Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your 2013 TWF Hall of Fame Class!
JIM JOHNSTONThis years class was put voted on with the theme being "Un-Americans"... or none-US nationals. That meant that four of this years seven induction places were reserved for the most nominated names that fit our theme. Interestingly enough, only one name that didn't fit the theme made the cut anyway. Jim Johnston.
For those that don't recognise the name, Johnston is WWE's in house music producer and is the man responsible for the vast majority of theme tunes you know and probably love. The Honky Tonk Man, The Nation Of Domination, Jake Roberts, The Ultimate Warrior and Steve Austin are just a few of the names to have theme music written and performed by Jim Johnston. He's also responsible for the majority of tunes you can hear on the soundtrack of WWEs in house movies.
Here's a WWE.Com article on Jim Johnstons top 10 themes. You can also read more about the man himself on wikipedia here!
Born: Nov 30, 1964
Debut: March 3, 1984
On Wikipedia
Jushin Liger is the only professional wrestler to have appeared in every edition of the PWI500. That's a stat that either means a lot or a little depending on what you think of the publication. A fact that should be recognised by everybody though, is that however you know the division, be it Junior Heavyweight, Cruiserweight, Light-Heavyweight, X-Division or maybe something else, Jushin Liger is THE most important wrestler in that category the world has ever seen.
His series of matches with Bryan Pillman in the early ninties is credited with bringing cruiserweight wrestling to the mainstream in the United States and he is one of the most recognisable... masks... wrestling has ever seen.
If you'd like to see some rare footage of Liger in action without the mask, click here to watch him take on Rollerball Rocco for the World Heavy-Middleweight Championship from the UKs World of Sport.
Born Dec 23, 1962
Debut Oct 5, 1984
On Wikipedia
He may have first come to the attention of the western wrestling audience with his eleven month run as The Great Muta in the NWA but Keiji Mutoh is one of only two men to win the G1 Climax whilst holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He's a four time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a three time All Japan Triple Crown winner and, as we previously mentioned, a winner of the most prestigious tournament in Japanese wrestling.
Recently he's opened his own promotion named Wrestle-1. Mutohs career is much more than we could do justice here so be sure to check out his Wiki page to get the full story. For now though, enjoy this match with another of our 2013 class - Jushin Liger!
Born March 27, 1967
Debut Feb 26 1988
Retired May 11, 2013
On Wikipedia
After being booked to lose his first sixty-three profesional matches, Kenta Kobashi went on to become a three time All Japan Triple Crown winner and one of the most recognisable faces of puroresu to the western audience.
During his All Japan run of the mid-ninties and he was respected as being one of the trio of best wrestlers on the planet alongside Toshiaki Kawada and another of this years Hall of Fame class, Mitsuharu Misawa. As a result of being held in such high esteem, Kobashi has been a recipient of no less than six Wrestling Observer match of the year and four Wrestling Observer Wrestler of the year awards as well as eight Match of the Year Awards from Tokyo Sports magazine.
You can check out a number of Kobashis matches, including his retirement bout, in This Forum Thread!
Born July 15, 1942
Debut July 18, 1965
On Wikipedia
(Taken straight from Wikipedia) Mil Máscaras is one of the original "Big Three" (the other two being El Santo and Blue Demon) of the lucha libre tradition in Mexico. He is considered to be one of the most influential wrestlers of all time for enhancing and popularizing the lucha libre style around the world both in the ring and as the star of over 20 films. He is also an accomplished artist and cultural ambassador from his native country and has appeared on three of its postage stamps. He is a member of one of Mexico's most prominent wrestling families—his brothers José and Pablo respectively wrestle as Dos Caras and Sicodélico, José's son Alberto wrestles as Alberto Del Rio, and Pablo's son Aaron is better known as Sicodélico, Jr. Mil Mascaras has been inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in New York and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
Born June 18, 1962
Debut August 21, 1981
Died June 13, 2009
On Wikipedia
Misawa is considered one of the best wrestlers in the history of Japanese professional wrestling. He was a five time winner of the AJPW Triple Crown and three time winner of NOAHs GHC Heavyweight Championship as well as being the man that created NOAH.
Unfortunately, to most western wrestling fans, Mitsuhara Misawa is best known for losing his life in the ring. On June 13, 2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against GHC Tag Team Champions Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith at Hiroshima Green Arena in a title match. After taking a belly to back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at 10:10 p.m. JST.
ANTONIO INOKI
Born Feb 24, 1943 - Debut Sept 30, 1960 - Retired April 4, 1998 - On Wikipedia
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| not many wrestlers have fought muhammed ali, our marquee induction has! |
Our marquee induction this year is someone of true note. Not only is he one of the few none-Americans to win the WWF Heavyweight title (though you won't see that mentioned in WWE's "official" title lineage) but he is the man resonsible for the creation of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
He originally trained alongside Giant Baba under Rikidozan before also taking tutelage from Karl Gotch, where he refined the shoot fighting style he named "Strong Style". He was the man that founded New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972.
During his career Inoki had high level matches with the likes of, Andre The Giant, Ric Flair, and Bob Backlund. He also took part in MMA contests, in fact, many credit him for starting the trend in his match with Muhammad Ali. Article - Video
Antonio Inoki is one of the most important wrestlers ever to step foot inside the squared circle - if you don't already know his history you really need to do yourself a favour as a wrestling fan and check him out for yourself.
ALL of these men will be added into The Wrestling Forum Hall of Fame tomorrow night. You can find out who has already been inducted into the TWF Hall of Fame Here.
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