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2014 Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame thread


Bix

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Thank you for providing your clarity. I agree that Dave should come out and say one or the other, voters shouldn't or should be influenced by a candidates MMA career.

 

Changing gears slightly, for anyone who's voted Ventura over the years; have you totally discounted his governor run when making your decision or not?

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Thank you for providing your clarity. I agree that Dave should come out and say one or the other, voters shouldn't or should be influenced by a candidates MMA career.

 

Changing gears slightly, for anyone who's voted Ventura over the years; have you totally discounted his governor run when making your decision or not?

 

A valid question is to what degree MMA and politics should be considered pro wrestling. MMA is about getting an audience hyped up to pay for a fight, while a gubernatorial race is about working the marks with the mic and video promos to get the desired gate turnout.

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Has Lesnar *really* had that great a year? From a booking perspective, sure! But he came into WrestleMania 30 as the coldest WM opponent for The Undertaker since at least 2006 and had his worst WM match since that time frame too. With the changes in WWE's pay-per-view business model, it's very hard to tell how much of a positive impact he's having on that revenue stream, if any. He's not a house show draw as he doesn't work house shows. He's not a big merchandise seller as far as we can tell. He's not a glaringly obvious mover of TV ratings either. He's only worked four matches this year, only one of which was rated above ****.

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I think he came into Wrestlemania cold because The Streak had become such a strong thing that no one thought it would ever end, so it was impossible to create drama in the buildup or in the match itself when teasing finishes. Not that that changes your point as I fully agree, but I think it's something that hasn't been acknowledged enough.

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The issue I have with that thought process is that by all accounts the decision to have Brock end The Streak was a last minute call when Vince McMahon realised that The Undertaker was completely physically shot and that it could very well be his final match. In a lot of ways Brock was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. That's not necessarily a problem in and of itself, but it is when we haven't got the perspective of what Brock ending The Streak meant for his career.

 

At least with Ivan Koloff, we know he kick-started Pedro's hot three year run of record MSG business and was brought back and did even bigger business with both Bruno and Backlund years later (due to the Felt Forum being opened up for the bigger MSG shows).

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Sent mine in this morning and this was the toughest one yet since I have been doing this.


I FOLLOWED THE HISTORICAL PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES
Johnny "Mr. Wrestling II" Walker

I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES
Junkyard Dog
Ivan Koloff
Dick Murdoch
Ken Patera
Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN JAPAN CANDIDATES

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN MEXICO CANDIDATES
Blue Panther
Cien Caras
Villano III

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN EUROPE CANDIDATES

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC ISLANDS/CARIBBEAN/AFRICA CANDIDATES
Carlos Colon

NON-WRESTLERS
Bill Apter
Gary Hart
Jimmy Hart
Jerry Jarrett
Stanley Weston

Brazos & Misionarios are the ones that were the toughest for me to leave off and yeah while the Misionarios get all the love for being a key cog in making trios matches hot in Mexico, the Brazos were more high profile and did better business.

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Sending in my ballot as we speak. I'm curious if anyone else here recommended any future nominees to Dave this year? I'm requesting Baron Leone, El Dandy, Don Jardine and Fujiwara. There are others I would suggest but I don't want to be greedy. I mentioned Hugo and Chicky too, but made the point that I feel weird officially suggesting them before Colon gets in.

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Sending in my ballot as we speak. I'm curious if anyone else here recommended any future nominees to Dave this year? I'm requesting Baron Leone, El Dandy, Don Jardine and Fujiwara. There are others I would suggest but I don't want to be greedy. I mentioned Hugo and Chicky too, but made the point that I feel weird officially suggesting them before Colon gets in.

 

I'm suggesting CIMA, and will mention that I think P.R. candidates deserve more of a look. I find it hard to believe Colon is the only native guy worth voting on.

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Here is the ballot I sent Dave. Looking at it seconds before I hit send I almost dropped Shibuya in favor of Villano III, but I just couldn't do it. Still hate leaving him off my ballot.

 

I FOLLOWED THE HISTORICAL PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES

Kinji Shibuya
Enrique Torres
I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES
Junkyard Dog
Ivan Koloff
Ken Patera
Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN JAPAN CANDIDATES

Gran Hamada
I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN MEXICO CANDIDATES
Cien Caras
El Signo & El Texano & Negro Navarro
I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC ISLANDS/CARIBBEAN/AFRICA CANDIDATES

Carlos Colon

NON-WRESTLERS

Jimmy Hart
Jerry Jarrett
Gene Okerluind
Don Owen
Stanley Weston
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I'm really happy to see the PR guys getting some love going forward. Really feel like there's a goldmine of stuff waiting to be unearthed regarding the promotions there and the talent that's come along over the years that's been basically ignored by much of the general public and Meltzer himself to some degree and some pushing for it to get more of a spotlight by just a few people would go a long way.

 

Fujiwara seems like a good idea to advocate for.

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Sending in my ballot as we speak. I'm curious if anyone else here recommended any future nominees to Dave this year? I'm requesting Baron Leone, El Dandy, Don Jardine and Fujiwara. There are others I would suggest but I don't want to be greedy. I mentioned Hugo and Chicky too, but made the point that I feel weird officially suggesting them before Colon gets in.

 

I haven't this year, and won't until after the '14 results are released. I don't have a ballot. Here's some names I'd consider. Mostly modern US. Haven't done deep research or anything. Out of the blue last year I wrote an e-mail to Dave about why Mean Gene wasn't on yet. Not sure if it had any influence of him being put on.

 

Luger deserves a look at some point, he was on in the initial '98 ballot (and fell off, and how many people voted then anyway?), when he was an overrated guy "holding people down". Now that his career is over, he should get a chance. Especially with "poor workrate" candidates making it on as of late. J.J. Dillon could be a Monsoon-type non wrestler candidate, he's never been on. Depends on who falls off/gets in from that category this year, as it is stuffed. Bischoff fell off in 2001, and with WCW completely done, and adding in his on-screen WWE role, he should get a fresh look down the road, probably not a great candidate tho. Big Show should be on at some point, although many of his 2000s WWE contemporaries fell off. He's been in WCW/WWE for almost 20 years. But I'm not aware of any drawing power he has, unless you go by the "WWE as a brand draws" theory, perhaps. Some of you here have advocated for Greg Valentine, and I agree.

 

Some of the modern candidates who fell off in the mid 2000s, such as RVD and the Steiners, might deserve another look at some point.

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He was arguably the biggest national star from 1979-84 because of the TBS penetration. Huge draw in Georgia and was used as a special attraction in many markets such as Oakland, Houston, New Orleans, Tampa/St. Pete, even did a MSG shot although in midcard. He had very successful runs in Memphis in numerous incarnations. There were ripoff gimmicks of him which shows his influence on other promoters. He is definitely worth a look.

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Has Rick Martel ever been on the ballot or Greg Valentine?

 

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but this thread/post (http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000499;p=0) lists everyone who has been on the ballot and fell off. So if the wrestler is not on this list, nor is currently on the ballot or has been elected, they have never been on the ballot (not counting 1996 charter members and some historical inductees).

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Has Rick Martel ever been on the ballot or Greg Valentine?

 

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but this thread/post (http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000499;p=0) lists everyone who has been on the ballot and fell off. So if the wrestler is not on this list, nor is currently on the ballot or has been elected, they have never been on the ballot (not counting 1996 charter members and some historical inductees).

 

Never saw that link before.

 

So, neither have ever been on the ballot. That is crazy to me. Neither are locks, but they are better picks than some on there.

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