rodimus]

My wonder, is if they are going to add in stables, No doubt its great they chose the BEST stable of all time first. But the thing they should have done, is let the WHOLE collection of the horsemen go in. (DONT START ON BENOIT, 4H Is bigger than him)

they do it for the Rock n Roll Hall of fame. So why not do it for the stables?

 

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan, M.D.]

I thought so at first but no he isn't. He deserves this introduction just as much as Shawn Michaels did the year after he retired. Edge has held various belts 31 times in WWE, an 11 time World Champion, he's won the Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, and the first ever Money in the Bank, he's headlined Wrestlemania with The Undertaker, and was one of the people who made the ladder match what it is today. No doubt in my mind that he deserves this honor. No matter how soon it's bestowed upon him.

 

[Grizzly0u812]

This time of year always pisses me off as a long time Wrestling fan of 30 years plus, Edge is amazing and truely deserves his spot in the HOF but honestly there are many guys before Edge who have not been inducted and truely deserve the honour of being inducted, pretty sure Edge could even agree because he probably watched many of them and even looked up to many of them.

Thought I read a posting that Rick Rude was not in it, how about King Kong Bundy, how come Hennan and Stud are in it but not Bundy, many others people could list, Macho Man and so on, I have been seeing many people getting put in the HOF who might of made one appearance and they are put in but not guys who have been in WWF/WWE for years, how many years was bundy in it.

Not taking anything from Edge still wish they would do it in his home down as a rumour was wrestlemania 29 in Toronto would of been a perfect setting, is it to soon, yes, again because there are many many others who are deserving but for some reason they are being over looked.

But guys like Drew Carrey, what Bob Barker, Bob Urker and so on, who's next the muppets cause they appeared on Raw, my point is a lot of guys from the passed paved the way, sleeping in their cars etc, What about Jake Roberts.

If these guys did not pave the way where would wrestling be today is all I am saying.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

WWE tends to induct guys who are near retiring or just retired into the Hall of Fame. That way it keeps things interesting. Did you see the pop flair got at the HOF in 2008? It was one night before he wrestled his last WWE match at Wrestlemania 24, so naturally people were much more interested. If they wait to induct someone like Edge who gets massive pops now that he is fresh in everyone's mind, then the interest will wear. Sure it would big a big deal, but no where near as tremendous as an occasion that if her were to be inducted when he is the "Hot retired commodity". This WWE simply giving a legend and deserving Hall of famer the spot light, before the light shining dims as time passes.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The grim reality is that WWE have chosen Edge this year because he can show up to the event, along with potentially Flair as "major names" to show up... If they go with Savage, he's not gonna be there... Pillman, Benoit (he's a horsemen remember, Hennig) are not gonna be there...I am hearing Yoko, he's not gonna be there... Edge is someone who can be there and deflect a little from the "downer" of so many dead guys in the class...

 

[dlevesqu]

Yes, but not because he doesn't deserve it. If they are in fact going to induct The Rock this year, he'll definitely be the main inductee, so I'd hold off Edge at least another year so he could be the top guy, especially if Wrestlemania ever went back to Canada.

 

[Grizzly0u812]

The grim reality is that WWE have chosen Edge this year because he can show up to the event, along with potentially Flair as "major names" to show up... If they go with Savage, he's not gonna be there... Pillman, Benoit (he's a horsemen remember, Hennig) are not gonna be there...I am hearing Yoko, he's not gonna be there... Edge is someone who can be there and deflect a little from the "downer" of so many dead guys in the class...

With my post all I am saying sure if they want to induct guys like Edge I am all for them doing so he earned it, but please reconize others who also are deserving, guys who passed on give them their due also, yeah guys who are around and able to come up and get their award is cool, god knows many would of love to see Macho Man come up and give a loud OHHHHHHH Yeah speech and blow the roof off their but all they will be able to do now is mention him and thats it.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I am a little shocked they didn't wait until a year in which Mania was located in Canada, but other than that I have no issues with it. In fact, I'd rather use the emotion from his recent retirement that is still relatively fresh on everyone's minds. I disagree with the "you have to wait 20 years from when they were popular" approach. In 20 years Edge will likely be one of those guys we reference from time to time as one of the "greats", but a HOF induction would be 2nd or 3rd tear at best. The guy retired, for good, so why not induct him now while people are still thinking about him?

Spoiler

7 time World Heavyweight Champion
4 time WWE Champion
5 time Intercontinental Champion
1 time United States Champion
12 time World Tag Team Champion
2 time WWE Tag Team Champion
2001 King of the Ring winner
2005 and 2007 Money in the Bank winner
2010 Royal Rumble winner
The 14th Triple Crown Champion
2 time PWI Match of the Year winner
2 time PWI Feud of the Year winner

^^ These accomplishments, all of which were achieved in ONE company, aren't going to be any different in 2012 or 2042. He's one of the few wrestlers to have worked his entire career in the WWE. No WCW, No TNA, no NJPW...he stayed in WWE, worked through all of the bad gimmicks, matches, and feuds they stuck him in, and made it to the very top! For that reason alone, regardless of accolades, he deserves the WWE Hall of Fame more than most. Don't wait until he's just a memory, induct him now while the fans still love him!

 

[King of the Words]

I, too, thought they would wait til the next time Wrestlemania was in Canada. With Edge being at Mania 6 at Skydome watching Warrior and Hogan, it would be cool for him to be inducted in Toronto and be on stage at Mania? in that Stadium. Roger's Center I think it is now called. But, that would be my only reason for holding off on inducting Edge. He definetly deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame.