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Celebrating the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2014

Sports Mole takes a closer look at the careers of each of the WWE Hall of Fame 2014 inductees ahead of them being honoured on the night before WrestleMania XXX.

Every year, on the night before WrestleMania, the WWE honours a select group of its most entertaining and influential superstars at the annual Hall of Fame ceremony.

With 2014 being the 30th anniversary of The Showcase of the Immortals, the company needed to put together a rather special class of inductees.

They have done a pretty good job too, with the controversial Ultimate Warrior, who is a former WWF Champion, Intercontinental Champion and WrestleMania main-eventer, headlining a stellar cast.

He is joined by one of the company's best ever characters, most important managers, most impactful celebrities, most popular divas and a member of a great wrestling family which is still in action today.

Below, Sports Mole celebrates each of the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame inductees.

Ultimate Warrior

It's difficult to describe the Ultimate Warrior in only a few paragraphs. He was truly unique.

Sporting a comic-book image, the Warrior would sprint to the ring at full speed, and would not slow down during his energetic matches or fascinating promos in which he would confuse even himself.

He was a truly intense character and one that gained immense popularity as he rocketed his way up the card after debuting in 1987. Three years later, he was headlining WrestleMania against Hulk Hogan.

Warrior and the Hulkster clashed in a match where both the WWE and Intercontinental titles were on the line. Warrior prevailed and is, to this day, one of only two men to pin Hogan on the grandest stage.

It was his finest moment with the company, although not his only memorable one. A year later he picked up another notable Mania scalp when he won a retirement match against Randy 'Macho Man' Savage.

His "self-destruction" led to him quitting the business in 1992 and although he made infrequent returns, he was never the same man who battled with the likes of The Undertaker and Mr Perfect.

Nobody really understood Ultimate Warrior, and perhaps that is why so many were fascinated by him.

Jake 'The Snake' Roberts

During the 1980s, a period in which the WWE was filled with many big characters with even bigger voices, the whispering Jake 'The Snake' Roberts was quietly making a name for himself.

A calculated and physical in-ring worker who pioneered the now widely-used DDT, Roberts was involved in famous rivalries with soon-to-be Hall of Fame colleagues such as Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase.

And when the Texan native had left his opponents on the mat, he would unleash his python sidekick, most famously Damien, whom he carried to the ring to strike fear into the hearts of his foes.

But it was his work on the microphone for which Roberts is probably most appreciated. 'The Snake' was a master of the mind games and is regarded as one of the best talkers in the history of the WWE.

Lita

The perfect combination of beauty and athleticism made Lita a huge success in the WWE.

She broke through as the valet of The Hardy Boyz, but soon became an in-ring sensation in her own right. Quite simply, no other Diva had ever been as over with the crowd as Lita was during 'The Attitude Era'.

The redhead from North Carolina wowed audiences with a high-flying approach rarely seen by a female performer, and a move set that many of her male counterparts would have been enviable of.

Her rivalry with Trish Stratus took the women's division to new heights, and the pair famously main-evented RAW in 2004. This was not one of the nights that Lita won one of her four WWE women's titles.

She later reverted to managing and was involved in high-profile storylines with the likes of Edge and Kane. Occasionally, though, we still got to see her and her thong in action, until her 2006 retirement.

Paul Bearer

The Undertaker would not have achieved immortal status without the huge assistance of Paul Bearer.

With it being imperative that 'The Deadman's' mystery and darkness be maintained, it was important for him to have a mouthpiece and the WWE found the perfect match when they paired him with Bearer.

The two came together in 1990 and went on to cast a sinister cloud over the company for much of the decade, with Bearer's eerie image and persona playing beautifully alongside Taker's evilness.

He held The Phenom's urn until 1997, when he betrayed his client to introduce Undertaker's brother Kane to the company in one of RAW's most intriguing narratives of 'The Attitude Era'.

Bearer, whose real name was William Moody, passed away in 2013, but not before he had played a significant role in shaping the backstory of two of the deepest characters of the modern era.

Carlos Colon

Carlos Colon is arguably the biggest name in the history of Puerto Rican wrestling, and he made an impact on American shores too during his 30-year career, which began in the late 1960s.

After competing against the likes of Ric Flair in the United States, Colon returned to his homeland where he founded the World Wrestling Council, a company he became champion of 26 times.

Colon's most famous rivalry was with Abdullah The Butcher, and their battles inspired hundreds of Puerto Ricans, including sons Carlito and Primo, and newphew Epico, to join the business.

Mr T

At a time when the WWE needed the attention of the mainstream media, Mr T helped deliver it.

WrestleMania I signalled an unprecedented leap by the company to break into a wider audience and Vince McMahon needed the help of the era's biggest celebrities to help him achieve this.

The A-Team star Mr T would partner Hulk Hogan against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in the inaugural WrestleMania's main event, and would face Piper in a boxing match 12 months later.

While he was not the only entertainment star to dabble in wrestling, he was one of the few who bridged the gap successfully by showing that he could kick ass in the ring as well as on television sets.

Mr T aided WWE's transition from a wrestling business to a sports entertainment phenomenon.

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