Of all the things the COVID-19 pandemic has caused to be cancelled, the nixing of WWE’s 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony is certainly one of the least felt. I’m not saying the WWE Hall of Fame is a waste of your hard-earned ticket-buying money, I’m just saying that I’ve been to two of them and the highlight was in my first year when I met a Randy Savage look-alike in the bathroom.
This year’s WWE class was announced and ready to go, but then everything fell into a meat-grinder and the event was delayed. The expectation was that SummerSlam would host the ceremony, but that idea came at the time when people thought the pandemic would be over by late August. So…there’s a little levity for you.
If you’re curious, the planned-class looked (looks?) like this…
- The Bellas
- JBL
- British Bulldog
- The nWo
- Jushin “Thunder” Liger
- Batista
Much as I love British Bulldog and am legit happy whenever he is honored, a posthumous induction isn’t moving ticket sales. JBL and The Bellas aren’t either. Jushin Liger would probably pull a few buys from hardcore North American fans, but other than him Batista is the biggest name on the list. Granted, he’s a big one. He’s one of the very few “big” names they have left.
As for the nWo, the group going in was going to be the OG three (Hogan, Nash, Hall) and X-Pac because reasons. Honestly, I’m legit surprised they didn’t find a way to replace Hogan with Shawn Michaels. I wouldn’t even be mad.
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Instead, the WWEHOF2k20 is indefinitely postponed. Maybe it’ll finally happen at Survivor Series? I wouldn’t bet on it. Anything later than that and you might as well just induct everyone in the 2020 class at the 2021 WrestleMania since, as said, WWE is starting to run out of big names that can move tickets to these things.
Speaking of, here are a few names who deserve to be in the pretend Hall of Fame, but who probably won’t be until WWE has literally no one else to fill a spot…
OWEN HART
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Owen’s omission feels like there’s more going on behind the scenes than simple negligence. He certainly had a Hall of Fame-level career, and I mean that even beyond the hilariously low Koko B. Ware Jeff Jarrett bar that has to be hurdled to be good enough to enter the WWE HOF.
Owen Hart was a masterful worker, a fantastic personality, able to be a beloved babyface and a loathsome heel. That’s basically all Vince needs in a performer. Owen had charisma in spades and was adored by fans and peers alike. The fact that he died so young and so tragically would normally be all the motivation Vince needed to capitalize and sell tickets to his induction.
So what’s the hold-up?
Dying in the ring due to negligence from multiple parties, and the ensuing lawsuit from his family makes it a minefield to maneuver whenever Owen is mentioned in any capacity. I’d imagine devoting half an hour to his life and (necessarily) his death might not be worth the trouble for Vince. That’s cynical but…well, there you go.
CHRISTIAN
Christian not only should be in the Hall of Fame, he should be in twice-over. He had a Hall of Fame tag team career with Edge, being the duo that walked out of the first two TLC matches (as well as its predecessor, the “Triangle Ladder Match”) as champions. Those three matches alone were enough to put all six men in the Hall of Fame. Incidentally, only three of them are in, but two of the three still continue to wrestle (Matt and Jeff Hardy). The Dudleys are in. Edge is in. Christian isn’t.
What’s the hold-up?
Vince McMahon’s septuagenarian capricious whims; that’s the hold-up. The old man never saw Christian as a top singles star. Sure, Christian won the World Heavyweight Championship, but that was the era where the belt was held by such superstars as Jack Swagger, the Great Khali, even Dolph Ziggler held it. It was a joke title in those days. He competed for a decade as a major singles competitor, winning multiple championships and working many memorable feuds. Nevertheless, Vince wouldn’t have dreamed of pushing Christian to the level of the real championship, and that same dismissive approach is why he’s not in the Hall of Fame.
Now here’s where you say “but Koko B. Ware!” or “but Jeff Jarrett!” After all, those guys weren’t top singles stars and they’re in. And you’d be right, except Koko B. Ware was never pushed by anyone as a singles star, was never thought of by anyone as a singles star, and didn’t go into the Hall of Fame as a singles star (he went in as a gimmick). Christian, however, has people constantly pushing for him to get into the Hall of Fame, and the more you push Vince to do something he doesn’t want to do, the more he pushes back, regardless of how much sense it makes.
The shriveled old, watery-eyed fart who once said Christian’s face could be replaced with a big blue dot and it wouldn’t make a difference doesn’t want him honored in his pretend Hall of Fame. That’s it. That’s your reason.
VADER
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This one makes me mad.
Vader is an absolute legend. He’s a Hall of Famer in Japan. He’s a Hall of Famer in WCW. And even though his WWF career was kind of a dud (thanks to Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon never really “getting” him), either of his careers in Japan or WCW are enough to put him in the Hall of Fame. If Jushin Thunder Liger can go in after literally competing a single time in WWE (and that was NXT for that matter), then Big Van Vader should be in already. Even if you just take his WCW career, the history of which WWE owns, by the way, there’s still more than enough to put him in the Hall.
So what’s the hold-up?
Fans were begging for him to go in all throughout 2017 and early 2018. Had he been inducted during the weekend of WrestleMania 34, he could have given a proper goodbye. Instead, he was passed over, once again, all because he failed to do anything when he worked for Vince so Vince assumes he was never anything special in the first place.
Now he’s dead.
He died in the summer of 2018, never being honored as he should have been. Hillbilly Jim went in that year. Kid Rock went in that year. Jeff Jarrett went in that year.
Jeff Jarret. Jeff Jarret went in the year we lost Vader.
But they couldn’t make room for Big Van Vader. Why? Because he went to work for Vince, who decided he shouldn’t be Vader anymore (one of the most feared competitors in the history of Japan), he should be something called The Mastodon. When that petered out so too did Vince’s respect for him. After Shawn Michaels ran him down in ’95 he was dead in the water with the WWF. Vince never “got him” so he assumed no one else cared, either.
I cared. I bet you cared, too.
Vader belongs in any pro wrestling Hall of Fame, real or imaginary.
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Obviously the one big name not mentioned here is The Rock, and that’s only because it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll go in eventually. He’s literally the single biggest name Vince will ever again have to induct, so expect that at WrestleMania 40, with John Cena going in at WrestleMania 50.
