Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Hall of Fame 2018


flyonthewall2983

Recommended Posts

Now official:

 

 

Mark Henry to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018

20180316_HOF_MarkHenry--9b4a9d11bc4e3b5c

Mark Henry - 2018 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee

Mark Henry took pride in giving countless Superstars a vicious induction into his Hall of Pain. During WrestleMania 34 Week, The World’s Strongest Man will enter a completely different hall.

As first reported by USA Today, Henry will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2018. He joins Goldberg, The Dudley Boyz, Ivory, Jeff Jarrett, Hillbilly Jim, Kid Rock and Warrior Award recipient Jarrius “JJ” Robertson as those being honored during the 2018 Induction Ceremony on Friday, April 6, during WrestleMania 34 Week in New Orleans.

 

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-hall-of-fame/wwe-hall-of-fame-2018/article/mark-henry-wwe-hall-of-fame-2018-inductee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 256
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

This is definitely the first class missing any 80s level feel to it outside Hillbilly Jim, but I suppose that's bound to happen at this point as most of them are in besides Bundy, Honky, Vader, Beefcake, Midnight Express, Demolition, One Man Gang, Patera, etc that probably deserve a spot legitimately. I wonder if they'll start adding some of the 70s and 80s guys that have passed like Bigelow into the Legacy wing rather than a full induction to catch up a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's really a missed opportunity to not do a Network tie in for the HOF, something like "subscribe and check out the vault to see more of the HOF class". But I guess that goes against their apparent belief that no one really wants to watch anything that happened prior to the Attitude Era.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is definitely the first class missing any 80s level feel to it outside Hillbilly Jim, but I suppose that's bound to happen at this point as most of them are in besides Bundy, Honky, Vader, Beefcake, Midnight Express, Demolition, One Man Gang, Patera, etc that probably deserve a spot legitimately. I wonder if they'll start adding some of the 70s and 80s guys that have passed like Bigelow into the Legacy wing rather than a full induction to catch up a bit.

 

If his Shoot Interviews are any indicator, I can see why Ken Patera isn't in there. I have to give that guy credit, he manages to come across as perhaps the most obnoxious and unlikable Pro Wrestler I have ever seen, when out of character. And that covers a hell of a lot of territory.

 

If he gets in, I want Billy Jack Haynes in too. I will be glued to my television screen with a big bowl of popcorn for THOSE acceptance speeches, let me tell you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been reading a lot of the Observer Rewinds on Reddit.. fucking Billy Jack appears here and there hiding out from people who he owes money to or whatever.. pretty sure after tricking them. I've heard he is, was, is a complete head banger and a dangerous man. This is in the 1990's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Molly Holly will be inducting Ivory.

 

Also it looks like Mark Henry might be part of a more exclusive club if reactions to his induction are any indication. He seems to be one of the handful of people to spend significant time in wrestling that no one has a bad thing to say about him as a person.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been reading a lot of the Observer Rewinds on Reddit.. fucking Billy Jack appears here and there hiding out from people who he owes money to or whatever.. pretty sure after tricking them. I've heard he is, was, is a complete head banger and a dangerous man. This is in the 1990's.

 

Yeah, if you look up Billy Jack Haynes on YouTube, you get a nice glimpse into his particular brand of wackiness. You get to see him accusing Vince McMahon of impregnating Nancy Benoit (which drove Chris to the murders - but it might have been Vince's people who killed Nancy and Daniel), you get to see his truly awesome challenge to Steve Austin to fight in the UFC (because Vince McMahon is too chickenshit to book it) because Austin is a WOMAN BEATER, and the newest addition is him claiming he witnessed murders in Arkansas back in the eighties, while he was acting as muscle on a cocaine deal that went wrong. Which he implies was for Bill Clinton.

 

You also get to see older clips of guys like Barry Windham and Jim Cornette, who claim that Billy Jack has always been...out there.

 

Here is the challenge against Austin, which you have to see...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was more stiff than Big John Studd registering a punch, Matt.

I guess the legacy of Goldy in WWE is all about Lesnar. And WCW doesn't matter. WCW never really beat the WWF and Goldy wasn't the only megastar WCW created. It's about WWEGoldy, so, Heyman because Lesnar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why is Paul Heyman going to be inducting Goldberg?

 

If anyone should have done the honours it should be DDP, Bischoff or Sarge!

 

Agreed that Heyman is a weird choice, but "Sarge" DeWayne Bruce is about as useless as it gets.

 

A thousand Hindu squats and never drew a dime (Mike Graham™), ran one of the worst wrestling schools in history - The WCW Power Plant - with very few success stories and none that could work a full match before being reprogrammed (Big Show, Goldberg), and he ran future World Champion Batista out of the Power Plant. He makes Bill DeMott look competent.

 

Batista wrote about it in his book:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=7kzVr6BJETsC&q=power+plant#v=snippet&q=power%20plant&f=false

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was also a really mediocre worker with no charisma and apparently a chip on his shoulder.

 

I always took it as him subconsciously torturing guys that he could never be, most of the Power Plant guys were tall,athletic, chick magnet types being groomed for success in the number 1/2 company in the country and Sarge was never gonna get that and was lucky to get a jobber spot as a leprechaun in the Dungeon of Doom.

 

So he just tortured the shit out of them and wanted to drive as many off as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Why is Paul Heyman going to be inducting Goldberg?

 

If anyone should have done the honours it should be DDP, Bischoff or Sarge!

 

Agreed that Heyman is a weird choice, but "Sarge" DeWayne Bruce is about as useless as it gets.

 

A thousand Hindu squats and never drew a dime (Mike Graham™), ran one of the worst wrestling schools in history - The WCW Power Plant - with very few success stories and none that could work a full match before being reprogrammed (Big Show, Goldberg), and he ran future World Champion Batista out of the Power Plant. He makes Bill DeMott look competent.

 

Batista wrote about it in his book:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=7kzVr6BJETsC&q=power+plant#v=snippet&q=power%20plant&f=false

 

Was Big Show trained in the Power Plant? I thought he was a Monster Factory guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was Big Show trained in the Power Plant? I thought he was a Monster Factory guy.

Not sure, but he definitely did some time in the Plant too, as evidenced by this video, which shows how pathetic the whole operation was and how shockingly bad "Sarge" was at his job.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess the legacy of Goldy in WWE is all about Lesnar. And WCW doesn't matter. WCW never really beat the WWF and Goldy wasn't the only megastar WCW created. It's about WWEGoldy, so, Heyman because Lesnar.

 

I know Heyman inducting Goldberg sounds a bit odd at first, but I think it makes sense. They're friends, and I don't think Goldberg has many actual friends in Pro Wrestling...if any at all, really. I saw an interview (and I wish I could say where, but I can't find it now) that Goldberg gave shortly after his WWE run last year, where he credited Heyman with a lot of the success he had when he returned. As I recall, Goldberg claimed that Triple H was the one who reached out and helped mend the fences between Goldberg and WWE, but Heyman played a part, specifically in brokering the whole angle with Lesnar. I got the impression that Heyman may have been more hands on with the creative behind that angle than he has been with anything else since his return to WWE as an on-air character.

 

On an entirely different level, I think Heyman and Goldberg's friendship may have something to do with their pride in their heritage. In the past, Heyman has given pointed interviews about antisemitism in Pro Wrestling, and I know Goldberg is sensitive to that issue as well. I remember seeing an interview with Goldberg years ago (during his WCW days) where he talked about wanting to have the Star of David on his tights or incorporate it into a T-shirt design, only to be told by somebody at Turner or WCW that they "didn't want to alienate anybody by using religious symbols." They are both vocally proud Jewish Pro Wrestling legends.

 

I'm not saying that Heyman is inducting Goldberg simply because they are both Jewish by any means...but I know they are friends and that their cultural background is something they are both proud of, so the choice of Heyman to induct Goldberg may make more sense than is immediately obvious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why on earth would anyone be all butthurt or act personally offended by this decision? Jesus. I mean, maybe Heyman *was* heavily suggested to him. So what? Clearly Goldie gets along with the guy and appreciates his efforts throughout his last run.

 

Besides, there's not exactly this long laundry list of guys that are clearly better candidates for the spot. Page? Bischoff? Neither of those guys have been anymore personally or professionally intertwined with Goldberg than just about anyone else he's run into along the course of his career.

 

Them's slim pickings, and that's hardly any reason to act outraged over Heyman getting the nod.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldn't be the first time people reacted in a weird way to someone's inductor only to discover that the inductee themselves picked them (which almost always seems to be the case anyway). That's happened a lot over the years. With Goldberg, it's pretty well known that he didn't have many good memories of his first stints in the business and this last run in WWE did a lot to right those wrongs. He spoke about how happy he was that the Brock program worked so well and it was reported that Brock went out of his way to push for Goldberg to beat him in the way he did and so on. I'd imagine Goldberg interacted with Heyman a fair bit during that period and given that Brock's obviously not going to induct him, Heyman doing so probably makes a lot more sense than some people are saying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...