5 Pillars of the WWE Hall of Fame

The WWE Hall of Fame sparks debate and outrage every year as wrestling fans question why certain performers are enshrined on Vince McMahon’s imaginary mantle.

Fans are frustrated because although the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame and Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame do exist, they’re not as mainstream as WWE’s HOF. Yet, unlike other professional sports and entertainment halls, WWE doesn’t offer any criteria for how people are inducted. It’s simply at the whims of the McMaster.

But wrestling fans can agree on the names most deserving of permanent recognition. As a matter of fact, John Corrigan and David Gibb did just that on a recent episode of Corrigan’s Corner on Team LeftJab Radio.

Here are the five pillars of the WWE Hall of Fame. (The following has been edited and condensed for your reading pleasure.)

You can listen to the full episode here. You can check out the WWE Hall of Fame Roundtable here.

Bruno Sammartino

David Gibb: “You really can’t have a WWE Hall of Fame without there being a Bruno Sammartino wing, so to speak.”

Andre the Giant

John Corrigan: “The guy who was the whole reason they came up with it. I guess it was the highest honor WWE could bestow upon him.”

Gibb: “The next person on your list is also the same person on my list, and it would have been much harder for that person to get over if it wasn’t for Andre. He deserves a Statue of Liberty-size statue standing over the hall of fame because that’s how important he is to wrestling history, especially WWE’s history.”

Hulk Hogan

Gibb: “You can’t tell the story of the WWE without Hulk Hogan. Their longest-running huge star maybe up to the time of John Cena. He’s up there with Bruno.”

Corrigan: “Apparently, he is not in it anymore. I don’t know how that goes, I guess because it’s not a physical hall of fame, they can do whatever they want.”

Gibb: “The hall of fame is basically a roll call of wrestlers and those in the business. I definitely think there should be a precedent for taking somebody out. ‘We’re not going to honor them if they are an absolutely reprehensible person.’ But with that said, you can’t erase Hogan. That would be like saying Hitler was a really bad person; therefore, we should erase him from the history of the world. Not that I’m comparing Hogan to Hitler – that got out of control really fast.

Just because someone is problematic, doesn’t mean they aren’t a fundamental part of the historical narrative. Even though Hulk Hogan is as problematic as any carny wrestler, he is still fundamental to the narrative. Even if you don’t celebrate him, you have to talk about him and acknowledge him. For so many years, people said the WWE Hall of Fame lacked legitimacy because Bruno wasn’t there and Savage wasn’t there. If you don’t have the top tier names in there that are really key to the narrative of your history, it just doesn’t work.

Even though they were right to distance themselves, and certainly, you don’t have him on TV. You don’t market around him. You don’t give him the big payday by putting him in the video game. You can’t erase him from your history. History doesn’t work that way, even carny wrestling history.”

Corrigan: “Between you and me, Anthony Mahalis became a Hogan fan only after 2015.”

Gibb: “…that’s curious. Moving on…”

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Gibb: “The all-time great star of WWE Raw, as we talked about during the roundtable a few months ago. He is the definitive figure of 1996-2002. That really was the biggest, most mainstream, most off the rails era.”

Ric Flair

Corrigan: “He is the greatest world champion of all time. His accomplishments in WWE are not as great as they were in NWA, but we’re going by your definition of the hall of fame where we honor stars from all over the wrestling world.”