Mick Foley and Kurt Angle

Gorgeous George
Antonio Inoki
The Undertaker
Mick Foley
Kurt Angle

The voice of wrestling for a good long while now, we'll add good ol' Jim Ross to the Hall. Frankly, the consensus best era for wrestling in our lifetimes wouldn't have been what it was with anyone else on the announce team. Part of that is due to control from on high, of course, but part of that is this man's natural talent and ability. It might be spew, but while there's a lot of great wrestlers left, I think JR's VORannouncer is off the charts (with one or two exceptions, maybe).

Did Rey juice?
1996:


2018:


Rey is kind of a sentimental pick for me because I've been a huge fan of his since before I even saw one of his matches. I read a bunch of articles on how he was this revolutionary guy and saw pictures of him and his moves in the pages of a bunch of Apter mags from 94-96 that captivated me but never saw a match of his until BatB 96.

I consider Rey one of the absolute GOAT wrestlers because he popularized the cruiserweight style in the US while innovating a bunch of moves. I question if there would've even been a cruiserweight division in WCW without him.

Steve Austin
Lou Thesz
Roddy Piper
Sting
Rey Mysterio Jr.

While the phenomenon of El Santo barely has any American footprint, he seems to be the consensus GOAT in Mexico. I mean, I'm picking a guy without even having watched him work, but for purposes of the worldwide appeal of my Hall this seems like a slam dunk for value.

The Rock
Randy Savage
John Cena
Shawn Michaels
El Santo

Shohei “Giant” Baba

Inducted by: UNDRAFTED

Along with Inoki, one of the pillars of puroresu. Created All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972, which became the hotbed of Japanese wrestling in the 70s with their association with the National Wrestling Alliance and ability to bring in the top gaijin. Baba himself was the first ever Japanese NWA World champion, holding the belt three times. Baba would keep AJPW relevant through the 90s with stars like Misawa, who would put on some of the greatest matches in wrestling history.

Vincent K. McMahon
Dusty Rhodes
Bret Hart
The Road Warriors
Giant Baba

Terry Funk

During Terry Funk's 50 year career, he fought seemingly everybody that's anybody and travelled the world to do so. He began as a classically-trained technical wrestler who rose to the top of the sport and became NWA World Champion in 1975, but is probably much more well known today for revolutionizing Death Match style hardcore matches and popularizing them in the US. He was also terrific on the mic, highlighted during his feud with Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1989.

He will be inducted by Mick Foley.

Keiji Mutoh

Mutoh would probably be around for a while, but it would be hard for me to have a Wrestling Hall of Fame without my favorite wrestler.

Although never as technically proficient as many of his main event peers in Japan, Mutoh always had the charisma and flair that made his matches "an event" to be entertained by. Mutoh, usually as The Great Muta, took his personality and unique wrestling style all over the world, wrestling in numerous NWA territories, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, shining a light on the wrestling scene in his native Japan. Three Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, four IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and an NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign highlight his singles accomplishments, and he also won 11 tag team championships between AJPW and NJPW, as well as their respective tag team headline events three times each.

In 2002, he became President of the then-fledgling AJPW and over the following six years led them back into the position of prominence that they had enjoyed for so many years under Giant Baba.

His 2008 is widely considered one of the best years any wrestler has ever had in Japan as he held both the Triple Crown and IWGP Heavyweight Championships simultaneously, as well as having tag team championship reign.

He would go on to found Wrestle-1 and be President from 2013 to 2017. Many consider Wrestle-1 the continuation of the AJPW legacy after the change in ownership and management that led to Mutoh and many other AJPW stars to resign.

Hall of Fame Inductees:

Hulk Hogan
Harley Race
Mitsuhara Misawa
Paul Heyman
Terry Funk by Mick Foley
Keiji Mutoh