Category Archive for "Inductions" | WrestleCrap – The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling!

Induction: Kung Fu Naki – The Martial Artist Formerly Known as Sho

3 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 23 September 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2008-2010 Ever look at WWE’s roster and marvel at how long some of the superstars have been around? From Dolph Ziggler to Natalya to Sheamus, the list of wrestlers who have been with WWE for a decade or more is a long one (although maybe not as long as it used to be). What’s even more impressive is when Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: WWE Niagara Falls – Beware the PILEDRIVER!

22 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 16 September 2021, 20:01

WrestleCrap's RD Reynolds tells tales of his visit to WWE Niagara Falls!...

Induction: Sin Cara – Una comedia de errores

11 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 09 September 2021, 20:15

When Triple H became an Executive Vice President in WWE, his first order of business was to poach Mexico’s biggest star: Luis Ignacio Urive Alvirde, known to the world as Místico. With Rey Mysterio plagued by injuries, the newly-christened Sin Cara promised to be invaluable asset to WWE, boosting ratings and live event attendance in Latin America while making a Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: Weight Training with the Barbarian – Today the WBF Stands for World Barbarian Federation!

7 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 26 August 2021, 20:00

WBF, 1990 Going to go away from the norm this week – what I am bringing to you is NOT the very worst of wrestling. I know some folks have an issue when I do this, feeling that WrestleCrap should only be reserved for the absolute dirt worst that professional wrestling has attempted to shove down our throats so as Continue Reading...

Induction – The “Step By Step” Wrestling Episode – This show B.L.O.W.s

24 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 19 August 2021, 20:00

TV sitcom, 1996 Have you ever looked back on things you enjoyed during childhood, or at least things you thought didn’t suck, and been disappointed? For me, a prime example is the ’90s family sitcom Step By Step. Throughout its six seasons on TGIF, it was consistently the second-least funny show on ABC’s Friday night lineup – and that’s only Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: Maxivision – Whatcha Gonna Do When Unlicensed Nintendo Games Run Wild On You?

20 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 12 August 2021, 08:00

Infomercial, 1994 Yeah yeah, I know I promised my next induction would be the continuing TNA trials of AJ Styles, but I think everyone reading this will forgive me when I lay down what we’re going to be covering tonight: unlicensed Nintendo games being shilled by Hulk Hogan…on a 1990s infomercial no less! Ain’t no way y’all complainin’ ’bout dat! Continue Reading...

Induction: Natalya vs. The Riott Squad – Featuring Jim “The Table” Neidhart

16 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 05 August 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2018 This week’s induction involves three misfits, one heir to a wrestling dynasty, and a whole lot of exploitation. On one side of this feud, you had Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, and Ruby Riot(t), a trio who’d been called up out of the blue from NXT as the “Riott Squad” a year earlier. While on the surface, the group Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: The Second Labor of AJ Styles – Where “Chain Wrestling” Meets Three Stooges Selling!

19 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 29 July 2021, 20:00

NWA-TNA, 2003 As I write this induction, it’s just hours before what has proved over the last couple of years to be one of my favorite times of the week, that being AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights. It is a fun show most of the time and I really look forward to chatting with everyone over on old man social media. If Continue Reading...

Induction: Hulk Hogan’s autobiographies – Have pythons, will (time) travel

29 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 22 July 2021, 20:00

2002, 2009 I first bought Hollywood Hulk Hogan, the Hulkster’s 2002 autobiography, late last year (along with The Rock Says…). Obviously, I was shopping for WrestleCrap induction fodder. But weeks went by, and nothing arrived; my shipment had gotten lost in transit. Naturally, I used my refund to re-order the books, which arrived the next week. A few weeks later, Continue Reading...

Induction: Money in the Bank 2020 – Leave your brain at the elevator door

20 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 08 July 2021, 20:00

In 2020, WWE’s Money in the Bank event was held without any fans in attendance. Naturally, the WWE Superstars were in no hurry to break their bones doing the usual dangerous high spots in an empty Performance Center. Instead, this match would take place at WWE Headquarters, with both male and female Superstars simultaneously battling to get up to the Continue Reading...

INDUCTION SPECIAL: Can A 1995 Wrestling Magazine Tell Us How to Fix Today’s WWE?

32 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 01 July 2021, 20:00

Pro Wrestling Illustrated – July 1995 If you’ve been ’round these parts of any length of time, you are familiar with my utter love for ancient wrestling magazines. I still have stacks and stacks of them in my closet that I peruse…at least from time to time. But when I was in my late teens/college years? I lived (not loved, but lived) to Continue Reading...

Induction: An XPW Two-Pack – Baptized in WrestleCrap

19 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 24 June 2021, 20:00

XPW, 2002 This week’s induction involves a scaffold match put on by XPW. And no, I don’t mean *that* scaffold match. Now, for those unaware, New Jack once wrestled Vic Grimes atop a giant scaffold, where he shocked Grimes with a stun gun and hurled him off a scaffold in an attempt to take his opponent’s life for real. Like, Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: The Last Saturday Night’s Main Event – Remember All Those Great SNMEs? This Wasn’t One of Them.

16 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 17 June 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2008 Recently, All Elite Wrestling announced the expansion of their television deal with Turner. It was something many celebrated, as the feeling is this has legitimized them to a greater extent than ever before. This new arrangement included not only an all new show on Friday nights called Rampage but also several additional shows throughout the year that would be taking Continue Reading...

Induction: Lesnar vs. Orton – The feud that broke all the rules (even the good ones)!

17 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Fri, 11 June 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2016 Word on the street is that WWE is trying to make this year’s Summerslam on par with Wrestlemania to celebrate the promotion’s triumphant return to live events. Back in 2016, WWE announced Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton to celebrate The Beast Incarnate’s triumphant semi-annual return to the ring. WWE clearly felt that the novelty of the match alone Continue Reading...

INDUCTION SPECIAL: The All-Time Goofiest Wrestling Posters!

22 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 03 June 2021, 20:00

Induction Special I have a confession to make tonight: I was, at one time, the absolute worst fan of professional wrestling imaginable. It would have been the mid 1990s. My friend Casey (Trash Losagain) and I would go events at the Tyndall Armory in downtown Indianapolis and heckle virtually everyone on the show. If you were skinny, we yell “buggy Continue Reading...

Induction: Bret Hart on The Immortal – Lorenzo Lamas did not slay Bret. Bret slew Bret.

11 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Fri, 14 May 2021, 21:11

Syndicated TV, 2000 Wrestling is an unpredictable business; you never know who’s going to succeed, who’s going to flop, who could have been a star if they had just gotten the chance, and who would have been a failure if plans hadn’t changed. Case in point: In 1985, Vince McMahon wanted to make future Hall of Famer Bret Hart into Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: The Final ECW Finale – This Is(n’t) Extreme

26 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 06 May 2021, 20:00

WWECW, 2010 While I was never the biggest Extreme Championship Wrestling fan on the planet, I did enjoy and will forever be grateful for Paul Heyman’s Philadelphia-based science experiment. A quick glance into the WWF or WCW around 1993-94 and you could see that pro wrestling was in the doldrums and in need of a reinvention. In my estimation, that Continue Reading...

Induction: Rambo y sus titanes – Your childhood action figure fed come to life!

15 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 29 April 2021, 20:44

Argentinian TV, early 1990s Wrestling has had its fair share of cheesy action movie tie-ins: There was WCW’s Robocop cameo… …and WWE’s less-embarrassing (but just barely) Terminator cameo… …but Rambo just may be the biggest offender, spinning off into such unauthorized gimmicks as Greg “Rambo” Gagne and the NWL’s John Rambo. But that’s nothing compared to the lunacy documented in Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: Nu Wave Wrestling – So Rikishi and Scott Steiner Walk Into a Bar…

31 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 22 April 2021, 20:00

Nu Wrestling Evolution, 2005 Not sure if you’ve noticed, but the move from WWE Network to Peacock here for us ‘muricans has proven to…well…kinda suck. The massive library we were all accustomed to having at our fingertips is mostly gone, and we’re left with the most basic of stuff imaginable. You want a recent Raw? No problem. A random WrestleMania? Sure, Continue Reading...

Induction: “In This Corner, Jaime Sommers” – You’ve heard of a bionic redneck, but have you ever heard of a bionic woman?

12 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 15 April 2021, 21:09

TV episode, 1976 If you’re living in the US and suddenly locked out of WWE Network, you’re probably wondering what to do with the next four months. Sure, you could search blindly on Peacock for something – anything – worth watching, but maybe you’d be better off looking on plain old NBC.com, which offers three advantages over the premium site. Continue Reading...

Induction: WrestleCrap’s 21st Anniversary Special

13 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 01 April 2021, 20:00

This induction is dedicated to Blade Braxton and all the other members of the WrestleCrap family we’ve lost along the way. On April 1st, 2000, WrestleCrap.com first arrived on the internet. The intervening twenty-one years have provided the site with never-ending fodder for our famous inductions, whether it be old footage uploaded to Youtube or new, ridiculous angles and characters Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: That Thunder With Nash – The Old Glory Shizow

27 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 25 March 2021, 20:00

WCW, 1999 Every once in a while, I discover something I cannot even fathom we’ve not inducted. Such is the case tonight. From that award winning little book you may have heard of, The Death of WCW: “The October 14 Thunder was one for the ages. Since it was the last under the Nash era, he basically turned it into one giant inside Continue Reading...

Induction: The Swamp Fight – Creature from the Crap Lagoon

22 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Fri, 19 March 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2020 At Extreme Rules 2020, the main event of Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt didn’t have a tough act to follow. All the Universal Champ and his ex-mentor had to do was to put on a match less embarrassing than that night’s Mysterio-Rollins match – a match where the object was to pluck out your opponent’s eyeball. But despite Continue Reading...

Induction: …Is delayed until Friday

3 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 18 March 2021, 19:59

Sorry folks, you’ll have to wait another day before the new induction drops. As usual, here is a very cryptic clue as to what it’s about: Take a guess, then forget it because it’s wrong, then take another guess....

INDUCTION: Raw Underground – First Rule of Shane Club is You Don’t Talk About Shane Club

28 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 11 March 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2020 In recent years, it’s not exactly a secret that World Wrestling Entertainment has seen its audience shrinking at levels not seen since Hulk Hogan’s physique in 1994. And whenever that happens, we often see Vince McMahon throwing various things against the wall to see what may stick – one need look no further than the legendary Attitude era Continue Reading...

Induction: Gary Garbutt, the Masked Janitor – Drew mops the floor with Cedric Alexander

15 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 04 March 2021, 20:58

WWE, 2019 At Extreme Rules 2019, The Undertaker and fellow Big Dog Roman Reigns teamed up to defeat Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon. If you don’t remember this match, you can be forgiven – it was the opening match, and it was thrown together rather hastily to wash out the bad taste of Taker’s recent Goldberg match. For the go-home Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: RightToCensor.com – Get out the Defibrilator and Let’s Revive Another Deadsite!

27 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 25 February 2021, 20:00

WWE, 2001 Woo hoo! Psyched today as we are going to venture back to the early days of the internet via another Deadsite! I so love doing these columns, and not just because I blatantly stole the idea from one of my favorite destinations on the World Wide Web, the legendary DinosaurDracula.com. (Seriously, if you’ve never checked out Matt’s work…what Continue Reading...

Induction: The Smackdown Karaoke Showdown – Just Idol-ing until the crowds come back

20 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 18 February 2021, 20:42

WWE, 2020 File another one under, “Only in 2020”. This week’s induction focuses on a segment nobody asked for, but that nobody was around to say “No” to. As usual, the July 10th, 2020 edition of Smackdown opened with a number of graphics promoting that night’s matches, including one featuring four WWE women Superstars competing against each other. But this Continue Reading...

INDUCTION: Babyface Honky Tonk Man – Was that REALLY the Plan? WrestleCrap Investigates!

33 Submitted by RD Reynolds on Thu, 11 February 2021, 20:00

WWF, 1986 Every once in a while, I hit upon an induction I cannot honestly fathom we’ve never covered. You wouldn’t even think that was possible after nearly 21 years (!!!!), but today we have one that somehow has slipped by: the early WWF days of the legendary Honky Tonk Man…when he was a good guy. Mercy mercy, sakes alive! Continue Reading...

Induction: RETRIBUTION – The 2020 Gooker Award winner

59 Submitted by Art0Donnell on Thu, 04 February 2021, 20:00

RETRIBUTION was a faction that could only have emerged in 2020. For one thing, it was that summer that saw historic unrest in American cities, sparked by numerous deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police. Coast-to-coast Black Lives Matter protests, violence between Antifa and right-wing groups, destructive anarchist riots, often-brutal reprisals by law enforcement – these events would fundamentally Continue Reading...