Who's Next For The Hall of Fame?

I said in the previous post that I really wanted to start posting more often, so I might as well actually start doing that. Otherwise, I'd be a liar, right?

WWE just announced a few minutes ago that they'll be inducting Ric Flair into their Hall of Fame next month. That's great, and a much deserved honor for Flair, but I can't say that it's really all that surprising. The real surprises lie in the next six or seven names they announce. I've actually heard Mae Young's name bouncing around as a possible inductee, but I can't say I'm very enthusiastic about that. Now I know that Mae Young was a pretty well-known wrestler in the '50s or whenever, but is that going to be her legacy? Are people going to remember her as a wrestler from fifty years ago, or as a super-horny octogenarian that was always tagging along with the late, great Fabulous Moolah, got impregnated by Mark Henry and gave birth to a hand, and took her top off live on pay-per-view?

And I know I did a post like this last year, but I think there's a few people that WWE should get around to inducting into the Hall of Fame. Big names like Bruno Sammartino and Randy Savage deserve it, but I doubt it'll happen as long as they're not on the best of terms with WWE. Or how about Dory and Terry Funk? They've been on a kick of inducting wrestlers from the '80s lately, so why not induct guys like Jake Roberts, the Honky Tonk Man, or Jim Duggan? I've heard the Von Erich family getting thrown around as a possible induction, which would be great. It would be bittersweet, though, since only one member of the family is still alive. Other posthoumus names that I'd love to see inducted would be Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Rick Rude, Brian Pillman, and Miss Elizabeth. All of them totally deserve it, though I'm not sure if they would induct Miss Elizabeth without inducting Randy Savage as well. And if they induct Davey Boy Smith, they'd have to induct Dynamite Kid as well. It wouldn't really feel right to honor one British Bulldog and not the other.

It's apparently an unwritten rule that they only have one or two posthumous inductees per year, so I guess I should throw out a few more names of wrestlers that are still alive. With Ric Flair being inducted, why not induct Ricky Steamboat and Arn Anderson too? Those would be two perfect inductions any year, and inducting them the same year as Flair would seem rather poetic. Heck, why not go a step further and induct Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson too, just so all four of the original Horsemen are inducted in the same year? I would say to unduct the Four Horsemen gimmick as a whole into the Hall of Fame, but do we really need the idea of Paul Roma and Steve "Mongo" McMichael ostensibly being Hall of Famers?

So who else is there? Why not make a few more inductions into the Hall of Fame's celebrity wing? They've inducted Pete Rose and William Perry, but why not induct someone whose made a more memorable contribution to WWE? Lawrence Taylor would be great, but I'd love to see Mr. T and Bob Uecker get inducted. I'm actually surprised they haven't inducted Mr. T yet, since he main-evented the original WrestleMania, and they've already inducted the other three wrestlers in the match.

And I know it's probably too soon, but there's quite a few wrestlers who've retired within the last few years that I'd love to see get inducted. Mainly three names: Steve Austin, The Rock, and, believe it or not, Trish Stratus. Yes, I said Trish Stratus. It'll probably be another ten or twelve years before they start looking at the Attitude Era for Hall of Fame candidates, but don't tell me those three wouldn't deserve it.

But that's just one person's opinion.