This year’s WWE Hall of Fame is stacked. Some of the biggest stars in the company’s history have made it onto the induction list. Since there have been loads of reveals over the weeks, here’s an overview of this year’s inductees so far!
The Animal Batista
One of the first announced inductees for the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame was Batista. While he left the WWE for Hollywood years ago, The Animal has quite the track record in professional wrestling.
Batista is a six-time WWE world champion; this surprises few people once they take a look at his incredible physique. However, things could have gone quite different for Batista. A WCW scout once told him he would never make it as a wrestler. Fortunately, he met Afa the Wild Samoan, another WWE Hall of Famer. With his help, he eventually ended up in the WWE.
It would not take long for WWE brass to take notice of Batista. He was recruited for the Evolution wrestling stable and would win his first title alongside Ric Flair.
Evolution launched Batista to the big time, but he would eventually break out from that and become successful as a single’s wrestler. In fact, he was the company’s most prominent star from 2005 to 2010. While he left the company in 2010, he would return again for a reunion of the Evolution wrestling stable. He would return in 2019 too, this time to face Triple H at WrestleMania 35.
The New World Order
Since the New World Order was a “WCW thing,” this induction surprised many. It also caused some hilarity, as almost everyone who was in WCW was a member of the nWo at one point or another.
The WWE tried to keep things a little under control and kept the nWo induction to the core group. So, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman will be inducted as the nWo. With this induction, all men will become two-time Hall of Famers.
Despite some of the controversy that surrounds the nWo, there have been plenty of iconic moments, too. The group turned Hulk Hogan into Hollywood Hogan. It also led to some of the most iconic matches between the nWo members and the Attitude Era’s biggest stars.
The Bella Twins
Brie and Nikki Bella are arguably two of the biggest female stars to come from the WWE. The twins got famous through the use of Twin Magic, which involved them switching places in order to win matches.
The twins have been quite successful as a unit in the WWE, but they have many individual achievements, too. Brie became the WWE Divas Champion after defeating Eve Torres in 2011. One year later, her sister Nikki defeated Beth Phoenix for the same title.
At the moment, Nikki still holds the record for the longest reigning Divas Champion. She ruled for a whopping 300 days. It is unlikely that this record will ever be broken, as the Divas Championship no longer exists.
Brie and Nikki have enjoyed plenty of mainstream success as well. It all started with an appearance in Total Divas. This eventually led to a spin-off series featuring the Bella twins alone called Total Bellas. Since then, Nikki has also competed in Dancing with the Stars, where she met her current fiancé and father of her future child, Artem.
Both Nikki and Brie are also successful businesswomen. Nikki obtained a degree in real estate, while the twins also have their own clothing brand and wine label.
JBL
Now that the controversy surrounding bullying allegations has died down a bit, the WWE is ready to induct JBL into its Hall of Fame. JBL started his career in the WWE in 1995 where he was known as Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw.
Mainstream popularity would not come for JBL until he joined forces with Ron Simmons, another Hall of Famer. Simmons and JBL teamed up and named themselves the Acolytes. They were The Undertaker’s Ministry Of Darkness enforcers until the APA was born.
The APA, or Acolytes Protection Agency, rented out their services to other WWE superstars. In other words, they would protect anyone who would pay them to do so.
When the APA was disbanded, JBL turned into the cowboy-hat-wearing wrestler we know today. Portraying a rich Texan with a bad attitude, he enjoyed great success and even took the title from Eddie Guerrero in 2004. He would also win the Intercontinental and United States Championships some time later.
JBL would eventually become a commentator in 2012, but left permanently a few years later as bullying allegations came out involving him.
The British Bulldog
After much pushing by the WWE Universe, Davey Boy Smith is finally being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He originally started his career in the UK, where he wrestled alongside his cousin Dynamite Kid. Their talent would be noticed quickly, as they were soon recruited by the Hart Family.
Davey Boy Smith eventually went to Calgary’s Stampede Wrestling with his cousin. Together, they would become the British Bulldogs, one of the most impressive WWE tag teams in history.
The British Bulldogs made their anticipated debut in 1984 and would become a true phenomenon through their feud with the Hart Foundation. The pair would eventually leave the WWE for international competition, but Davey Boy Smith would return in 1990. Only this time, he focused on single’s competition.
Davey Boy Smith has countless accolades and achievements to his name. He was the first man to win the WWE European Champion. He would also win the Hardcore Championship and the World Tag Team Championships alongside Owen Hart.
Unfortunately, Davey Boy Smith will be unable to be present during his induction because he died in 2002. It has been documented that Smith suffered from severe drug addiction for many years. However, he eventually died from a heart defect. His death led to some problems between his dad and his girlfriend. His father refused to believe his death was of natural causes, and wanted his body autopsied again in Canada. Due to the controversy of his death and his documented drug use, the WWE have been postponing his induction for many years. But his time has come.
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