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Podcast Who Should Go Into WWEs Hall Of Fame This Year

[Applause] hello and welcome to another wrestling round table discussion podcast I'm Adam will born from what culture joined by the Dudley Boyz of what culture Michael Hamlet and Michael Sidgwick to discuss another burning wrestling issue but before we get into it if you're a fan of this sort of thing make sure you subscribe to what coach wrestling on either iTunes or Spotify for daily podcast where we review Raw Smackdown pay-per-views we have interviews more roundtable discussions and a round of the week complete with ability who quiz of course on wrestle culture but gents the question I want you to ask that so me today is who should go into the Hall of Fame for WWE in 2019 it's okay if I just start this podcast like you know everyone by saying Sean woman's name like the fact that he's not involved W in any capacity including the Hall of Fame is a crime every single one of his best mates from an industry from years gone by all of Triple H's best mates they've had their own extra curtain calls out Hall of Fame's in here gone by there he is every year watching friend ear friend be frenzy friend ego in and yet arguably kind of the most the key to the talent behind the click remains on the outside and I don't quite understand it years and years ago Triple H talks about why China couldn't get in my bin because what they could find on the Internet surely enough people have forgot about expert what expert might have done that he can go in pretty much scot-free at this point he was the measuring stick for a while as well the wev wasn't it absolutely and deservedly so like he was part of the company like there were so many different rosters that came through while Shawn Walton was on it he took a break to Derby Sevilla like a lot of guys did so 96 97 but when he came back in the Attitude Era he was as valuable to an entirely different generation of performers as he was when he was the 1-2-3 kid like two three years back in the 90s might even as well a decade and he was like bouncing off big guys in the early night is as he was kind of getting over an entire new generation of talent like in 98 99 and I just think he was so valued then how he's not been given sort of a legacy more befitting what do we do we like to do for they're kind of long tiny performers I don't quite understand it so we in fact have been worked by this whole x-pac heat thing hmm and it's somehow diminished is legacy and I think that is the most insulting thing it's almost as insulting to me as Marty Jannetty being the punchline yeah for being like the lesser of a tag-team where these the other singles go to create more success by x-pac heat is an abomination of a phrase I cannot stand it and the guy to me I don't think you should be remembered as x-pac I think he should be remembered is the 1-2-3 kid Xbox well as a good example of something like all that Baron Corbin Heat yeah writing a lot of the Attitude Era is obviously likely you know bathed in this nostalgic glow but when you go back and watch X put matches like you separate yourself from what Xbox was a real thing at the time you know fans genuinely felt it well now you can just watch the matches and appreciate them for what they are they stand alone and they almost always stand up huh he's over for like Road Dogg in 99 he had like a yeah where he was really over and people tired of him big time as well I think a lot of it was because when the radicals and Kurt Angle came in at the mid card and just breathed new life into it and just raised the quality level exponentially there wasn't really a place for the Xbox who was not quite as good as he was as the 1-2-3 kid then all the rule dogs so there's other performers who kind of got lost in that shuffle and yet Xbox remembered it's the one and he had more talent in the lot yeah it's really infuriates me it really does I don't want to make us all feel very old around this table but you mentioned there him is the 1-2-3 kid and sometimes I think certainly younger fans of fwe don't really know as much about that whereas it was an incredible achievement what he did it's such an early age yeah I mean people talk about how Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were like the more slender slight a technically-minded progresses who went on the stardom like 1-2-3 kid is every bit as influential and almost like borderline revolutionary is then because the guy was so skinny he was obviously the enhancement talent that's what informed his entire story in the WWF throughout that new generation and this has been rightly pointed out by Michael hum flick before he was the yardstick if you could have a good match with him he'd have a good match with anybody and his match against Bret Hart is more celebrated then most raw matches the era but it wasn't just that match he wasn't the one hit wonder like he had an absolute firecracker with Owen Hart not just a king of the ring but like I think was a month late just before frettin illness SummerSlam they opened draw I think was in June 1994 goon watch it seek it out it's an absolute junior till I like a stunning physical like athletic match that completely pissed on anything that WCW was at the time and yet they're more celebrated for that work great heavy midcard people underestimate the clicks power in w e was all to do with like politics and to do with a relationship with Vincent man a lot of it was to do with the work or varying degrees of quality but they all cared deeply for the craft even in their own way and the 1-2-3 kid being such a measuring stick was kind of offered in their bargaining chip it's like look what we've got on our side look what we're doing look what we're kind of informing about the product by sending him out there to wrestle any old look that you bring in Vince that was what they could use as a chip to solve get him to bend to their wheels my procedure ik who else do you think should be going into the W e all of Fame or who do you think will write the thing is I want to change the answer all the questions somewhat because we often say who should go in but frankly like a lot of things in this company it doesn't matter Hall of Fame Hall of Fame induction is unilaterally decided upon by Vince McMahon so it doesn't matter who deserves to go in because it's just this manifestation of his whims from one year to the next and so in my opinion who will go in not knowing that not necessarily should but as headliner and I've written here in my notes I was gonna consult them they are daft enough to do it JBL I think it's gonna headline this year's I just got the sneaky feeling that a guy who named a Wrestlemania match after the Fabulous Moolah doesn't quite understand how a lot of his beloved like legends that he has in his own mind that performed for his company are perceived by the outside bubble and if you look at one like JBL he meets so many of the very strict criteria to get in he's alive he's known to the modern farm base he's always gonna be in Vincent man's good books I mean this is a guy who showered them in sort of a this like horrible storm of PR was it last year the Marlin I was scandal yes I know two years ago two years ago yeah 2017 and yet he's still come about to call the rumble like well he wasn't sucked yeah he was loud it would just start quietly walk away yeah he can and has brought on the worst PR misfires in modern history and yet still remain in the good graces and I think Vince realizes that enough time has elapsed Ranallo still within like a certain arm of the company I think JBL is going to headline not necessarily that you should honestly think you will well the reason of the reason why we're discussing this today is the rumors are that they are going to be announced over the next few days under Bowie the first few inductees and now what makes make a lot of sense that when you argue it like that if if they announce JBL on mutton the Monday night rule for example and then you have him come out for the rumble to call the men's Rumble match you can have your big moment don't forget he's gonna be going to the hall of fame in three months time at WrestleMania but he's not modern audiences and for better or worse like JBL said he's one of those guys he's lusted however many years he did as an active roster member despite having about 510 really good memorable matches but those matches was really great for what the way for JBL as well as a guy who can hold court on a microphone for about a good hour and all these things got to be considered no matter how stupid they are to be warranted inclusion a Hall of Fame for Pro Wrestling but these are the things that they actually care about and pay attention to he's an interesting case JBL as well because we've often talked about how the mid-2000s is not a period of very fond nostalgia for a lot of funds whether you're a child getting into it whether you're kind of a disillusioned post actually or fun whatever your era was there wasn't always a lot of like really hot product that kept you interested and yet JBL does kind of inform a bit of nostalgia and funds I think because he was so present for such a long smell that long title reign was a bit of an outlier when the belt would bounce along quite bounced around quite a lot it was very different from the memoirs the Guerrero's the Brock Lesnar's the Kurt Angle's like extremely difference you know a lot of people didn't really like SmackDown as a result in being on top but you know like absence makes the heart grow fonder and he wasn't around for such a long period and you could look back on his Brahman thing all that was quite funny you know we were discussed he was a good Act yeah it matches a match and you can either highlight package wrestler in a lot regards and that's kind of what a Hall of Fame's perfect for isn't it because you just see like packaged up snapshots of his career and what you say about him like sort being able to hold court on a microphone as well the low-key best spot like Park jails career for me was when they miked him up when he was on the piss watching One Night Stand from the crowd yeah you could watch the commentary is doing fabulously the powerful yeah like he buries what he hates there's moments when he's genuinely lost in the kind of the magic of it all and he's being a mark for a second and then he kind of switches on his head he's got eight points and he kind of members here he is and he goes back into character and he's just bantering off Paul Heyman and the blue meanie and things aren't then doing much worse things for the blue me yet ruining it but that's Jeremy I'll even on a night that you can really enjoy him it gives you something to hear about him so in that respect like your your stir up discussion which i think is a benefit to the whole of him these days yeah absolutely speaking of stirring up discussion one name I'd like to put forward which is a fairly obvious one but one that people will be clamoring for no doubt in the comments is Vader of course do you think they could put him into the Hall of Fame this year I would like to think I would like to think so because they've certainly moved away from me only having to have a dual degree career to speak of theaters do everyone was disappointingly unremarkable like there's a there's a few moments in 1996 again Shawn Michaels but virtually everything he did could be credited to the work of somebody else I think that's an unfair take but all evaders best stuff was outsider w/e the things he was doing in japan the things he was doing for wo you but they've been countless of the wrestlers that have gone in based on that more than what they did for vince mcmahon so with him being quite like a prominent saturday is to say a prominent wrestler death of last year it seems while he's maybe still a bit more relevant for that i would maybe be nice time to pay tribute to veda is again if we're talking about a Hall of Fame that actually recognized the true achievements of people across professional wrestling he should have been in decades ago I mean Vader Jesus Christ what a performer he was he was the proto Brock Lesnar there's very few pro wrestlers who are just so physically formidable but you can marry that up to like a genuine organic intensity and if you go back and watch in particular my favorite matches of his with sting like in a lot of ways sting is a main event player and in-ring workers quite overrated book Jesus what a baby faces on the opposite side of that ring Nevada because Vader beat the piss out of him like it just made him so sympathetic so sympathetic and fadeless stuff in the UWF I was outstanding light and chilled is there versatility to perform as well because he wasn't just this guy who could beat the tar out of em sort of vibrant North American baby faces but you could go in like shoot style matches that were like really really realistic and Vader an absolute legend he has to go in it's sort of if it meant anything yeah sort of surreal in terms of posthumous entries into the Hall of Fame sometimes a preferable for WWE cause it's just what other people who they can cherry-pick has to say about the person rather than the person themselves is that is that fair point you should do one is enough yeah yeah that's very cynical it's a very cynical and here comes the dead guy here comes the warrior award here comes so-and-so they do sort of try and break here comes the woman which will get you they've been doing that recently so he was doing in ours and again you kind of look at like whether it'll be recent addresses or arrested or passed away the last few years like I say Veda feels as relevant as any others they could use and and in terms of like guys that you could induct him there's still plenty of workers thing being a great example of guys they've got like legendary matches you could even like bring back guys they work with in wgo in a time way you don't see a lot of these guys anymore there's something that sticks in my mind I've ate a spinning Ken Shamrock round with a right hand turn and Louise off when they were just beat in the absolute piss out of each other on what was I believe shamrock speared for you JB and I just think if a guy like him you could bring him out the mothballs and he becomes like a huge attraction in himself for the Hall of Fame there's gonna be a section of wrestling fans that would love meanie Ken Shamrock back under the auspices of w/e again so he's a known opponents of interim and then you've got somebody else that's potentially a draw because again this is a ticking sound event they're gonna be looking for names the draw who else do you think should or could going um I've got down here consultant my extensive notes IRS - banner because Vince McMahon likes to banter inclusion Hillbilly Jim Koch will be where an IRS he's a road agent he's got familial ties to the company he had but he wasn't very good in the ring for me but we had a very memorable midcard run like anecdotally I've got friends who are completely lapsed they don't actually watch anymore but they always like look back on IRS fondly what it was he's one of those cynical easy inclusions that and quite surprised hasn't happened yet actually you could walk on a stage have a little semi full gimmick in full gimmick and then walk back and go back to get rid of and put it back on and carry on like working me feel he'd be a very like admin purposes they've been easy one from one there yeah and yeah I think that's quite quite sweet as well I'm like I'm not so much against the Hall of Fame it's just an opportunity for guys that have a nice yeah there is their funds like it's easy to be cynical towards everything w/e does and certainly when you're looking at a Hall of Fame decided by one man it doesn't exactly carry the most credible but you can tell the wrestlers are having a nice night I'm not saying I had a nice night got watching hillbilly gym go 65 minutes waiting for ya but like he was having the time of his career the time of his life it meant a lot a Jeff Jarrett like demonstrably as well I mean we were both in tears me and Jeff you know is it you know it's clearly a big night and you see these guys having just one of the best nights their careers I'm not really against anyone having it so you take IRS so you take countless kind of like WEF midcard as their to a certain again the WrestleMania traveling audience a lot of them will hold a place in their heart I think he's as good a case as anybody I've got fond memories of IRS not everyone has to have like these five-star matches and all the rest of it he a lot of his their matches had like a really good storytelling component particular with their my ink money ink under 8 attack team are very underrated absolutely who asked you do you think she got my sound flip I've got baby - shell because I'd like Vince McMahon's put the cat amongst the pigeons a little bit I'd like an great I'd like to read value I'd like to take the most recent member of the WV alumni page and him offer Chris Jericho a spot in the Hall of Fame are you honestly out of your damn mind to see what happens like I don't want to watch the world burn as such but I wouldn't mind Vince trying to say back on fire like Jericho is just in a podcast where he's talked about how I'm with Olly I've got like a bit of a three-year deal and yeah the money's good yeah always drop someone in the money's good but he's there for creative everybody's good but that's not the reason yeah I'm alright but for Vince to just really test that and be like is your Hall of Fame plaque take that I feel like yeah go and try out with Cody see how you get on there like just to see how it goes because like be a flex would know it would and like out of Chris Jericho but he's a bit of a Marxist applies as well he does like people telling him he's good and I'm pretty sure he's been clamoring for visit mother telling since night you know you know I see how he acts when given that final acknowledgement after all these years and so that would be one for me and realistically as well he's another guy who's got like this huge legacy that thankfully is still alive like they are running out of guys that they can bring out on trial on stage that could be like headline drawing Menem and level Hall of Famers who were still there to talk about it in a way that's going to end it in and sell tickets we're starting to reach that point where like the old guys all the inverted commas because of the guys I watched as kids and now like you know there's a generation of fans that never saw them wrestle so just not gonna be interested in what they're gonna say and we mentioned the women's role in terms of the Hall of Fame there's a sort of mandatory entry for that not not to lessen this woman's impact on wrestling and certain role that she has to play you often see and we've seen over the last few years there's a famous photo doing arounds me with Leo rushing of a sign clamoring for this lady to go into the Hall of Fame Victoria is a name synonymous with dwe fans and someone I think what will you like we'd like to see this year's Rumble but would also definitely definitely be deserving on the Hall of Fame spot as well it's cynical because if you look it's her career and compare it to like let's be honest several others it's not particularly noteworthy in support Victoria sure was conducted herself like it's all professional she was a quietly good worker at least relatively it would be a cynical gesture for me even though she has delivered quite a few you know I had to know I mean this gets very much in a cynical territory of right inducting someone like Victoria even though she worked very hard in a time when it was often not very much I think that's what we're dealing with a little bit with a lot of women from this period of the company's history is that the products the women's product was so poor that like the women's wrestlers that were trying desperately to kind of keep the Train on the tracks deserve an awful amount of credit so you could kind of put them in a Hall of Fame for that rather than like say an extended tenure on the lines of say trish stratus or later I did really like and I think this would be like quite a nice bit Hall of famous energy I love the story that Beth Phoenix told about Molly Holly and paying for training so you could take someone again like Molly Holly who's had the skill of Victoria and had just as much to contribute in a pretty power in time for the division and you could maybe put her in on the strength of maybe what she was doing quietly for others I am assuming there might be other stories of just like nice gestures that were made more people that kind of like helped one another along the way I'll again out a bit of a different idea of a bit of a fantasy booking idea for like the female inductee this year and I've off I've always thought is a great storyline in inducting a current member of the roster and then have them continue on as a work in hall-of-famer yeah and I think it would add a real great later Natalia's character if you made her a Hall of Fame of everything she's contributed a lot in the background she's never been considered like the me an attraction of any year the division she has been a part of well you know we've seen episodes of total divas where she's been bumped off WrestleMania while training all the women to take a spot as the women's division and the women's revolution has improved she's kind of been sidelined through most of it but just been required to be there and hold Ronda Rousey's hand and things like that I think she would really suit the kind of like deluded hall-of-famer she has a really nice night where people pay her all genuine respects and earn his respect and then she takes that and she feeds it into a gimmick and she becomes this person on Raw Smackdown who genuinely believes that like all opportunity should come her way and carries with it a little bit of arrogance and like a little bit of snark maybe even like runs at Ronda Rousey with it yeah the champion but like an army best friend that's all what like I'm a Hall of Famer I'd like to see that gimmick done by somebody yeah and I think if anyone in that in solve that on the main roster regularly working full time could do it someone like her like there's a believable tenure there I think you can work with welcome to think about when you put the words Natalya in Hall of Fame together is just how long should spend crying up on that stage yeah but couldn't get Jim Knight out in a table to present it with okay Janice Christ Natalya is worthy of it definitely like me for that 2014 match with Charlotte Flair one of the first take the very first takeover yeah yeah the first take or not the first leg special the first takeover I mean one of the best W women's women's matches ever to this date it was transformative as well yeah it really was that is the worst that's what final entries into the Hall of Fame man who us what we got this is a bit of should go in and will go in for me Rick Martel hmm Rick motels quite an unheralded worker because his run at the top of the AWA like sort of happened in parallel with it just disappearing off the face of the relevant earth but you know some really good work as a babyface there is another guy who's this instantly iconic midcard he'll to fans of our old age and you just don't forget some of the angles he's been in part of em as much with Jake Roberts at WrestleMania 7 ludicrous but just unforgettable and also he's one of those rare wrestlers from that generation who horrible is this is to say his one stayed alive and to has not succumbed to any major scandal at also is a political inclusion not without merit rick martel super super polished I just really you mentioned the Jay Roberts much a blindfold match is a gimmick that a lot of people have got wrong and he gradually everyone except him yeah he could be relied upon to get that source stuff over and I don't think that's I think it's a bit of a lost art probably in the in the modern game now because rest has just told to do one thing and then move on to the next one whereas I think there was a lot more like sort of effort put into the craft of everything they were given at the time and yeah I would I would support something like that and I'm thinking ticket selling again and I know it's like and it's the biggest name and the rumors are already out there and the films gonna go released but we have to talk about the rock the way yeah we've got of all the years you know there's there's a film coming out and it seems increasingly likely that you won wrestle again I think last year when the Saudi money became something to talk about that was when we could all fantasy vodka Rock Austin much again I saw it was suddenly though the odds on Rock winning this year's Rumble was it yes very that seems of quite and back down and I'm sure you want nothing to do with taking that particular my end of Daenerys way have been silence made I think it's that right over this before the older business yeah well maybe well I don't know I like the rock maybe there's no he's not going to do it there's no money wouldn't so now maybe but I just think this to me seems like like as good as opportunities any more time like do we do we have got a rich history in New York this is for as many 35 years since lights is fire using zeros and you just I think again if he's thinking like a main event a headline sort of attraction first yeah and I think we had Austin at 25 and some of the one that springs to mind he looks a big WrestleManias for the big headline is a big Hall of Famers the rocker be huge they're competing the Hall of Fame is competing with a wrestler and Madison Square Garden that's potentially yes McMahon's biggest nightmare he would have never ever imagined that he would about be paying tribute to his legends while his home base gets taken up by somebody else is that right oh yes it is cuz they moved their next TV Oh Mike that's what they've gotta compete with they're not even competing with themselves they have to throw some of that money on the rock that's a good show very good show I think I do genuinely believe in you like so you could still haven't come back and do those spots a big full pay-per-views like he has to know where previously at the film out it's right around Russell many time isn't it isn't it March it's got like a vested reason to actually do it that's two nights of the rocks stacked calendar as inducted by page while is relevant you know God pages a show hallelujah page of pages hey just a shade because she's got such in a major unheralded contribution at what women's wrestling became her much again we'll use this word transform if they match with Emma one of the first M T V matches of any like real note on NXT TV just completely changed an entire women's scene in dwe I think the reflection of how funds genuinely feel about Paige has been felt twice once in when she came back and I'll please everyone most does actually see it come back and when she was like so crudely banded off by w a in that race and fresh start the affection the outpouring of affection that came for Paige when she was just given that one lousy smack down south thanks very much see later but people are actually not quite like that character had some stock in her as a general manager I need to rip that away shocking how they did that and because she's got a new role isn't she we don't know what it is because it was kind of like the cot that couldn't necessarily say right okay what's happened here is Rawls terrible it's the one that Vince McMahon pays the most attention to Smackdown somehow is quite good in spite of them but the storyline consistency's sake we have to pretend smackdowns as bad as wrong even though it really isn't and we're gonna just make Paige the scapegoat we always come back to the same point near Byron Colburn ruins everything yeah absolutely maybe he'll go into the Hall of Fame this year I think someone like the rock would be is the probably the strongest call of all I completely agree with the film coming out and of course with the competition that they have on that weekend and like you say you need a headliner you certainly need someone to bring the crowd in the amount of people even in this office who we've talked about if if we were to go to Wrestlemania I mean it's there's no real question is this devout WWE fans in this or in this office who say singular serve you say who but who even say look I mean is there's no competition as the compared to this is a super card that we're gonna be seeing in Madison Square Garden and if you're gonna try and tear people away from that I can't a chance to hear him speak yeah for for an hour is so that what is he the only guy there are few real draw them yeah there are few real draws as there anyone who hasn't yet been inducted who you'd want to speak for as long as the rock I could have a two hour Rock promo and forum yeah and I and you could eat like so you could still keep him breasts in this this does not mean the end of his we career by any stretch of the imagination it will be if anything unchanged it'll be just like we've seen with Hogan and stone cold coming back for the odd segment or match or whatever if their bodies allow I can completely see that but let me know who you think you think should be in the W e Hall of Fame 2019 in the comments section below or you can tweet at us at what culture W eat watch you're there on Twitter you can follow all three of us you can follow Michael handle it's at Michael Humphrey you can follow Michael Sedgwick at em sirtuin follow me at Adam willboard don't forget to subscribe to what culture s thing on iTunes or Spotify for daily podcast my thanks to the Dudley Boyz thank you for watching and we will see you soon

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