Legacy Wing inductees announced for HOF

[Evil Vito]

* Haystacks Calhoun
* Dr. Jerry Graham
* Rikidozan
* Judy Grable
* Toots Mondt
* Farmer Burns
* Luther Lindsay
* June Byers

[Bad News Gertner]

I totally forgot to post this.

This has become my favourite part of the Hall of Fame. I still can't believe Haystacks Calhoun wasn't already in. I figured he would have went in with Rodz, Patterson, etc

[Destor]

Rikidozan :y:

[Evil Vito]

Yeah I'm really glad they added the Legacy Wing last year. They had so many overdue entrants to put in and unfortunately given how long ago most have passed very few have people that could speak on their behalf like Gorgeous George did a few years ago.

[Stickman]

I think it's great but I feel like they are trying to induct too many people every year.

[Bad News Gertner]

Rant time. Been meaning to post this for a bit.

I got the WWE Network a month ago. I actually have more and better Pre Hulk Hogan 1984 title reign footage than the Network has which is bullshit.

I think there's a bit of a rise in wrestling fans wanting the learn history with the rise of shoot interviews and footage being easily accessible if you know where to look. Why isn't the WWE capitalizing on this? They should run and upload little 30 minute specials on each guy, talking with various historians who are out there because you might not know who Farmer Burns is, but he was at one time the baddest mother fucker on the planet. People would love to hear about that. Or how Luther Lindsey was the first black challenger to the NWA title against Thesz. They have literally a gold mine of resources but don't know how to use them. Have Monday Night be Mid South Night and have someone like DiBiase or Duggan host the show, or Tuesday can be AWA night and have someone like Greg Gagne or Baron Von Rashcke host. I think people would have a ton of interest. Or hell, get Cornette to host Smoky Mountain night

[Bad News Gertner]

And I'm not kidding about having more than than Network. I've literally compared and couldn't believe it

[XL]

Did they hype the Legacy inductees last year? I don't recall this at all.

[Bad News Gertner]

Not at all

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Felt like it was a last-second inclusion last year. Pretty cool. Too bad Dr. Graham can't tell fans that they fucked their pregnant sister.

[Bad News Gertner]

I think people would love to hear about the old carny days where they'd have a wrestler challenge all on comers and stretch the shit out of them. It's really friggen cool.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Bob Roop is alive still right?

[Bad News Gertner]

Still alive and kicking

[Bad News Gertner]

This is literally my #1 pet peeve of the company. They ignore their own history when it's so interesting and cool.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Do they ignore it because the quality of the video is terrible? Or do you think they think there is no interest? Or they don't like the days where Kayfabe was strictly enforced because it's a glaring difference to today?

[Bad News Gertner]

I have a lot of WWF footage from the 70's. A lot of it copied tape. It's perfectly clear. Half of my stuff are copies of people's tapes and not WWF 24/7 footage. And I'm talking like full 3 hour MSG shows.

I thi k there would be interest if they actually promoted it well. Have personality profiles. Have interviews or roundtable. Have a wrestler from the territory do wrap arounds with the shows, explaining what's going on. There's enough fans who would be interested. They target kids, but I'm guessing the parents of these kids were fans at some point too.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

True, my dad was a huge fan of The Great Malenko.

[Emperor Smeat]

Legacy Wing is a really great thing the WWE has for their Hall.

Very easy way for the WWE to add or boost more prestige for their own Hall and don't have to rely mainly on footage they own like with regular inductees.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Rant time. Been meaning to post this for a bit.

I got the WWE Network a month ago. I actually have more and better Pre Hulk Hogan 1984 title reign footage than the Network has which is bullshit.

I think there's a bit of a rise in wrestling fans wanting the learn history with the rise of shoot interviews and footage being easily accessible if you know where to look. Why isn't the WWE capitalizing on this? They should run and upload little 30 minute specials on each guy, talking with various historians who are out there because you might not know who Farmer Burns is, but he was at one time the baddest mother fucker on the planet. People would love to hear about that. Or how Luther Lindsey was the first black challenger to the NWA title against Thesz. They have literally a gold mine of resources but don't know how to use them. Have Monday Night be Mid South Night and have someone like DiBiase or Duggan host the show, or Tuesday can be AWA night and have someone like Greg Gagne or Baron Von Rashcke host. I think people would have a ton of interest. Or hell, get Cornette to host Smoky Mountain night

That's an excellent rant, Gertie. I wish they had more pre-1985 stuff such as MSG shows and even old WWWF stuff from the '60s. The guys and gals back then REALLY knew how to put on a show and actually were skilled. In the past 15 or so years, however, while this is still somewhat the case, there has been quite a sharp decline in the overall product, not just in WWE but in professional wrestling as a whole.

[Bad News Gertner]

Like Jesus Christ, do a special on the Bruno vs Larry feud.

I have all the television building up to and including the attack of Larry on Bruno, plus the television after the attack and the Showdown at the Shea. You could have Bruno and Larry talk about the feud, the danger Larry found himself in during the feud/fan reactions, Bruno's thoughts, culminating with having Bruno and Larry watch and talk about their match at the Showdown at the Shea. I have all the footage and it's crystal clear. There's no reason why they couldn't do something like that and I guarantee people would watch because it's one of the greatest feuds of all time and it's new to a hell of a lot of people.

[Bad News Gertner]

Or have a special on Bob Backlund. I read his book. He's a very interesting guy and had a ton of great matches. He was their Champ for 6 years and they barely acknowledge anything pre Mr.Backlund

[Emperor Smeat]

I'd assume its mainly because modern WWE starts with the Hogan era and Vince probably not a big fan of the older stuff since that was mainly his dad's work and not his own. Vince pretty much had to buy the company from his father in order to own the WWE and work on his vision for its future.

Probably also didn't help for years Bruno held a really bad grudge against Vince which probably soured things more for the pre-Mania era of the WWE.

[Bad News Gertner]

From what I've heard, Vince LOVES talking about old wrestling from the 60's and 70's. I think Bruce mentioned that as well on his podcast

[#1-norm-fan]

Need a celebrity legacy wing to induct all the legends of Hollywood who went to a show once.

[DAMN iNATOR]

I don't know how well it'd do, but I feel like a lot of people would love a well done doc on Andy Kaufman's wrestling career. Am I wrong?

I mean, yeah, there's Man On the Moon, but I think that focuses more on his stand-up career.

[KayfabeMan]

From what I've heard, Vince LOVES talking about old wrestling from the 60's and 70's. I think Bruce mentioned that as well on his podcast

Gertner, my man.

I absolutely agree with all your frustrations and posts above RE: the fact that WWE does practically nothing with the footage they own and basically ignores that wrestling existed before. I have been saying this since BEFORE launching the Network or any of that.

If they used any of the ideas you suggested, or did sit downs or roundtables with any of the guys, or filmed segments with them to be used in future things while they are still alive to tell these things first hand, it would be incredible.

They could do all these things for a portion of the budget that they literally waste on many areas of their business now. But the same can be said for their apparel, many missed crossover marketing ideas, etc. - They literally did more in the Attitude era than they're doing now, and they have more money and access now. It's insane and a major letdown, especially because they hold basically all of the major video tape libraries.

[Bad News Gertner]

Always good to see a KayfabeMan appearence

[Big Vic]

And I'm not kidding about having more than than Network. I've literally compared and couldn't believe it

Start your own net work for 8.99 a month.

[Stickman]

Settle down, you're a little worked up lol. I think the idea of showing these old fueds are great but I bet the WWE doesn't own the rights to actually show it. You have all of this old footage that sounds awesome, butyou can't just put it out there and get paid $9.99 a month to people to see it. It isn't as simple as dumping all the footage on the network.

[#1-norm-fan]

Why would WWE not have the rights to show the stuff Gertner's talking about?

[Emperor Smeat]

Might be like Bret Hart's Stampede Wrestling or Jerry Lawler's Memphis situation where certain footage is actually owned by others.

WWE had to take down episodes of Stampede Wrestling from the Network after being told they didn't own full rights or permission to show it.

[Bad News Gertner]

WWWF/WWF owns all their own footage. They just choose not to upload.

[Stickman]

WWWF/WWF owns all their own footage. They just choose not to upload.

There probably are other reasons. I have also read that they have to burn it, remaster it, touch up things, I'm sure there's issues in regards to cloud storage or whatever, however it works. Anything with a song that they don't have rights to they need to change. They need to pay royalties to every performer or their families if I'm not mistaken.

Alls I'm saying is I don't think they are against putting up old footage, but there's more to it than just plug and play.

[Gerard]

Hulk Hogan's 10 inch cock needs its own wing. :shifty:

[Bad News Gertner]

There probably are other reasons. I have also read that they have to burn it, remaster it, touch up things, I'm sure there's issues in regards to cloud storage or whatever, however it works. Anything with a song that they don't have rights to they need to change. They need to pay royalties to every performer or their families if I'm not mistaken.

Alls I'm saying is I don't think they are against putting up old footage, but there's more to it than just plug and play.

It's 1980 so there's no music. The footage is pretty clear and I don't think performers get royalties off the Network if I'm not mistaken and if there is, it's minimal.
There's really no excuse.

[Shisen Kopf]

Old school rasslin is serious business. Even if it's super boring

[Big Vic]

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo you gonna let him say that Gertner?

[DAMN iNATOR]

Old school rasslin is serious business. Even if it's super boring

But when you insult old-school wrestling, you're also insulting a Real American Brother-Dude-Jack!

http://gamergeeknation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Hulk-Hogan-America-Fuck-Yeah_crop_exact.jpg

Do you REALLY want to piss off a guy who looks like THAT?!

[Vastardikai]

If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching "Rikidozan: A Hero Extraordinaire."

Probably my second favorite wrestling movie behind "The Wrestler." If you've ever wondered how long Japanese Wrestling has been under control of the Yakuza or how badly Rikidozan almost killed the thing he created, watch it.

For any other reason, it features Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh, Rick Steiner, Mike Barton, and a couple other talents.

[Stickman]

Old school rasslin is serious business. Even if it's super boring

Great point lol. The in ring product was awful in retrospect, at least guys knew how to sell.

[Shisen Kopf]

If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching "Rikidozan: A Hero Extraordinaire."

Probably my second favorite wrestling movie behind "The Wrestler." If you've ever wondered how long Japanese Wrestling has been under control of the Yakuza or how badly Rikidozan almost killed the thing he created, watch it.

For any other reason, it features Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh, Rick Steiner, Mike Barton, and a couple other talents.

I miss DLVH84

[slik]

omg rikidozan and haystacks are the only ones I have heard of...were the rest jobbers who did rest holds in matches

[Destor]

The in ring product was better in many respects.

[Destor]

omg rikidozan and haystacks are the only ones I have heard of...were the rest jobbers who did rest holds in matches

I formally hate you

[Bad News Gertner]

Great point lol. The in ring product was awful in retrospect, at least guys knew how to sell.

That is not remotely true. You'd have your shitty Baron Scicluna vs Dom DeNucci matches to open up the card, but shows were set up that way to build to the main events.

[Stickman]

That is not remotely true. You'd have your shitty Baron Scicluna vs Dom DeNucci matches to open up the card, but shows were set up that way to build to the main events.

Post a show wwe network style, I will watch and report back.

[Bad News Gertner]

Will do. I'll post an MSG card. Like I said, you'll always have your shitty openers. That's on purpose as to not take away from the Main Event. I have a show in mind.

[Bad News Gertner]

Really loved this show. Bob Backlund vs Bobby Duncam in a Texas Death Match for thr WWF Championship and Harley Race vs Dusty Rhodes for thr NWA Championship. Antonio Inoki faces the future Iron Sheik.

1amDh1Bmu6s

[Bad News Gertner]

Backlund is the most under appreciated wrestler in history. He was MILES ahead of anyone in the ring at times during his long reign