Listen up!

Class is in session, and you're in for a history lesson. This week's lecture concerns the night before "WrestleMania 21," when World Wrestling Entertainment welcomes seven former entertainers to its Hall Of Fame.

The list includes all the guys I loved to watch in the 1980s, before I really knew how the business worked. I knew the outcomes were predetermined and all that, but I didn't know the tricks they used to make it look convincing. In short, it was a more innocent time for your Professor.

The list: "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Jimmy Hart, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Paul Orndorff, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan. Why were they great? Thought you would never ask.

'Cowboy' Bob Orton
These days, Orton is known primarily as the father of Randy Orton, the self-proclaimed legend killer. Orton always played the quiet enforcer, a heel with muscle. The best thing about Orton, though, was his ability to play the smuggest man on earth. In my book, the Cowboy was second to none in that regard.

Jimmy Hart
Other than Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart is probably the last manager anyone can remember. For some reason, there are no managers anymore. I really don't get that aspect of sports entertainment these days. Must be a budget thing. Anyway, Hart was best when he was a heel, especially his work with the team of Bret Hart and Jim Niedhart. As a heel, Hart's constant screaming was especially irritating -- the perfect weenie to detest.

Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik
These two comprised the quintessential WWE tag team of the '80s. Slow and boring in the ring, but fantastic on the microphone. Well, memorable on the microphone. Volkoff's singing of the Russian national anthem before each match was always a nice heel touch, and Sheik's "Iran number one, U.S. accchht-thhhpooo" spit fest was always a treat.

Paul Orndorff
Next to Roddy Piper, I say Orndorff is the greatest heel of all time. This guy was always mad, always crying about something and always seemed to put on a good match. You just loved to hate Orndorff, and he had a great feud with Hulk Hogan. It was in the mid-'80s, and he and Hogan were in a cage match on national TV -- "Saturday Night's Main Event" on NBC. Both escaped the blue structure at the same time -- and the network did a great job of doing a split-screen of their feet touching the mat. It was sports entertainment at its finest -- and Paula was in the middle of it.

'Rowdy' Roddy Piper
Next to Ric Flair, Piper is perhaps the greatest talker of all time. The Rock, Steve Austin and Kurt Angle are fantastic on the microphone, but Piper was over-the-top loopy every time the camera was on. You never knew what he was going to say, you never knew what he was going to do. That unpredictability simply made him the greatest bad guy ever, a performer you couldn't ignore.

Hulk Hogan
Without a doubt, Hogan is the greatest sports entertainer of all time. Not the best ring technician, but to this day he's the only wrestler besides Gorgeous George who became a household name in the United States.

My favorite Hogan memory came before his WWE days, when he was chasing Nick Bockwinkle for the AWA heavyweight championship. One night at the St. Paul Civic Center, Hogan wrestled before a sold-out arena (20,000?), but lost again. Nick's manager, Bobby Heenan, interfered to secure the victory for his man. Hogan, the incredibly popular babyface, just couldn't get the gold away from the seasoned heel. AWA owner Verne Gagne probably figured we'd pay more money to see this feud play out a few more matches, but it wasn't to be.

It wasn't long after that match when Vince McMahon offered Hogan a spot on his roster, and before you knew it the Hulkster beat the Iron Sheik for the WWE title at Madison Square Garden. Gagne was out of business a few years later.

The 'WrestleMania 21' Contest
Fine memories, but time to move on. The Prof was BLITZED in the past week with your entries to our "WrestleMania 21" contest. The rules are easy. Just tell me what's going to happen in each match. The entry with the most correct guesses wins. In case of a tie, I'll draw the winner. To the victor, a fabulous prize, probably a wrestling DVD of some kind -- I still haven't decided exactly which one. Here's the card:

Professor's Choice: The Best Wrestling Web Sites Pro Wrestling Torch Wrestling Observer The Road Warriors Inc. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling World Wrestling Entertainment

-World Heavyweight Championship match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Dave Batista

-WWE Championship match: John Bradshaw Layfield vs. John Cena

-WWE Women's Championship match: Trish Stratus vs. Christy Hemme

-Challenge Match: Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels

-Challenge Match: Randy Orton vs. Undertaker

-'Money-In-The-Bank' Ladder Match: Shelton Benjamin vs. Edge vs. Christian vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kane

-Sumo Wrestling Match: Big Show vs. Akebono

To enter, CLICK HERE! Remember, include your e-mail address and home phone. That's really the only way I can contact the winner.

OK, enough yakkin'. Class dismissed. Get out of here!

(Professor Wrestling is a masked employee of Internet Broadcasting Systems. He voted for JBL in the 2004 presidential election.)