WWE Hall of Fame 2019: Hits and misses in this year’s induction class

The WWE Hall of Fame is always a major event during WrestleMania weekend. This year’s edition of the hall of fame will see seven inductions. But just as every year, the WWE Hall of Fame sees wrestling fans divided over those individuals and groups being enshrined. Fans can use the Pointsbet promo code and wager on the latest sporting events before they happen.

WWE will enshrine the 2019 class on the night before WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium. But which former wrestler deserve their place in the WWE Hall of Fame?

Hits

The Honky Tonk Man

There are a lot of differing opinions about The Honky Tonk Man, but the fact is, he was an entertaining heel that held the Intercontinental Championship for 454 days during wrestling’s boom in the 1980s.

HTM is never shy about speaking his mind about the business: past, present, or future. It makes him a great interviewee. HTM had a long career before ever arriving in the WWE. He worked Memphis, Calgary, and Knoxville before joining the WWE in 1986. Once in the company, he changed the path of the WWE forever when he became IC Champion.

The Hart Foundation

The Hart Foundation was a part of Jimmy Hart’s family in the WWE along with the HTM. Its members, Bret “Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart were real-life in-laws. The duo began teaming together in 1985 and rose to the top of the WWE tag team ranks.

The Hart Foundation won the tag team belts on two occasions, and Hart would launch his singles career following the team’s dissolution in 1991. Although Hart is a two-time inductee already thanks to his singles career, this will be Neidhart’s first induction.

Neidhart died in August 2018 and the Hart Foundation’s induction seems like a way to add another member posthumously.

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake was an ‘80s wrestling icon. Laugh now, but how many kids pretended to cut and strut around their bedrooms or cut up their trousers like Beefcake?

Beefcake had a career long before entering the WWE, so there is plenty of longevity there. Sure, he used his connections with Hulk Hogan to get into the WWE, but his work held up as a member of the Dream Team with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. He then went on a successful singles run.

Had a parasailing accident not crushed his face, Beefcake could have gone onto even greater heights. According to Bruce Prichard’s Something to Wrestle With podcast, Hogan wanted Beefcake to become the faces of the WWE after he left in 1993.

Misses

Torrie Wilson

Torrie Wilson spent a decade in wrestling working for WCW and the WWE. She was mostly used as eye-candy in the business and never made the mark that the great female managers did during their careers.

Her Playboy magazine cover in 2003 is arguably the most important thing she did in the WWE. Wilson got into wrestling after failing to crack acting. Her first appearance in WCW only came thanks to being picked out of the crowd by Scott Steiner.

D-Generation X

Was D-Generation X cooler than the nWo? No. Was the group influential? Yes. Should the entire DX stable go into the WWE Hall of Fame? No way.

DX was the WWE’s answer to the nWo. Sure, it was one of the top Attitude Era groups, but little about the time period holds up today. DX was juvenile, insulted fans intelligence, and made good wrestlers and viewers look like uneducated fools.

However, this may be the only way Chyna gets into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Harlem Heat

It is crazy to think Booker T isn’t in the WWE Hall of Fame. He has done everything and more in the businesses and has the longevity to go with it.

Booker T’s shoot brother, Stevie Ray, never hit the same heights. Nor did Stevie Ray have the same in-ring ability and charisma. Booker T is definitely deserving of a place, but Stevie Ray just didn’t do enough in the business.