WZ Hall Of Fame Induction: Harley Race

[Tastycles]

Harley Race

This week's inductee is the first to have come from outside the WWE bubble. Harley Race first started wrestling in the early 60s, having spent his late teens performing a range of oddjobs such as carting about Happy Humphrey, one of the most disgusting human beings of all time, weighing over a third of a ton. However, shortly after debuting he was in a horrendous accident, his pregnant wife died and he almost lost his leg, being told he'd never wrestle again.

Undeterred, he returned to the Funks' promotion in Texas and for the first time in his life began competing under his real name, something he did from this point onwards. There he started teaming with Larry Hennig and the two moved on to the AWA, the first of three major promotions that he would gain notable recognition in. He and Hennig won the tag titles 3 times, before Hennig got injured and Race wrestled with a series of different partners until his return. However, their reunion did not last long as Race left AWA for the NWA.

Unlike most of the great NWA Champions, Race never had a true home territory, instead jumping about them winning local titles in the process. He finally managed to win the NWA Championship in 1973, from old rival Dory Funk before losing it to another great member of a set of wrestling brothers in Jack Brisco. He made a point of collecting more regional titles until he could get another shot at the world title, including the first reign of what is today the WWE United States Championship.

He got his chance against another Funk in Terry, and beat him in 1977 for his second NWA Title. He defended his title an incredible 6 times a week at times, including in interpromotional feuds with Nick Bockwinkel, Eddie Graham and Bob Backlund. He held the title for two and a half years, before dropping it to Dusty Rhodes for a week. Giant Baba benefitted from two single week reigns too, as did Tommy Rich, but this aside, Race held the title for a further two years, making for a total of six reigns.

Race was unable to beat Rhodes, for the title, but he did manage to win his seventh title, against a young Ric Flair almost 18 months after losing the title.Race put a bounty on Flair to stophim getting the title back, but it proved futile with Flair winning a brutal and bloody cage match in the main event of the first ever Starrcade. He briefly regained the title on a tour to New Zealand, which gave him his 8th and final title, but he lost it to Flair two days later.

Race's days as a top champion were over, and he spent the next couple of years buying up territries in his native Missouri. However, Vince McMahon began to invade his territory and he lost out financially to a huge extent. He was forced to re-enter the ring, feuding briefly with his old partner's son Curt Hennig in AWA, before eventually signing for the WWF in 1986.

Reluctant to acknowledge his NWA acheivements, Race was quickly given the King of the Ring title as an alternative. He feuded with some of the biggest faces in the WWF at the time in Jim Duggan, Junkyard Dog and Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately, he injured himself and the King crown was given to Haku. He lost a match at Royal Rumble 1989 to regain the crown and left the WWF.

He spent the next couple of years in various promotions, including competing for the US title against Lex Luger and the AWA title against Larry Zbyszko. He eventually retired aged 48 and became a manager in the fledgling WCW, managing people including Vader and Lex Luger. A second huge car crash cut short his management career, and Race left the business before creating his own training academy and promotion, World League Wrestling in 1999.

He continues to run this promotion and was inducted into the WWE hall of fame in 2004, but does he belong in the Wrestlezone one?

 

[LascoX]

Harley definatly deserves to be in. to quote Rick Flair " To be the man , you have to beat the man". In his day Harley was the Man! Harley was one of the most respected NWA champions and his work ethic that got him all over the NWA territorys across the globe made him one of the top World Champions in the industry.

 

[8thwotwATG]

Harley Race without a doubt should be in ANY knd of wrestling HOF. He not only held the NWA title 7 times, Race was a legitimate, bonafide badass who could stretch or pretty much do serious damage to any wrestler who was getting out of hand for real. He was a great performer and a true legend in the ring.

 

[Milkyway!]

One thing we need to stress here is the fact that Race could put a man over, to make his entire career. Probably the most well known name that Harley Race helped create is none other than Ric Flair.

Without Race, Flair would not have been the wrestler we know him as today. Race put Flair over, big time. Its arguable that Flair would not have been the mega star that he is today without the things Race imparted into him. Race rolled the ball that is Ric Flair, right down into the lane of stardom.

That ball has yet to stop rolling to this day. Flair put guys like Triple H over. Triple H made stars like Randy Orton, and Batista. Randy Orton is helping to create stars in Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase. All of these men go back to Race.

So all in all when you really think about it, Race is still influencing the wrestling world today. Let alone all of the things already mentioned in the first post by Tastycles. So yes, Race goes into the Hall of Fame.

 

[Tenta]

Tasty, thank the good Lord, sir. You've actually brought in a proven draw to the Hall of Fame, and I couldn't be happier. I had a good thread all worked up, before the internet connection was lost on the forums. But, I'll keep it simple.

Why Harley Deserves It:​

Greatest NWA Champion of All Time

Yes, some Thesz and Flair fans will get on me for this, but I stand by it. An eight time champ, this guy took on all the great names of the NWA, in a time when it was the best wrestling promotion around. He worked fantastic matches with all of the greats during the 70s and 80s; Brisco, Bruiser Brody, Giant Baba, Andre, and the like. You name it from that era, and this man has probably faced them, even stretching out to names like Bob Backlund, Billy Graham, and the like when the NWA, AWA, and WWF would wrestle supercards. Still, the man is probably best known for putting over a legend in his own right.

His Work With Flair

He also had some great work putting over Dusty Rhodes, which was no easy task in itself. But his best work in putting someone over had to be Flair. Simply put, without Harley Race, Ric Flair wouldn't exist. Flair needed the legitimate toughness of Harley Race to rub off on him, if he was to ever hope to catch on with the fans. With Race, I still argue Flair would have went to the WWE, where Vince didn't care about his lack of amateur skills, and would have made him mid card fodder, and maybe feed him to Hogan down the line. If Flair wanted any credibility in thr NWA, Flair needed for Harley to sign off on the guy, and label him the truth. He was never a tough man, and needed the toughest man in wrestling, Harley Race, to put him over to the fans.

Starrcade

Without Flair and Harley Race headlining Starrcade, WCW would have never had it's flagship pay per view. Starrcade became the embodiment of what the NWA/WCW was all about; every angle and storyline built to WCW. This may seem really speculative, but I argue, to this day, that if Starrcade failed, we'd never even have Wrestlemania. Vince would see how poorly it drew, and would have went elsewhere. Starrcade opened up the flood gates for what PPV could do for the wrestling world, because so many people wanted to see Flair and Harley in the cage, in what I still say is the greatest cage match of all time.

I could write an essay based on Harley's work, and his contributions to the business. But this man is well deserved as a member of the Hall. Vote for him now, damnit.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

It's already been said in here quite a bit, but without Harley Race, you don't have many of the wrestlers you have today. Ric Flair was a star because of Harley Race. Dusty Rhodes was a bigger star due to Harley Race. Jerry Lawler was a credible wrestler because he could hang with Harley Race in a 45 minute draw in Memphis. So many wrestlers owe a debt of gratitude to Race.

Two of Triple H's key moves... are from Harley Race. The Knee Facebuster and the High Knee are Race's creations. The way he executed the basics were what made Race such a great asset to any promotion he was in. The way he took bumps is revolutionary. Not only did he do them safely, he sold them like crazy.

His heel work goes down as legendary as well. No one wanted to like Race. Because he ran his mouth and backed it up in the ring. He was vicious and underhanded and played that character well.

It's obvious he should be in the WZ Hall of Fame. If not, you may as well take Flair out of here, too.

Vote Harley Race.