shakla

Wonder why he puts the likes of Nikki Bella and Charlotte on the ballot yet Madusa, Luna and Sherri have never been on.

She stayed on the modern ballot for 17 years and peaked at 56%. With all the one-and-dones that get added to Historical every year, might as well give her a shot there. Much like I presume Murdoch will before too long.

Moolah should be added to the Historical category (which she had yet to be considered for after the 15/50% rule). Had some good vote totals over the years. Pretty sure she was listed as an upcoming candidate in a HoF issue at one point the last few years. At some point, Luger, Jake Roberts and Bischoff deserve another crack. Been 20+ years since any of them were on. And their careers are more finalized than in the late 90s. Perhaps the same for the Dudleys, Booker T and RVD, all possibly premature one-and-dones 15 years ago. Maybe Finlay (one-and-done in 2008), could go in the Misc. overseas category?

Moolah has never been considered in the Historical category and should be eventually, regardless of her controversies in recent years. She stayed on the Modern ballot the max time and there were many years she tallied a lot of votes. Good for Hall and Nash being added again. The HoF process and voting pool compared to '98 and now is night and day. Doubt they'll get the votes but certainly worth another look now that their careers are done rather than near the peak in '98.

Wonder if Moolah gets put back on soon. She's actually never been a Historical candidate since her career went deep into the 80s. This probably wasn't the year, but like her or not, she got decent vote totals and was very close to being elected a few times.

I'm pretty sure you see cases of both when new candidates appear. Some due to voter demand, others due to Dave giving it more thought. Don't think there is an official nomination process. The ones who turn 35 automatically go on if they are notable enough to Dave.

Rick Martel is also new. Steve Rickard is the only new non-wrestler. It's probably best it didn't happen this year, but Moolah should be added to Historical at some point. To be fair, she stayed on the ballot for 15 years with solid percentages mostly. And she was never considered a Historical candidate during that timespan since her last relevant year was in the mid 80s.

Maxine did say this (from http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2014/08/30/21908686.html) Maxine didn't partake in this, clearly. Think this Arizona guy was talked about in some of the Nigel videos. He was a doctor that apparently liked to take pictures of female wrestlers, one said. Think someone also said no one was forced to fly there. It's odd, that's for sure. Really don't know what to make of it. Not saying Maxine's wrong, but that's a vague claim.

At this point, you'll never be able to prove or disprove any of this fully. The Sweet Georgia Brown article, which seemed to be the backbone of the anti-Moolah defense, came off as flimsy hearsay to me. And then you have her son standing in front of Moolah's house saying his sister was bitter and exaggerated or lied about what was said in the article.

I think the actual number is about 45 or so, around the same as Backlund actually. So it's a pretty big exaggeration. I don't think Bruno even appeared on 187 MSG shows total. Wrestling at MSG was hot from 63-65, but was relatively cold for the rest of the decade with no sellouts from early 65 until June of 1970. Bruno's second reign was full of sellouts, but so were Morales', Graham's and Backlund's reigns. But whatever, Bruno was fucking God Dave, in reply to Chris Cruise, said the actual number was around 61. (https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/986664704461324288)

Wonder how Bruno's New York Times obit will handle the MSG sellouts. Their obits are well-researched, although wrestling is full of myths. Even Chyna's NYT obit published a correction for being a year off on her birth date (which everyone was for whatever reason).

Never really thought about it before, but "Don't Go Messin' With A Country Boy" is a fairly blatant rip-off of John Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy".

My guess is that they can't find whoever wrote it and/or the publisher who owns it. Sometimes it's not just the cost, it's the work to find someone to clear it. It's not a Jimmy Hart song per the credits on The Wrestling Album. And I bet a lot of people were expecting or hoping for the original theme, since it has a strong association to him. Not all fans are aware of music modifications on the Network. Nor were they seeking out Jim's matches in droves to learn that.

Surprised I haven't heard anyone complain about Hillbilly Jim not coming out to his original "Don't Go Messin' With A Country Boy" theme song. They played some generic banjo theme instead.

Might be. But they have to conserve names. They overloaded the MSG/Bruno class and in retrospect, should have held Foley off to headline another year.

Unless Big Show does something to get on WWE's bad side politically, he'll go in for sure, and not as a joke/filler name. Been in WWE for almost 20 years, one of their premier stars, won just about every title. He might even headline a class.

Chyna was on last year and barely got 10%. Arn was on the ballot as a solo about 10 years ago. (http://wrestlingclassics.com/.ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000499)

So did I, I have asked Dave on twitter but don't think I got a response. He was definitely on the "to be added next year" listing in the 2016 results issue. Feel like they did that with Samoa Joe the year prior and he wasn't put on as well.

I would say no until the go-home Raw.

I could see Torrie Wilson and/or Stacy Keibler going in someday. Even if they weren't "workhorses", they both had lengthy runs and were big stars for the company.

I agree that she's the weakest inductee so far amongst regular inductees. Can't say celeb wing tho, given there's a few one-offs in there. At least kayfabe-wise, she had the title a few times, but it was a total afterthought then. Half of her induction video focused on that joke Royal Rumble deal where she eliminated Khali. When you book your HoF classes like a wrestling card rather than have real elections and standards, you have to save names. Or you'll run through them and Val Venis headlines in 2021. But think about this, the first inductee born in the 1980s is Beth Phoenix. That's mind-blowing.

There's a lot more MLB players overall than the main WWE roster. Probably a higher proportion of African-Americans in the MLB as well. Few would be upset (or notice) if John Cena said a few words about Jackie Robinson over Alicia Fox. Also, both Dave and Bryan talked a lot last WO Radio about how stupid the "you deserve it" chant is. I agree more with Bryan's take tho.

I do agree with Dave on how out-of-touch WWE is with their "only blacks can be talking heads for black history month videos" deal. It would not have hurt to have had a caucasian with awareness of sports history talk about Jackie Robinson, instead of Alicia Fox.

All those names are under "rampant speculation". Can't call anyone a lock just yet. Even the leaked names last year didn't all pan out. I'm not saying WWE should or shouldn't downplay his 91-94 WCW run, but with the way they do things, I bet most of his video package will be late 80s WWF footage.

I think WWE will downplay Rude's WCW run if this induction is to happen. A dark horse to induct him, Curtis Axel, who I'm sure knew him growing up.