One of the highlights of WrestleMania weekend every year is its annual Hall of Fame ceremony. It is one of the few nights a year where the past and present of both WWE and the professional wrestling industry come together to honour the legends entering a pantheon of names that will be permanently etched into the history books of both pro-wrestling and the WWE.
While WWE does a fantastic job of selecting those it inducts each year, there are always glaring omissions, so much so that it’s almost become an annual tradition to plead the case for stars, who for whatever reason keep getting overlooked or cast aside each year.
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#5 Leilani Kai
Leilani Kai is an often-overlooked figure in the history of women’s wrestling in WWE, especially since the 1980s are hardly ever brought up when the history of women’s wrestling is discussed as it lacks the edge of later generations and the shock and awe factor of the previous generation.
While all three of the major promotions at the time made several attempts at women’s divisions, they never really took hold with audiences. Definitely not the way they have today. None of that is the fault of the competitors during that era, as the induction of Sherri Martel and others from that era have proven.
The case should be no different for Kai, as she and Wendi Richter were the focus of the WWE Women’s Division during its existence in the mid-1980s, including a Women’s Championship match against Richter, who was managed by Cyndi Lauper, at the inaugural WrestleMania.Being involved in a storyline with Cyndi Lauper during the height of the Rock-n-Wrestling Era is credential enough for a WWE Hall of Fame induction, however, this student of The Great Moolah later saw success overseas in All-Japan Pro Wrestling and back on American shores in the NWA.
Leilani Kai is wholly deserving of an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
#4 Baron von Raschke
While not familiar with WWE audiences, Baron von Raschke is a legendary figure during the “Territory Days,” and is often credited with being the first NWA Television Champion in 1977. Raschke’s signature and self-innovated Brainclaw finishing manoeuvre is legendary and was banned from television in some instances due to the blood it would draw from the Baron’s unfortunate opponents.
Von Raschke is also one of the Golden Era’s most memorable heels, sometimes inciting riots at AWA events across the US with tag team partner and trainer, WWE Hall of Famer Mad Dog Vachon. He is a former NWA Tag Team Champion, AWA Tag Team Champion and a part of some of the greatest feuds in AWA history opposite its biggest stars.
While never a World Champion, Baron’s status as first recognised Television Champion along with his legendary performances in the ‘70s and ‘80s should be enough to grant him Hall-of-Fame-status. However, WWE has let very few AWA stars in the Hall of Fame, making The Baron quite the long shot.
#3 Andy Kaufman
Celebrity induction or not, this is one of the most glaring omissions in the WWE Hall of Fame. In terms of celebrity involvement in professional wrestling, Andy Kaufman drafted the blueprint. The transition to professional wrestling was, at least psychologically, an easy transition for Kaufman to make.
Kaufman had spent years befuddling audiences with legendary performances that included reading “The Great Gatsby,” to paying audiences or inviting them all out to milk and cookies after a show. Kaufman was known for outlandish acts that befuddled the mainstream.
Kaufman had long wanted to be a professional wrestler. He was finally given the opportunity when he and professional wrestling journalist Bill Apter approached Jerry “The King” Lawler and Mid-South promoter Jerry Jarrett with an idea, that was passed on to then-WWF head honcho Vincent J. McMahon, thereby setting up the course for one of the most legendary feuds in professional wrestling history.
Over the course of the storyline, Kaufman would constantly berate the Memphis audiences, crowning himself Women’s World Champion before Jerry Lawler would become involved. This, of course, led to the incident between the two on “Late Night with David Letterman,” an altercation that would make headlines across the United States and around the world due to the Hollywood star’s involvement.
Celebrity involvement in wrestling will probably never be pulled off as well as it was and that is due in large part to Andy Kaufman’s knowledge of and respect for the industry. Despite receiving “compensation comparable to Jarrett’s main-eventers,” Kaufman didn’t cash a single check given to him by Jarrett, perhaps proving that he really was just in it for the show.
#2 Toots Mondt
As part of the Gold Dust Trio with legend Ed “The Strangler” Lewis and Billy Sandow, the baby-faced Mondt was partially responsible for the quickening pace of American catch-as-catch-can wrestling in the 1920s, eventually leading to the three becoming the preeminent promoters in North America for a short time.
Eventually this would lead to a relationship with the patriarch of the McMahon sports entertainment dynasty, boxing and wrestling promoter Jess McMahon. In 1948, they would begin to promote wrestling shows at the third iteration of Madison Square Garden, which previously hadn’t hosted a wrestling card due to owner Tex Rickard’s dislike of the sport.
From this, McMahon and Mondt founded the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. When the elder McMahon died in 1954, his son Vincent J. McMahon came aboard and along with Mondt soon controlled 70% of the National Wrestling Alliance due to their strong foothold in the Northeastern US.
In 1963, after growing tensions with the rest of the NWA board, Capitol broke away from the governing body and formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
The advent of television in the professional wrestling industry slowly started spelling the downfall of Mondt as he was never able to translate his work as an arena promoter to that of a television one and Mondt’s influence slowly waned from professional wrestling.
Along with demons in the form of a gambling addiction, he could never overcome, Mondt was eventually forced out of the company in the mid-‘60s by Vincent J. McMahon. His contributions to wrestling still live on every day that the largest sports entertainment company in the world keeps operating.
#1 Chyna
Questions of “why isn’t Chyna in the hall of fame,” turned into demands with her untimely passing in April 2016, and much like they did for “Macho Man” Randy Savage, those demands are probably going to need to be echoed for several years before Chyna finally is enshrined.
By now, everyone knows the backstory of Chyna and Triple H, her struggles with substance abuse and the like and her foray into adult entertainment which included one with former DX cohort X-Pac that was the highest-selling adult film of 2004 according to AVN. Many cite these as reasons for WWE not wanting to add The Ninth Wonder of the World to the Hall of Fame.
But a hall of fame is meant to honor to accomplishments of those enshrined, and as the only undefeated Women’s Champion in WWE history, the first female to enter a Royal Rumble, the first female to hold the WWE Intercontinental Championship and the lady who kicked the door down on preconceived notions of who women are and what they are capable of in professional wrestling, Chyna is long overdue for that enshrinement.
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