Ejected From The WWE Hall of Fame
Which eight members should be kicked out?
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 that certain simply don’t deserve permanent recognition. As a matter of fact, John Corrigan and David Gibb did just that on an episode of Corrigan’s Corner on Team LeftJab Radio.
Here are the list of wrestling characters that should be kicked out of the WWE Hall of Fame. (The following has been edited and condensed for your reading pleasure.)
You can check out the WWE Hall of Fame Roundtable here. See the five pillars of the WWE Hall of Fame here.
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
Gibb: “We have already set the precedent with Chris Benoit that if you’re a reprehensible human being, you should not be in the hall of fame. There is plenty of evidence that Jimmy Snuka was a reprehensible human including a civil court ruling that he is responsible for his girlfriend’s death.”
Corrigan: “WWE even did a tribute video for his death and then added a collection of his matches to the WWE Network. I don’t even know if distasteful is the right word. It goes beyond that because it’s this publicly-traded company that cares so much about its image. It’s not universally known what happened with Snuka and his girlfriend, but certainly enough people know. Wasn’t the case reopened, too?”
Gibb: “I think he wrote something he shouldn’t have written in his autobiography or something along those lines that actually allowed the family to bring new evidence and re-open the case.”
Johnny Rodz
Corrigan: “You had a good pick with Snuka – I feel bad I didn’t include him. This is terrible. I’m kicking Johnny Rodz out for losing matches while you’re kicking somebody out for a real reason!”
Gibb: “Wins and losses definitely count, though. It’s important to have a place for people like Johnny Rodz or Steve Lombardi who helped make the superstars in the hall of fame. I actually don’t have a problem with Rodz being in there because he is a longtime carpenter, somebody who helped build the promotion, and he trained a lot of wrestlers as well.”
The Godfather
Gibb: “I’m all right with Charles Wright staying in there, but let’s recognize him as Kama or something like that. When I go back and watch the Attitude Era, every time his music plays it’s just like the biggest cringe. When I watch wrestling with my wife, it’s like, oh gosh, let’s fast forward through here.”
Corrigan: “I agree with you about kicking him out, just not for the same reason. When you look at all of Charles Wright’s characters, they’re not hall of famers. They’re entertaining characters, maybe not Kama, but they’re not hall of famers. Godfather and Bruno shouldn’t be in the same vicinity.”
“Cowboy” Bob Orton
Gibb: “He was a comedic lackey for Roddy Piper back in the day, you know, a great wrestler on the card. But he is in there because they were pushing Randy Orton hard at the time. It was a point in time where everybody in WWE was either a second-generation or third-generation superstar. He was maybe in the top tier of lackeys, but he was never in the top tier of guys.”
Koko B. Ware
Corrigan: “He really starts this whole argument. He’s the gold standard of people not deserving to be in the hall. He was like Johnny Rodz, just with a little more sizzle. He did serve his role, and supposedly had a good run in the territories, but he just doesn’t fit with Austin, Flair and the other top guys.”
Gibb: “He’s on my list as well. I’ve always heard he had a great run in Memphis, but it’s like yeah, I’ve never seen that. (laughs) If you were going to put enhancement talent in there, there are so many people who could have gone in first. You could have put in Doink and counted that as Matt Borne, Steve Lombardi, Steve Keirn and Ray Apollo.”
James Dudley
Corrigan: “Whenever you look at a list of the hall of famers, he sticks out like a sore thumb because nobody knows who he is. From my limited research, he was supposedly the first African American promoter to run a building. Apparently, he was just a close confidante to Vince McMahon, Sr.”
Beth Phoenix
Gibb: “She is a really great person and she burned really, really bright, but she just didn’t have a long run. Watching her stuff back, especially through the lens of what we’ve seen from women’s wrestling in recent years, I don’t think history will look back on her as this extraordinary worker. She was just the bodybuilder in a world full of models. Beth Phoenix was no Ivory in that department for me.”
Drew Carey
Corrigan: “If we’re going to put enhancement talent in, then I’m for celebrities who made a strong contribution to wrestling. But Drew Carey had one moment in wrestling that has somehow earned him a spot in the hall of fame. It’s not even like WWE was capitalizing on any buzz when they inducted him. He’s the current host of The Price Is Right – his claim to fame has been off the air for years!”
You can listen to the full episode here.
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