Predicting Batista and the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2024

WrestleMania 40 weekend will see another batch of deserving legends be enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame.

No inductees have been officially announced yet, but fan speculation is already underway as to who will be in the Class of 2024.

Some candidates are more obvious than others, especially with there still being a number of names who have yet to be inducted for one reason or another. However, with there being no set criteria for who is deemed worthy of a Hall of Fame nod, anyone is technically eligible.

That proved to be the case last year when Rey Mysterio headlined the Class of 2023 despite still being an active member of the roster. He was joined by Stacy Keibler, The Great Muta, Andy Kaufman and Warrior Award recipient Tim White.

Inductees are typically revealed shortly following the Royal Rumble with the headliner being the first announced. For the first time, Triple H will reportedly be in charge of deciding who gets honored this year and thus an esteemed lineup is expected.

The following Superstars should take their rightful place among WWE's hall of immortals in 2024.

Paul Heyman

This year's WrestleMania 40 weekend emanating from Philadelphia makes the mastermind behind Extreme Championship Wrestling an obvious choice.

However, it's safe to assume Heyman would deny the offer if he's going to be managing Roman Reigns in the main event of The Show of Shows and doesn't wish to break character before then.

Tommy Dreamer

If Heyman won't be inducted this year, Dreamer would be an acceptable consolation prize given how synonymous he is to ECW, as well as everything he accomplished in WWE and continues to contribute to the wrestling business elsewhere.

Victoria

Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler and Queen Sharmell were trailblazers for women's wrestling in their own way, but none deserved to be inducted before the often-underrated Victoria.

In addition to working with a ton of top names and giving them their best matches, she was also a two-time WWE women's champion and a workhorse for the division for the better part of the 2000s.

The Rock

The Great One is a first-ballot Hall of Famer and arguably the biggest name that has yet to be inducted. The only thing preventing him from being enshrined is his busy schedule, so if he is able to appear at WrestleMania weekend this year, then WWE should have him headline, but that's hardly set in stone.

Warrior Award: Vladimir Abouzeide the Superfan

WWE's Warrior Award has essentially been an honor of excellence since it was introduced in 2015, with past recipients including Connor "The Crusher" Michalek, Shad Gaspard and Titus O'Neil. WWE's ultimate superfan, Vlad Abouzeide, was recently spotlighted by the company in a tremendous Peacock documentary and should be further recognized.

Simply put, the first WrestleMania may not have turned out to be the unprecedented success that it was without Cyndi Lauper's involvement with wrestling.

Her partnership with famed WWE manager Captain Lou Albano was mutually beneficial. The music video for her 1983 debut solo single "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", which featured Albano, turned out to be smash hit. And in turn, she helped usher the Rock and Wrestling Connection era into WWE through her handful of appearances for the company in the years that followed.

That included being in Wendi Richter's corner when she defeated Leilani Kai for the WWE Women's Championship at the first WrestleMania. In short, she played an integral role in the business being brought into the mainstream.

Despite all of that, Lauper has yet to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

She last appeared on WWE programming in June 2012 as a special guest host for Raw, where she reunited with Roddy Piper and smashed a guitar over Heath Slater's head.

Unless she has turned down the invitation in the past, there's no reason why Lauper shouldn't already be a part of the celebrity wing.

Batista is an obvious choice for the Class of 2024 with it already being announced that he's owed an induction.

The Animal was set to co-headline the Class of 2020 alongside the New World Order over WrestleMania 36 weekend before the pandemic caused the ceremony to be canceled.

When that group was honored the following year, he withdrew due to previous obligations.

Scheduling conflicts prevented him from appearing at subsequent installments, but 2024 could finally be the year he serves as the sole headliner. If so, it's bound to be confirmed by WWE sooner rather than later.

Of course, his long list of career accomplishments speaks for itself: Multi-time WWE world champion, WrestleMania main-eventer and now one of the most successful wrestlers-turned-actors ever.

It's more a matter of when than if Batista will be enshrined, but until he says isn't available, fans will assume he'll be present in Philadelphia for WrestleMania weekend.

Lex Luger has had more of a presence on WWE programming in the last two years than at any other point in the past two decades.

Although he hasn't appeared in person on Raw or SmackDown, he has made a number of appearances on The Bump and WWE's other social media channels, including just recently when he looked back at some of his best matches and moments.

Luger was set to be the subject of a WWE Icons episode on Peacock in the summer of 2021, but once it was shelved, the company repurposed the footage detailing his life and career for an A&E documentary the subsequent summer.

These are all signs that the promotion is preparing to put him into the Hall of Fame at long last. He was a top star for WWE as well as WCW throughout the 1990s and has a Royal Rumble win to his credit along with two runs as WCW world heavyweight champion.

He's also remembered for being among the first of many Superstars to jump from WWE to WCW and to do so in unforgettable fashion on the debut edition of Nitro.

His connection to Elizabeth Hulette, best known to wrestling fans as Miss Elizabeth, at the time of her death in 2003 has soured a segment of fans on him being honored.

Although Elizabeth deserves to be inducted first (and not as part of the same class), WWE may go ahead with inducting Luger this year, anyway.

There have been rumblings regarding William Regal being enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame as far back as 2017, but he has obviously been deserving of the honor for some time.

Despite never once wearing world title gold in WWE, he is widely regarded as one of the best brawlers and technical wrestlers ever. His decorated career spanned several decades and included countless championships in WWE and WCW.

His influence on the industry extends far beyond what he accomplished in the squared circle, though.

In addition to occasionally serving as a commentator and on-air authority figure, the 2008 King of the Ring winner traded in his tights for a backstage role at NXT in the mid-2010s, scouring the world for the brand's next batch of breakout stars.

Upon being unceremoniously released from WWE at the onset of 2022, Regal took his talents to All Elite Wrestling and had a tremendous run managing Blackpool Combat Club. He now finds himself back in a prominent position in WWE as the vice president of global talent development, essentially Triple H's right-hand man.

Per Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer, Regal's non-compete clause (prohibiting him from appearing on television for the past year) was "just about over" as of late December, making a WWE Hall of Fame induction this year a strong possibility.

Between random releases and abysmal booking, Mickie James has been "done dirty" by WWE on a number of occasions through no fault of her own during her two runs with the company.

Having never truly gotten her just due for being the modern-day women's wrestling icon that she is, she should at least get her long-overdue induction into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

She was the measuring stick for success in the women's division from 2006 through 2010, and in that time, she captured six championships. Although she was marginalized by the end (see: the "Piggy James" storyline), she went on to dominate TNA/Impact's Knockouts scene for the next five years before making her highly anticipated return to WWE in 2016.

James challenged for championships during her second stint in WWE but was largely utilized as a stepping stone for the up-and-coming talent. Following her 2021 release, she revitalized her career once again in Impact and became the first female to walk through WWE's "forbidden door" by entering the 2022 women's Royal Rumble as Impact women's champ.

To call James a pioneer for women's wrestling would be a huge understatement, and to say she's a first-ballot Hall of Famer is simply stating the obvious.

As egregious as it is that Demolition aren't already members of the WWE Hall of Fame, Triple H can right that wrong by inviting them to join the Class of 2024.

When wrestling's greatest tag teams of all time are being discussed, Demolition constantly come up in the conversation and for good reason. They weren't around for more than a few years, but in that time, they were the standard-bearers of WWE's stacked tag team division.

Of course, the same can be said about The New Day and The Usos after everything they've achieved in the last decade, but the biggest difference in the two eras is that tag team wrestling was much more highly regarded when Demolition were on top.

The Hart Foundation, Strike Force, The Brainbusters and The Rockers filled the scene back then and Demolition defeated them all. Even more impressively, they held the World Tag Team Championship for a record-setting 478 days (later broken by New Day in 2016 and again by The Usos in 2022).

At ages 76 and 64 respectively, Ax and Smash are alive and well and should get the chance to be celebrated via a Hall of Fame induction.

Bray Wyatt being immortalized as a member of the WWE Hall of Famer was always inevitable, but his death in August 2023 will see him honored earlier than expected.

Wyatt left an indelible mark on WWE and the wrestling industry as a whole. From the moment he reemerged with his Eater of Worlds persona over a decade ago, it was evident he had that elusive "it" factor and was on the cusp of something special.

Memorable rivalries with John Cena, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and The Undertaker followed, along with one of the most unique factions in WWE history in The Wyatt Family. He held the top title on three occasions and completely reinvented himself as The Fiend and enjoyed great success in 2019.

Wyatt's incredible connection with the WWE audience made him a beloved fan favorite and perennial main event player. His extraordinary legacy will live on for generations to come.

A posthumous Hall of Fame induction in Philadelphia, the same city in which he made his epic return to WWE in October 2022, is only fitting.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.