The WWE Hall of Fame will induct its 2016 class later this year on the night before WrestleMania 32 , and only one name has been revealed so far — Sting. That’s not a totally unexpected announcement that came earlier in January, and others have been rumored but none named yet. Well, one former WWF/WWE star from the ’80s and early ’90s now thinks he will be inducted soon, and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake will bring his shears with him.
Ed Leslie has been known by many names throughout his wrestling career, but Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake is the one most well known. Beefcake was recently a guest on the Interactive Wrestling Radio show and talked about a number of things.
He recently appeared at a Legends of Wrestling event in Miami and still makes appearances all over the place. During the interview though, Beefcake touched on the WWE Hall of Fame and had something quite interesting to say.
“I’m confident it will happen. In fact, sooner rather than later. I don’t want to give anything away but I think there are some things in the works.”
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that WWE is going to be inducting Leslie into the Hall of Fame in 2016, but still, only one name has been revealed so far. Anything is possible and Beefcake was a huge name and factor in WWF/WWE during the majority of the ’80s and into the early ’90s.
One thing that could work against him is that he had a very close friendship with Hulk Hogan , and everyone knows the trouble between WWE and the Hulkster in the last year. Still, Beefcake was a big part of WWF for a long time and then in WCW and even a member of the nWo as the unrecognizable character known as The Disciple.
Back on Jan. 11, Sting was named as this year’s first inductee, as confirmed by WWE ‘s website. After Sting’s injury last year at Night of Champions , this one was kind of expected since he likely wouldn’t be wrestling.
A list of possibly leaked names for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class was floating around and What Culture said it was legit. The list is not confirmed in any way at all, but it is an interesting one and would make for a pretty big class.
- John Bradshaw Layfield aka JBL
- The Fabulous Freebirds
- Charles Wright aka Papa Shango/The Godfather/Kama Mustafa/The Goodfather
- Jacqueline
- Regis Philbin for the celebrity wing
That really wouldn’t be a bad class at all, but it isn’t confirmed, so we still have to see what WWE says. If this list ends up being true though, then there is no room for Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake in this year’s class.
Beefcake could really have a great bunch of stories to tell, and his career was an interesting one as well. The story of the parasailing accident back in August of 1990 would alone be worth watching the Hall of Fame. He was almost killed that day and ended up with his facial skeleton crushed which was corrected with numerous surgeries and over 100 metal plates and screws.
He never ended up winning any singles titles in WWE even though he was in longtime feuds for them repeatedly. Beefcake had a very long feud with Mr. Perfect over the Intercontinental Title, but could never quite capture it. His only title with the promotion was the WWE Tag Team Championship he won with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.
Ed Leslie aka Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake is a true wrestling legend and could likely be in the WWE Hall of Fame one day. It may not be this year or maybe it will be. No one really knows much yet, but he appears to think it’s happening soon.
[Image via WWE]