WrestleVotes, a Twitter account that has broken multiple Hall of Fame inductions including Brutus Beefcake, Torrie Wilson and Honky Tonk Man, has apparently uncovered four names being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019 in the newly founded Legacy Wing. The Legacy Wing was created in 2016 and so far has inducted pioneers of the industry, principally pre-television or pre-1960s, with names like Lou Thesz, Mildred Burke, Frank Gotch, Rikidōzan, El Santo and Jim Londos finding their way into WWE’s Hall of Fame over the past three years. But if Wrestlevotes reveal is any indication, the Legacy Wing could be expanding its parameters this year, and could be a way to get more posthumous inductees from multiple eras – WWE has long stalled on inducting deceased wrestlers in their regular ceremony due to lack of availability of family to induct that could tell proper tales of the stars. And while there’s a strong argument that the four names mentioned would be worthy of the regular induction ceremony, the Legacy Wing is just that – a wing – and ultimately they are still considered WWE Hall of Famers.
A few of the names included in this years 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Legacy Award class are: Wahoo McDaniel, Jim Barnett, Luna Vachon & Playboy Buddy Rose among others.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) April 3, 2019
WAHOO McDANIEL
One of the biggest superstars of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory days of the 1970s, former pro football player Edward “Wahoo” McDaniel (who played for the AFL from 1960 to 1968 with the New York Jets, Houston Oilers, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins, winning the AFL Championship in 1960) wrestled from 1961 through 1996, retiring as a 5x NWA United States Champion (and arguably its greatest champion). Wahoo passed away in 2002.
JIM BARNETT
Promoter Jim Barnett got his start in the 1940s working with Fred Kohler’s Chicago area promotion, eventually transitioning to co-ownership with Kohler of the NWA’s Indianapolis territory. By the 1950s, he was booking in Detroit, Denver and Los Angeles. He left for Australia in the mid-1960s where he launched World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Australia’s largest promotion for years (and pre-Ted Turner WCW). In 1974, he returned to the US and bought into Georgia Championship Wrestling, one of the NWA’s flagship territories. When Georgia was acquired by Vince McMahon, he became a vice president with the WWF in 1984. He left WWF in 1987 to join Jim Crockett‘s Mid Atlantic promotion, before transitioning to the new WCW as a Senior Advisor. He passed away in 2004.
LUNA VACHON
An absolute trailblazer and pioneer for women’s wrestling, the adopted daughter of Paul “Butcher” Vachon and niece of Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon and Vivian Vachon, Luna entered Canadian wrestling royalty and became one of the top women’s wrestlers of the 1990s. With her hardcore approach, she was an instant fit with ECW, where she had the first televised intergender match against Stevie Richards. She would go on to work with WCW as well as WWF, where she worked regularly from 1997 to 2000. After departing the WWE, she worked the independents until 2007 before retiring. She passed away in 2010.
“PLAYBOY” BUDDY ROSE
In the same vein as Ric Flair, “Playboy” Buddy Rose played the bleach blonde arrogant wrestler to a T and was a top star with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and NWA throughout the 1970s and 1980s. A multi-time champion in multiple NWA territories, he also worked briefly for WWF in the 1980s, including an appearance on the first WrestleMania under a mask as The Executioner against Tito Santana. He retired in 2003 and passed away in 2009.
