#8 – The Honkey Tonk Man
Kids today know Honkey as the old school guitar-weilding nut job that comes around every so often to act like an idiot. He gets very little reception, and it's quite sad. I know Honkey as one of the most hated men in pro wrestling history. To put HTM in perspective, imagine for a second The Miz during the height of his WWE Championship reign. Now imagine his character was way more annoying, he was managed by Vickie Guerrero – taking the place of Jimmy Hart here – and his title reign was the longest in its history.
Honkey Tonk Man was so universally hated that his loss of the title at the '88 SummerSlam jump-started the Ultimate Warrior's career. He had the perfect storm – solid ring skills, a character that was easy to get over, the willingness to take that character to un-reached levels of hatred from fans, and a legendary Hall of Fame manager in the "Mouth of the South". And while that 15 months as champion was definitely the highlight of Honkey's career, many don't know that he worked for over a decade in the territories before ever coming to the WWF. He worked all around the world after leaving the WWF. He still does a few appearances to this day, making him one of the oldest and most experienced active pro wrestlers in the world, boasting an impressive 35+ year career.
Honkey Tonk Man was and is one of the most recognizable and memorable characters in pro wrestling history, and for that alone, I believe he deserves the Hall of Fame nod in 2014.
