Why WWE Must Avoid THIS Huge Mistake Ahead Of WrestleMania 39

3. The Prestige And Rewards

Rey Mysterio Dominik Mysterio
WWE

Regardless of the reasons for WWE opting to reintroduce its Hall of Fame in 2004, these ceremonies are genuinely important to so many of the HOF's inductees.

Sure, there are institutions such as the Cauliflower Alley Club, the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Hall of Fame, and the NWA Hall of Fame that are held in high regard, but the WWE Hall of Fame is viewed as an entirely different beast.

As of this writing, there have been a total of 234 inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame, with those ranging from individual talents, to tag teams or factions, to legacy gongs, to celebrities, and more recently to the Warrior Award winners.

For the most part, the WWE Hall of Fame is a who's who of the biggest names in the history of the wrestling business. If you think of the top stars of any era, the vast majority of those have been honoured in the WWE HOF - even more so with WWE nowadays more open to inducting those major names who made their mark competing for other promotions.

As alluded to elsewhere, there is also a financial incentive for those inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, for such an induction will usually come with a WWE Legends deal and a whole bunch of merchandise on WWE Shop for those stars of yesteryear to make royalties on. Not to mention, being featured in the Hall of Fame puts those veterans in a new spotlight when it comes to the demand for convention appearances and for signing events.

Most importantly, despite it being decided on the whim of Vince McMahon, being alongside your peers and bona fide legends is a sign of approval, a sign of respect, a sign of the influence and difference you've made to an industry that you've busted your behind to make an impact in.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.