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2011 Observer Hall of Fame thread


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I knew it would be difficult but it is amusing to see the "We have no clue who was really a draw!" talking point trotted out by McAdam this early in the discussion which tells me that it is going to be impossible to get a fair hearing out of a lot of these people. Received Wisdom of Wrestling Gods cannot be challenged!

That's about what I expected. B)

 

McAdam has always been an AWA hater too, similar to Meltzer..."Another unmarried Marriage Counselor", so to speak.

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A few things:

 

Big Daddy - World of Sport had something like 30 million viewers in the 70s. Which was more than 50% of the UK population. As such Big Daddy is the Hogan of UK wrestling. Why? Because if you ask pretty much ANY casual non-wrestling fan over a certain age to name one wrestler, then they'll probably name Big Daddy (and after him probably Giant Haystacks). Seems to me that if you are going to include ANY WoS workers, then he has to be number 1 on that list.

 

Jesse Ventura - given that this is a non-wrestling nomination, who said he wasn't good at his job? Is there seriously a counter to the common wisdom that he was GOAT colour commentator? Better than Heenan in my book.

 

Curt Hennig - why is he on the ballot and not Rick Rude? I don't understand that AT ALL. I'm guessing for his AWA run? But that seems to me to be massively offset by Rude's WCW stuff. Makes no sense to me.

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Rick Rude fell off the ballot a year or two ago.

 

Regarding Ventura, I think the standards for getting in as an announcer are very high and I don't think Ventura cuts the mustard on that basis alone. I think he grew disinterested in the role towards the end of the WWF run and that carried on into WCW.

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A few things:

 

Big Daddy - World of Sport had something like 30 million viewers in the 70s.

Christ, it was nowhere near that. The only normal TV show to hit the 30m mark was the christmas Eastenders in 1986. The only sporting event to hit the 30m mark was the 1966 World Cup Final. According to any BARB and BFI rating stuff I've found they never even hit 20m. I have heard that they got something like 18m on a Cup Final day but I'm not too believing of that, to be honest.

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A few things:

 

Big Daddy - World of Sport had something like 30 million viewers in the 70s.

Christ, it was nowhere near that. The only normal TV show to hit the 30m mark was the christmas Eastenders in 1986. The only sporting event to hit the 30m mark was the 1966 World Cup Final. According to any BARB and BFI rating stuff I've found they never even hit 20m. I have heard that they got something like 18m on a Cup Final day but I'm not too believing of that, to be honest.

 

70s?

 

http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/mostwatched/1970s.html

 

Perhaps there is a bias against listing wrestling.

 

John

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In some ways the case for Haystacks is about the same as the case for Big Daddy. One thing that is forgotten is that Big Daddy's run was really quite short. We're talking roughly 1975 to the mid 80s. Before that he wasn't particularly well known and wrestled as another character. His sole claim to fame is that run. Big Daddy's biggest drawing feud was against Giant Haystacks. Unlike Big Daddy, Haystacks travelled. He worked Calgary and, as we all know, WCW briefly.

 

He was a decent heel and a bit of a freak weighing over 500lbs at 6'11. I think all this does though is highlight the weakness of Big Daddy's case.

 

I think someone like Rick Martel would be a stronger candidate than Big Daddy, if you think about it and he doesn't seem to be on the ballot.

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Big Daddy was also was the independent promoters British Heavyweight champion in 1960 according to wrestling heritage. Shame there doesn't appears to be much recorded history pre 80's for British wrestling. Also am i the only one who thinks 1979 Big Daddy vs Mighty John Quinn is one of the greatest matches of all time. Needs to be seen with the full intros and the celebration afterwards.

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The whole Messiah angle in the Bible is pretty epic. They teased his coming for over 2000 years, pretty massive build.

 

So well booked that whole deal. Matthew was running Israel at that time with Mark, Luke and John on the committee. They teased a heel turn when he threw those tables over. It was probably one of the best booked babyface runs of all time.

 

Jesus had fantastic promo skills, real calm delivery and a flair for extended metaphors. And the crowd popped crazy for the miracles.

 

He had some great heels to work with in that territory as well. From early in his career against Herod right up to the end against Pilate. Judas was a pretty great heel too.

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