Al

Sgt. Slaughter turned 35 in 1983. If he had been on a theoretical ballot in 1983-84, fresh off the Final Conflict and the Iron Sheik feud, would he have gotten into the Hall?

Milano was accused basically of sexual assault a couple years ago by Shazza McKenzie. I'm not blackballing him, but I'm less than enthused about Milano's candidacy right now.

I'd say Daniel Bryan, but that's splitting hairs and the point still applies. The biggest obstacle to changing the age requirement now is if you do it you effectively create a five year dead zone before anyone new becomes eligible.

By the same token Roman Reigns apparently falls off the ballot with less than 10%, and it seems like an issue for that to happen when someone is actively building their resume.

I doubt she really even knows what her future is.

The payoff was Goldust debuting the Shattered Dreams kick. I popped.

Why not just have Otis try to cash in and Tucker turns on him then? Miz holding the briefcase does nothing for me.

Can you imagine trying to book a touring schedule right now? It's a logistical nightmare. You want assurance you can have fixed arena capacity and you need to know 3-6 months in advance. I imagine the other touring attractions like Monster trucks, Disney, Marvel, etc. having the same issues.

The problem is that wrestlers from that era, born before 1920, have never been real ballot candidates at all. Almost every inductee from that era was either part of the original class or put in by Dave.

I've mentally checked out on current wrestling as well. But this year/pandemic turned everything completely on its side. I think WWE's business model right now is to tread water and I can't fault anyone for that.

That and even small collisions leading to bigger problems down the line, like they’re finding in youth football.

The problem for me is that older, historically important wrestlers were barely a blip on the radar of mainstream media. Someone like Braun Strowman who really doesn’t figure as a historically important wrestler is doing television commercials. This generation of wrestlers are clearly known and they’re stars. But the core business of professional wrestling reflects that differently. Either they get dismissed or we need to change our metrics accordingly.

My big question, not for Moolah but for women in general. There's one American woman in the Observer Hall right now. Given the increased importance of women in American wrestling, does that ratio need to change? Then apart from Moolah, who is the best candidate?

I don't think anyone doubts Kowalski's credentials. My point is that Kowalski's HOF case was 99+% as a wrestler.

We've known about concussions for a long time. But I think it's fair to say our knowledge base has grown considerably in the last twenty years.

I think on Wikipedia some inductees are listed for what they did. Kowalski was inducted with the original class of 1996 though and at that point his most famous trainees weren't even on the radar.

Also many victims are not eager to prosecute as the experience can be exposing and traumatic. Without the participation of the victim courts have trouble garnering a conviction.

I think Moolah's greatest contribution may actually be as a trainer. But I wouldn't be in a hurry to relitigate her case.

Quick initial thoughts. HISTORICAL ERA: First, weird to see the Fabs listed here. A lot of candidates I look at and say "sure, they could be a Hall of Famer." But none of them really stand out. If you HAD to induct one (and only one), who would it be? MODERN ERA: Some intriguing candidates. I wonder if Goldberg, Edge will get boosts from being in high profile spots over the past year. Nash is long overdue for a look. He dropped off the ballot before he even won the WCW World title. Yes or no, it seems silly that candidates like him, Luger, etc. never even got their entire careers voted on. Which is a problem of combining the RnR style eligibility rules with the Baseball drop off the ballot rule. You can be ineligible while still building your resume. One thing I note in general. There are about 31 wrestlers born in the '50s who are in, 30-31 from the '60s. There are nine from the '70s, two from the '80s. So I tend to grade candidates like CM Punk, Edge, Randy Orton higher than others on this board. I'm grading on a curve. JAPAN: The sentiment here is Jun Akiyama. It seems early yet for Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito. MEXICO: Huracan Ramirez should've gone in years ago. EUROPE, ETC: Curious to see what Adrian Street pulls. NON WRESTLERS: When you can pick five and there's 20 on the ballot, how do you form a consensus around anyone on this list. Go back to the historical era question. If you had to pick one, who?

Was Dory working in the AJPW office at the time?

I watched Leilani Kai vs Vicki Williams on Youtube. Sounds like it was from the NWA Classics collection, the year given as 1979. Leilani was 19 at the time, she strikes me as a tremendous worker for someone that young. Though she was certainly a seasoned veteran even by then. She got more big matches than most American women of her era, but she still is really unappreciated.

From the magazine (writer Al Castle): "...we chose to consider each accused wrestler on a case-by-case basis...eliminating those left in limbo by terminations or suspensions."

The belief that sex with a minor can not by definition be “consensual.”

Some of the PWI 500 blurbs. Matt Riddle: "Prior to his Smackdown debut, Riddle was accused of sexual assault by a former partner during the #Speaking-Out movement...He's since denied the accusation." (Ellipses their's) Velveteen Dream: "Derailed by #SpeakingOut accusations in June." Jordan Devlin: "Was stripped of title and released by PROGRESS after being accused of assault." Austin Theory: "Largely absent from TV over the summer following a #SpeakingOut allegation in June." Jay Lethal: "The subject of new and old accusations of harassment, which he denied in a tweet dated July 6." Others didn't make the list. They did not rank Jack Gallagher, Joey Ryan, Michael Elgin, David Starr, Jimmy Havoc, Dave Crist, Joe Coffey, Travis Banks, El Ligero. Personally I think they dropped the ball on the Scurll bio. But I think a genuine effort was made.

Cachorro Grande sounds like a 1940s era Mexican wrestler.