Saturday, April 02, 2016

The Class Of 2016

This evening, WWE will induct some more names into its Hall of Fame.

It has been ten years since I began this blog. For all of these years, the day of the Hall of Fame has featured a post where I go through the list of names and write some short things about them. This tradition continues as I look at The Class of 2016...

SNOOP DOGG

The rapper, Snoop Dogg, will be this year's addition to the celebrity wing. He's done a bit with WWE in the past, so it isn't like they're bringing him in just because he's a name. He's also Sasha Banks' cousin and she's challenging for the WWE Divas Championship tomorrow night.

JACQUELINE

Jacqueline Moore will more than likely be best remembered for the time she spent working for WWE during the Attitude Era. With that said, her career has seen her work in numerous territories and promotions before and after her time under the WWE spotlight.

She's a former two-time WWE Divas Champion and has even held the WWE Cruiserweight Title.

THE GODFATHER

Charles Wright's 'The Godfather' character is another name that people will associate from the most popular period in WWE history - the Attitude Era. He played the role of a pimp who would come to the ring with his 'Hos'.

The Godfather was not my favourite Wright character. He had previously portrayed gimmicks like Kama (an MMA fighter) and my personal best - Papa Shango (a voodoo priest).

STAN HANSEN

Stan Hansen is one of America's most infamous exports to Japanese wrestling.

He spent the majority of his career wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling but spent a few years in other places like New Japan, the AWA, WCW and even in the then World Wide Wrestling Federation (now WWE).

BIG BOSS MAN

The late Ray Traylor will be inducted under his 'Big Boss Man' character.

Traylor worked for companies like the NWA, UWF, WCW, All Japan Pro Wrestling and WWF/E.

'The Big Boss Man' was one of the numerous characters that Traylor portrayed in wrestling. It is, however, the one he is most recognised as.

THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS

The Fabulous Freebirds was a stable of wrestlers that first became huge in the Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling where they feuded with the Von Erichs. This feud was a huge deal back in the 1980's.

They worked in other territories, but the WCCW run is one that I enjoy watching whenever I want to watch any of their work.

Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin are the only survivng members of this band of wrestlers. Buddy Roberts, BadStreet and Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy will surely be posthumously acknowledged as being part of the group during some of its incarnations.

STING

Sting will be the headliner of this year's ceremony. And rightfully so. He was a headline act for most of the promotions he has worked for.

If anyone asked me to describe the most important thing Sting has done for pro wrestling, I would have to point to the legacy he created in the NWA/WCW. He was one of the wrestlers who will forever be linked to that promotion.

He had some great matches with Ric Flair and was in the main event of WCW's biggest PPV in its history when he took on Hulk Hogan at Starrcade 1997. The match between he and Hogan took place after over a year of build-up.

Most recently, Sting came to WWE for the first time in his career. He was injured during a match against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015.

I have a strong feeling that Sting will announce his retirement during tonight's event,

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