Csonka: Potential 2017 GFW Hall of Fame Candidates

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today we’re going to talk about GFW and the Hall of Fame. With Bound for Glory on the way, the next TNA, now GFW Hall of Fame inductee will be announced, but who will it be. Some names have been rumored, but people are either straight up denying the rumors or keeping quiet. Jeff Jarrett has downplayed things as well, trying to keep people off the scent, and there’s nothing wrong with that because surprises can be fun. So I have decided to put together a few names and discuss some possibilities for this year’s inductee. Have a good time and feel free to share your opinions. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions, and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it.

– NOTE: I am trying to keep this realistic, so people under contract to WWE or ROH (Joe, Styles, Daniels and guys like that) aren’t included.

– HM: Abyss
– HM: Mike Tenay

James Storm: While Storm himself has denied rumors, and Jarrett has stated that an active talent would be very unlikely chosen to go into the Hall of Fame, James Storm is a more than fitting possibility for the Hall of Fame. Storm started with TNA on day one, and outside of a brief flirtation with NXT in 2015, stayed with the company for almost q5-straight years. He’s one of the founding fathers of the company, part of its foundation, and a major part of their history. His run with Chris Harris as part of America’s Most Wanted was a major part of the company’s history, which unfortunately gets overshadowed due to how great the early X-Division was. AMW was one of the best tag teams of the early 2000s, and was a big part of why I enjoyed TNA so much. Storm then fell off the map for a bit, with the company not knowing what to do with him until he and Bobby Roode got thrown together and magic happened again. While the Beer Money run was a bit shorter, you can make the argument that it was even better than AMW, due to the fact that their out of the ring stuff (promos, backstage segments) blew what AMW did out of the water, while the in ring was just as good. But again, you can argue that was better as well. James Storm’s seven years of tag team work for TNA was simply outstanding stuff, and he should be considered one of the best modern tag team workers. Add in the fact that he had a world title run, and in terms of TNA/GFW work, I’d have no issues with him being put into the Hall of Fame.

Awesome Kong: While Awesome Kong has had her issues with the company in the past, her work with Gail Kim is considered the stuff that put the Knockouts division on the map. They had great matches, they were presented as stars at the time they feuded and they will forever be linked together due to that. On top of the memorable feud with Kim, she held the knockouts title two times, and the now defunct Knockouts tag titles once. But the feud with Kim put her on the map as far as becoming a star as North America goes, and they could easily use the induction as a storyline tie in with Kim’s current retirement angle. If you induct Kong, she can work the angle that it has always been about Kim and that she never got the praise for the feud that she feels she deserves. This could lead to a battle of hall of famers in Kim’s last match. Finally, with Kong’s new found popularity due to her role on the Netflix series G.L.O.W., GFW would be foolish to not at least try and bring her in.

Austin Aries: Austin Aries was set to call it a career back in 2011, with the rumors being that he was going to leave the business and become a vegan chef. He had seemingly checked out and wanted to move on. But then TNA called, and offered him a chance and he made the absolute best of it. During the run from 2011-2015, he scored with five X-Division title runs (he has 6 overall), introduced “Option C,” (a concept in which the current X Division Champion may voluntarily vacate the championship in exchange for a World Heavyweight Championship match at that year’s Destination X event), which led to him defeating Bobby Roode for the TNA World title. He completed the Triple Crown, forming the Dirty Heels with Bobby Roode, and winning the tag team titles. For a guy that was about to completely check out of the business, he more than made the most of his final TNA run, putting on great matches, scoring big accomplishments, and having one of the better four-year runs in the company’s history. With Aries now being a free agent, there would be no issues with getting him to appear as far as contractual obligations go, and much like Kong; it could be used as an angle to bring him back. A cocky asshole heel like Aries playing the role of “the greatest X-Division competitor of all time and only active hall of fame competitor” could make for a really fun run.

Raven: In a lot of ways I feel that Raven gets a bad wrap from a lot of wrestling fans. Many are too young to know and appreciate his ECW work (which was very much a product of the time), and then only know him from his lackluster WWE run and for overstaying his welcome on the indie scene, working lazy, overbooked tributes to ECW. In 2002, his time in WWE appeared to be coming to an end when he was exiled to Sunday Night Heat. The positive for him was that he was given creative freedom to work his own angle, an ode to the seven deadly sins, but that was eventually pulled. He would then be released on January 20th of 2003, and two days later, he became the first name to jump to TNA. Raven’s arrival came off like a big deal right away, attacking Jeff Jarrett and stealing the NWA World Heavyweight Title from him. This started an angle, where Raven claimed it was his “destiny” to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title, a destiny that wouldn’t be realized until June of 2015. During his time in TNA, Raven worked a ton of smaller side feuds, which weren’t always successful, but he did bring the Clockwork Orange House of Fun match to the company, and also helped in creating the Monster’s Ball match. Raven may not have a laundry list of classic matches under his belt from his TNA run, but I feel his jump was important for the company. It made WWE tighten back up hard on the 90-day non-compete clause, and showed others in WWE that there was a chance for life outside of WWE. If Raven doesn’t make the jump, I don’t think we get the awesome Christian run in TNA.

Jerry Lynn: In my opinion, there is no figure more forgotten or under appreciated from the early days of TNA than Jerry Lynn. Lynn was considered a hero and looked at as light heavyweight pioneer (thanks to his work in the early 90s with Sean Waltman) to many of the stars that formed the early x-division. Lynn won the world x-cup, two X-division titles along with two tag team titles while with the company. But while Lynn’s TNA run was filled with some absolutely great matches and even success as far as winning titles go, his real success cannot be measured in titles. Lynn’s biggest accomplishment was in the foundational role he played in helping to give the x-division the base it needed. He was the elder statesman of the division, the veteran voice, and the light heavyweight pioneer that the wrestlers could look up to and more importantly go to for advice. Jerry Lynn working with the young guys like AJ Styles, Amazing Red, Michael Shane, Chris Sabin, Low Ki and the whole crop of youngsters that rolled through the early years of TNA became the wrestlers they did thanks in part to the time that they spent in the ring and under the learning tree of Jerry Lynn; he’s not just an x-division pioneer, he’s the godfather of the division. He’s not the sexiest name on the list, but he’s more than deserving in my eyes.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”