On the latest installment of “Hart Murmurs,” wrestling legend Bruce Hart talks about who should be considered for the 2016 WWE Hall of Fame class.
Greetings.
Recently, I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about prospective inductees for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class of 2016 and am pleased to relate that one of the names most often being put forward is that of my late, great brother Owen Hart.
To be honest, I never felt the WWF, as it was called when Owen was working for them, ever came close to maximizing his potential. Having said that though, he was still Intercontinental Champion, a WWE Tag Team Champion, King of the Ring winner and a member of the iconic Hart Foundation, which was one of the hottest draws in the Fed during the 90’s. Prior to that, he had a stellar pre-WWF career, in Stampede Wrestling, Japan, England, Europe and Mexico.
I gather that the main impediment to Owen’s being inducted, as it has been all along, is his widow Martha, who has an avowed disdain for the WWE and would likely not endorse or support his inclusion in the WWE Hall of Fame. I can certainly understand her feelings, however to my way of thinking, this isn’t about grinding axes, it’s about paying due respect to and honoring one of the preeminent and accomplished superstars of his era.
Perhaps the most telling and compelling factor, as far as I’m concerned is that Owen loved the wrestling business, in particular the WWF and, I have no doubt that he would be touched and gratified to be so honored. If the WWE did choose to honor him, not only would it give wrestling fans the world over, as well as his wrestling peers, past and present, a long awaited opportunity to pay their respects to one of their most beloved superstars, it would also provide for some long awaited closure for everybody. Hopefully some good news in this regard will be forthcoming, in the next few weeks.
While I’m pondering worthy candidates for the WWE Hall of Fame, there’s one other equally deserving candidate who’s conspicuous by his absence – the CEO and founding father of the WWE, the ubiquitous Vincent K. McMahon, himself.
While I certainly haven’t always agreed with or endorsed everything that he’s done as far as the wrestling business goes, and there can be no questioning his enormous contribution to the wrestling landscape, including: the advent of pay-per-views, like WrestleMania and SummerSlam, introducing prime-time network television shows, like RAW and SmackDown (all of which have redefined the public’s perception of wrestling and made countless wrestlers, including a number of my family members, rich and famous, beyond anything they could have imagined).
Aside from that, contrary to public perception, he’s actually a pretty nice guy and a father figure to many of the wrestlers.
To my way of thinking, Vinnie Mac not being in the Hall of Fame is like excluding the King, Elvis Presley, from the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Hopefully, his modesty will be put aside and he’ll be given his long overdue props as a most worthy Hall of Fame inductee, this year.
I might add that It might sound kind of strange for a member of the Hart family to be staunchly endorsing Vince’s induction into the Hall of Fame, in the wake of the infamous Montreal Screw Job and, later on, the acrimonious fallout after Owen’s tragic in ring death in Kansas City in 1999.
As far as the dubious debacle in Montreal goes, while Vince probably could have handled things a lot better, so should have Bret Hart. As for Owen’s tragic accident, while it was ill-conceived and regrettable that it ever happened, it was still just that an “accident” and one that, I know, Vince felt terrible about and one he took full responsibility for, as well. I’ve long since forgiven him and have moved on and hope that everybody else in our family will do likewise.
Also, on the WWE front, I’m pleased to see that the WWE has chosen to hire former Stampede Wrestling commentator and an old and dear friend of the Hart family, Mauro Ranallo, as the new lead play-by-play announcer of SmackDown along side Jerry “The King” Lawler and Byron Saxton. Mauro has certainly paid his dues and has also overcome a number of extremely taxing trials and tribulations along the way. I have no doubt that he’ll do a great job and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his new gig.
In closing, it’s with great sadness that I relay that an old and dear friend to many in the wrestling fraternity Bob Leonard passed away this week. Bob, whose career as a wrestling photo journalist spanned close to sixty years, is widely considered to have been the finest photographer in the history of our sport and will be missed, but fondly remembered by everyone who was fortunate enough to have known him.
Rest in peace, my friend.
Until next time, everyone.