– With next year’s WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the company plans to pay homage to the famous area.
Besides Mick Foley likely being enshrined, there is discussion of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) and Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) being inducted, according to F4WOnline.com. Johnson made his debut at the famous arena in 1996, while Harlem Heat was a New York-based gimmick. In the case of The Nasty Boys, who hail from Allentown, Pennsylvania, the two were billed from “The Streets of New York City” during their time in World Championship Wrestling.
Company officials would also like to honor Owen Hart, who defeated Bret Hart in a memorable WrestleMania match at Madison Square Garden in 1994. Despite the push for Owen, the enshrinement is unlikely to materialize because his widow would not allow it. Hart’s brother Smith revealed on Twitter earlier this year, “Because she blames the wrestling business in its entirety for his death. “She is the sole owner of his estate. With Martha, there will never B a way, perhaps his kids may eventually make the choice. But thats at least 20 yrs in future.”
Plus, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, is said to “desperately” want Bruno Sammartino enshrined, but it’s considered a long shot for a multitude of reasons.
– Though WWE has attempted to distance themselves from Chris Benoit since his career and life ended in a murder–suicide on June 24, 2007, the recently released WWE Encyclopedia features a sizable entry on the late wrestler. According to F4WOnline.com, this move has many people in WWE “baffled,” with his entry taking up more than half of a page.
The bio acknowledges Benoit emulating Dynamite Kid after seeing compete when he was 12-years-old, training in Stu Harts’s famous Dungeon, wrestling all over the world, making a name for himself in WCW before jumping to WWE, and fulfilling his destiny when he captured the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX in a Triple Threat Match versus Triple H and Shawn Michaels. There is no acknowledgment of the double murder/suicide, though he is addressed in the past tense.
