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Lawler sometimes seems like he works an indy show every single night of the week (except Monday, of course). Why does he keep doing that, at his age? He's been under WWE contract for twenty years now, not to mention all the years being the top guy in Memphis; you'd think he would've made more money than he could ever spend by now. Certainly he doesn't seem to have the usual money-sucking problems like drugs, cars, or divorces which seem to drain many celebrities' wallets dry. Dating women more than half your age doesn't come cheap!

I don't think any of them would try to work with their enemy in the spirit of partisanship.

Both Hogan and Flair would be in WWE right now if WWE had offered them a better contract. A WWE deal is too restrictive and they wouldn't pay as much as TNA on a per date basis. Also, with the amount of big stars on any major show nowadays, WrestleMania payoffs for them wouldn't be too big. I know Meltzer was talking of late about Hogan being upset about his SummerSlam payoff for his match with Shawn in 2005, which he believed was only about $250,000.

WWE responds to Republican Christopher Shays attack with the same tired talking points

Roughly 70% MMA, 30% pro wrestling matches. To be fair, it was all shoot style.

Big star in Hawaii.

There's been much worse candidates on the ballot, so he deserves his turn at some point. Agreed that when motivated he's one of the better big man workers ever. As a draw, I'd call him a career underachiever. The only WCW PPV that he headlined that did a particularly good number was the tag with Luger against Hogan and Rodman, which obviously can't be attributed to him. It only took a couple of months for WWF management to sour on him in the spring of '99, which meant he was in fewer house show main events during the peak of the Attitude era than you might expect. Even in his first short run as WWF champion, it was usually Rock's/Foley's/Hunter's match that closed the show. The feud with Brock Lesnar was a memorable one, but took place during a downward slide for WWE business. The Mayweather match was an incredible performance, though it didn't draw a huge number for a celebrity match. Given the amount they shelled out for Mayweather, I think they made a bigger profit from next year's Mania, which just had Shawn vs. Undertaker and the 25th anniversary hype.

Really the Carters should consider selling TNA to Viacom like Bjorn Rebney did with Bellator. Probably their only chance of recouping their investment at this point.

I think the difference between Tenzan and Akiyama is that you can't blame the booking for Akiyama failing as a project, Tenzan was killed off by New Japan's yo-yo pushes during their freefall period. Though of course this is not the Hall Of What Could Have Been.

The Valentine feud closed out four Madison Square Garden house shows in 1984/85, but usually wasn't the match that likely drew the house. The Savage vs. Santana feud in '86 was the other highlight. He headlined MSG twice that year in tag matches with Bruno Sammartino against Savage and Adonis, which certainly was the biggest matches on those shows, but didn't draw that well (13,000 for the first match, 16,000 for the second cage one).

I think you can safely argue that outside of Hogan, Vince, maybe Patterson and without a doubt the production crew, everyone was along for the ride. I think lots of other people played key early roles, because they were running split crews. Albano, Piper, Snuka, Slaughter, Andre, Shiek, etc. There were several Madison Square Garden shows that drew very well without Hogan in the mid 1980s, headlined by those guys instead. The problem with Jesse is that it's hard to quantify how important he truly was to the product. It's not like Vince didn't have good chemistry with other broadcast partners after Jesse left. He was an enjoyable part of the package, but then so was Jerry "The King" Lawler's pervy comedy routine during the Attitude Era to most viewers and I don't think anyone would advocate him going into a Hall Of Fame just for that.

Your mileage may vary on the quality of Ventura's WCW run, but it meant nothing for their business. So much so that his salary stuck out like a sore thumb to Mick Foley in contract negotiations with Eric Bischoff. It's not Hall Of Fame level stuff. The WWF commentary run is a feather in his cap, but for an announcer it is not a very long run. You can also argue that though he added to the product, he was along for the ride.

Regarding Greg Valentine, my gut tells me that Mulligan was a bigger draw than he was in the Mid Atlantic area. Not sure his case is as strong as you think, Dylan.

I think Johnson is a guy who's hurt by his career not being very well remembered. I think early on in his career he was a good drawing card. I'm sure Meltzer has talked about him drawing well for Roy Shire in the Bay Area and he had a memorable feud with Lawler in Memphis too.

I think it's worth adding that though he was under utilised in NOAH, when he was given the spotlight he usually stepped up to the plate. Indeed, they could have got more mileage out of his title run in late 2005 / early 2006, instead of rushing the title back on Jun Akiyama for another disappointing reign. Wright has the same issues as Thunderbolt Patterson. Definite draw, but hard to do business with. Would probably have been at Bobo's level if he kept his mouth shut and put up with the racism in the industry at the time. I think he was blackballed after trying to take the WWA title hostage. Consequently doesn't have the longevity that you would want from a HOF candidate of this era. One of the better freelance outsider draws in the last decade. Not quite at Takayama's or Sasaki's level, but not far behind. Given the dearth of new Japanese candidates, it perhaps wouldn't be a bad idea to put him on the ballot at some point. We all know the likes of KENTA and Marufuji will be put on when they're eligible. Regarding Triple H, when he got in in 2005 he really lacked the longevity you would want from a Hall Of Famer. Pushed as a main event level star from the formation of DX in the autumn of '97, but that included long periods where his push wasn't sticking, he was out injured or he was musclebound, hurting his performance in the ring.

It's worth noting that Piper did heel commentary nationally before Ventura did. Also, the WWF didn't skip a beat when they lost him and his WCW run was fairly uninspired.

Monsoon and Ventura are already on the ballot. Finkel and Okerlund should be on. I know Finkel wasn't that important from a business standpoint, but given that there is a precedent for a ring announcer being in the Hall Of Fame, he's deserving of being on the ballot. Regarding Schiavone if he deserves to be in, then you'd have to put in any announcer who worked for a major promotion or territory for a significant amount of time. Looking at the latest polls I see Dave has included Tommy Dreamer in people worthy of consideration to be put on the ballot.

The other thing to mention about Warrior is that his return at WrestleMania XII stole the show from Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, the two biggest WWF stars of that era. Not that I would advocate him going in, but he's certainly better remembered and more famous than many of the modern day candidates already inducted.

Cribbing from the Meltzer bio: Master psychologist who you could make an argument to get in for that alone. Hall Of Fame level star in Australia where he was arguably the hottest heel ever in the territory. Probably just under that level in Japan, where he had a few early tours where he was pushed as Giant Baba's main rival and even beat him on occasion. Stuck around too much in the Texas territories, particularly Amarillo where his home was, meaning that in later years he spent quite a lot of time in the mid card. Imaginary friend Alex gimmick was sometimes a drawback in taking him seriously as a top babyface. Deserves to be on the ballot as an international candidate. Not sure the sum of the parts would have been enough to get him in originally, but you can say the same for King Curtis Iaukea, though I think Iaukea on paper is a stronger candidate than Kox. Seems like a Murdoch level gatekeeper candidate without the run in Australia.

WTF ? Who came first ? Trish Stratus ? Lita ? IIRC, Toyota came first, Stratus second. Not surprising given how she's been put over as a worker by Meltzer for all these years and being pushed as a legend by Chikara recently.

???? What are you basing that on? ROH is less then a yr into being purchased by a big multi media company that recently gave them a semi national tv deal. No solid #'s are out but all indications so far are that they're happy with the ratings they're drawing and they're being given more & more tv clearences into new markets each month. I get not being a fan of the current product but from a purely business point of view there's not much to suggest they're in any danger what so ever. The house shows in new markets like the Carolinas have, by and large, been significant money losers, drawing about half what they need to break even. iPPV doesn't seem to have been boosted by their new TV show either. I wouldn't say they're at more risk than TNA, but Sinclair's investment hasn't got off to a great start from a profit loss standpoint.

John's right about it being a vanity promotion from the get go. As Dave mentioned in the thread I alluded to, Jerry Jarrett deep down knew TNA was a long shot, but he was willing to take the risk to shore up his relationship with his son. Of course, that backfired spectacularly in the end. But that's why Russo was brought in, against Jerry's better instincts, because ultimately this was about keeping his son happy than doing what was best for business.

Worth bumping as TNA comes up to its tenth anniversary and Dave in a thread entitled "The critics didn't give us 10 weeks" recently wrote: So is there any hope for the promotion outside of the Carters selling a majority share to Viacom, like what happened recently with Bellator? Because at the moment TNA seems to be in the late 2000 WCW phase where the leaders have completely ran out of ideas and are just writing TV to fill up time while they wait for the inevitable.

Amusing Hall Of Fame poll results from Dave.com, I'm sure Dylan will find it funny too:

Not sure you should be including dreadfully boring matches, unless they're historically relevant in the yearbook, though I understand the thought process behind it.