WWE Hall of Fame Class 2018

Tonight the WWE will be inducting their Hall of Fame Class of 2018. There are some really good choices and one and two that seem to have come from left field. Here are the inductees.

Mark Henry
Mark Henry represented the United States in weightlifting in the 1995 Pan American Games and the 1996 Summer Olympics. His time in WWE had him as a member of the Nation of Domination and later on, as Sexual Chocolate Mark Henry. He is most recently remembered as a monstrous heel who put people in "The Hall of Fame"; and beating Randy Orton to become World Heavyweight Champion in 2011. Mark will be inducted by The Big Show.

Kid Rock
The Detroit native broke through in the 90's with songs such as "Cowboy". He went to provide songs for some of the WWE Superstars such as Undertaker and Stacy Kleiber.

Hillbilly Jim
Hillbilly Jim joined the WWE in 1984 with his unique look of dungarees and a straw hat. After retiring in the 90's, he went to manage Henry and Phineas Goodwin to a World Tag Team Championship. Fans of the Attitude Era will remember him taking in the gimmick battle royal in Wrestlemania X-7. He will be inducted by legendary manager Jimmy Hart

Jarrius "JJ" Johnson
Even though the lifelong WWE fan is only 15 years old, he has already had 2 liver transplants due to biliary atresia. His courage has led to him receiving honours from the New Orleans Saints and the NBA. He was also the winner of the Jimmy V Preservance Award at the 2017 ESPYs.

Ivory
After being part of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, Ivory made her WWE debut in 1999 being in the corner of Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown. In the Women's Division, in a time when it was more about bra and panties than actual wrestling, Ivory was a standout, eventually becoming Women's Champion while part of Right of Censor. Ivory went on to be a trainer on Tough Enough. she will be inducted by Molly Holly.

The Dudley Boyz
Bubba Ray and D-Von started out in ECW, winning their Tag Team Championship 8 times. Soon after joining the WWE in 1999, they developed an unhealthy obession with putting people through tables such as Mae Young and Trish Stratus. They had some amazing matches with The Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian before continuing their success as Team 3D in TNA. They will be inducted by Edge and Christian.

Jeff Jarrett
Holy shit, I did not see this one coming. Jeff Jarrett spent time in WCW and WWE during the 90's most as a lower mid-carder. His last run in WWE ended acrimoniously in 1999 when he demanded extra money in order to drop the Intercontinental Championship to Chyna at No Mercy. He went to be the top heel in WCW during the Ruzzo Era, winning the WCW Championship 4 times in the space of a few months. Jeff went on to found TNA, in which AJ Styles, Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe had successful careers. He will be inducted by Road Dogg Jesse James.

Goldberg
Goldberg is best known for his streak of 173 matches in WCW, becoming WCW Champion and United States Champion in the process. He was a refreshing change to the fans, who were getting sick of people like Hulk Hogan. His first stint in WWE was only a year but he faced The Rock and Triple H, becoming World Heavyweight Champion. Recently, he became Universal Champion and had matches with Brock Lesnar. Goldberg will be inducted by Paul Heyman

WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017

This evening, the Class of 2017 will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. This year, it is a really good class so let's look at the inductees.

"Ravishing" Rick Rude
Rick Rude was a tremendous wrestler who had a gimmick of an arrogant ladies' man. He is best known during the Hulkamania era for his feud with The Ultimate Warrior. For people who watched both WWE and WCW during the Monday Night Wars will also remember from when he appeared on both shows at the same time in 1997. He won the WCW International World Championship 3 times, the Intercontinental Championship once and the WCW United States Championship once. He passed away in 1999 but he is well remembered and he will be inducted by Ricky Steamboat.

The Rock 'n' Roll Express
Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson formed the Rock 'n' Roll Express in the 1980s and they worked in various promotions including the NWA, WCW, TNA and WWE. They won eighteen Tag Team Championships during their time and they will be inducted by Jim Cornette.

Theodroe Long
Teddy Long had been in wrestling for years in WCW and WWE as a manger and a referee. He is most recently known as the long time General Manager of Smackdown and for making tag team matches at every opportunity. He will be inducted by John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Ron Simmons.

Beth Phoenix
One of my favourite female wrestlers in recent memory. Whilst she was a great talent, it was in an era where women's wrestling was fucking horrible. Despite that and being in horrible creative decisons, he was a shining light in that era and she went on to become a one time Divas Champion and a three time WWE Women's Champion. She will be inducted by Natalya.

Eric LeGrand
This year's winner of the Warrior Award got paralysed while playing American Football for Rutgers University against the Army in 2010. He has since gone on to become a motivational speaker.

Diamond Dallas Page
Dallas Page started out as a manager in the AWA and WCW before becoming a wrestler in 1991. He went on to win 10 Championships in WCW, including the World Championship 3 times. Page was one of the few shining lights in the catastrophic Russo/Bischoff era and in WWE, he won 2 more Championships. Page will be inducted Eric Bischoff.

Kurt Angle
Before becoming a professional wrestler, Angle won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. After a very brief stint in ECW, he joined WWF and went on to win 11 Championships and the King of the Ring there. After he left WWE, he went to TNA and won 9 more Championships. He will be inducted by John Cena.

The WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012

As is now the tradition of Wrestlemania, the night before, WWE honours those people who have made a lasting impact on the wrestling world by inducting them into the Hall of Fame. Here is the class of 2012:

Mil Mascaras

 I have to be honest, I’m not much of a wrestling historian so I had to look Mascaras up on Wikipedia. Mascaras is one of the most famous luchadore wrestlers of all time who appeared in the WWE in the early 80’s and made a guest appearance at the 1997 Royal Rumble. He will be inducted by his nephew Alberto Del Rio.

The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and JJ Dillon)

The Four Horsemen were iconic images from the 1970s to late 1990s. There were many incarnations of the group but this is the one that is probably the most famous. They were all talented wrestlers, managed by one of the greatest managers of all time in JJ Dillon. From my personal viewpoint, I only saw little bits of Windham’s career and I saw Anderson and Blanchard as the Brainbusters from old WWF tapes that I used to have. As for Flair, what more can I say about him? The man is, along with Sting, the personification of WCW; and some of his matches that he had in his last WWE run when he was in his 50s were some of my favourite matches of all time. Flair is one of the best guys on the mic as well and my enduring memory of that was when he did an interview after he lost the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania VIII. Flair will make history when he becomes the first double inductee into the Hall of Fame and they will be inducted by Dusty Rhodes.

Ron Simmons

My memory was when he was with the Acolytes with John Bradshaw Layfield and I loved it when they formed the Acolyte Protection Agency with the door frame and beer and poker table. However, Simmons enduring legacy was when, in 1992, he defeated Vader to become the first African-American to become WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The WWF didn’t have their 1^st black WWF Champion for another 6 years when The Rock (who is half black and half Samoan) won it at the 1998 Survivor Series. Simmons will be inducted by JBL.

Mike Tyson

Tyson may be a controversial person but you can’t deny the impact that he had in the WWF. Tyson made a brief appearance a few years ago but he is more famous for being the Special Enforcer at Wrestlemania XIV when Shawn Michaels defended the WWF Championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Tyson will be inducted by Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

Yokozuna

This is a tough one. My memories until recently were a man who lost control of his weight problems that died in a hotel room in my current hometown of Liverpool. A twitter buddy of mine Nick (@nacgator) has wanted to see Yokozuna in the Hall of Fame for years. However, I couldn’t see the reasons why. I decided to look at some of his old Wrestlemania matches and oh my God, I can see it now. Yokozuna came into the WWF with Mr Fiji as his manager and just destroyed everyone, resulting in him defeating Bret Hart at Wrestlemania IX to become WWF Champion (we’ll ignore what happened after that).  Yokozuna left the WWF in 1998 after winning 2 WWF Championships and 2 Tag Team Championships (with Owen Hart) but what I remember now is the tremendous athleticism that he had for a man of his size. He is most definitely worthy of a place in the Hall of Fame and I hope that Nick is very happy and, more importantly, can forgive me for not seeing the reasons why sooner. Nick will be at the ceremony himself along with his buddies from the Future Endeavors Show and I hope he enjoys the moment.

Yokozuna will be inducted by his cousin Rikishi and Rikishi’s sons, the Usos.

Edge

I know some people have argued about how soon this is but there’s no waiting period like other Hall of Fames so, shut up. Edge is one of my favourite wrestlers of all time. From the Brood to Edge and Christian to the Ultimate Opportunist to Rated-RKO to the Rated R Superstar to La Familia, Edge has had a stellar career that was tragically cut short due to injury. Edge has been in some of the greatest tag team matches of all time (the TLC matches along with the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz) and at Wrestlemania 22, probably the best hardcore match of all time with Mick Foley. For me, I especially loved it when Edge and Christian would do their 5 second poses for “the benefit of those with flash photography” and I always mention Edge’s manual “How to be the Ultimate Opportunist” when someone seizes an opportunity in my PPV reviews.

When Edge retired, he had won the inaugural Money in the Bank, the 2010 Royal Rumble, the 2001 King of the Ring, 14 Tag Team Championships, the United States Championship, the Intercontinental Championship 5 times, the WWE Championship 4 times and the World Heavyweight Championship 7 times. Edge had won a total of thirty-one Championships in ten years, more any other wrestler, and is well deserving of the Hall of Fame. Another twitter buddy of mine @Rhiannamator will be at the ceremony and, like Nick, I hope she enjoys the moment. Edge will be inducted by his best friend Christian.