Down for the Count: WWE Hall of Fame inductees deserve honor

Kari Williams, Alestle Reporter

by Kari Williams, Alestle Reporter

Though I love watching the angles and matches unfold for Wrestlemania itself, the anticipation of waiting to hear who the latest nominees are for the WWE Hall of Fame is much more important to me.

I’ve heard from many people in the industry that WWE’s hall of fame is only in Vince McMahon’s mind or that the reasons for the inductees are politically motivated. That may be so, but the achievements of the wrestlers and managers (ignoring the fact that celebrities somehow manage to find a way into a WRESTLING hall of fame), cannot be discounted just because of how the hall of fame is viewed.

Almost every wrestler or manager inducted deserves to be there for one reason or another, especially this year’s inductees of Stu Hart and Gorgeous George. Those two men are, in my opinion, the most deserving. Gorgeous George practically set the stage for the heel gimmick in pro-wrestling, without which Ric Flair and Buddy Rogers, among many others, may not have had the success they did. His feminine ways outside of the ring intertwined with his masculinity in the ring made him the man fans loved to hate.

Stu Hart is a staple of wrestling, more so in Canada than America, but his legacy and legendary tales are known world-wide. Hart grappled throughout his entire life, ran Stampede Wrestling in Calgary for a number of years and ‘ran’ the infamous Hart dungeon. Though I feel that Hart’s induction is politically motivated due to Hart’s son, Bret, returning to WWE for Wrestlemania, the honor is justified.

I’m sure people will disagree with me thinking Gorgeous George and Hart are deserving, but when the WWE Hall of Fame inducts people like Pete Rose and William Perry, it’s refreshing to see quality individuals given the respect they worked for years to earn.

Despite all of the mind games, backstabbing and corruption that take place in wrestling, I truly believe that, if nothing else, the wrestlers inducted into this hall of fame deserve to have the honor bestowed upon them.