2019 Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame

[elliott]

23 hours ago, Al said:

Funny, I was thinking about female HOF candidates just a couple days ago. There are eleven women in the WON HOF. Ten of those are joshi, the other is Mildred Burke. The last woman elected was Aja Kong in 2006. It has struck me as odd that while nearly all the women in are joshi, there hasn't been any others seriously considered. Logic would suggest that if there were ten deserving inductees, surely there were a bunch more on the cusp? 

 

So to tie this in with Elliott's post. Regardless of whether they're actually deserving of induction, who would you rate as the five best candidates not yet in the WON HOF? If you don't think Kandori and Kudo are HOFers, are they still your one and two? And a second side question. If no American women are in your top five, who is your best candidate?

So you don't need to open a tab and double check. Currently In: Akira Hokuto, Dump Matsumoto, Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka, Bull Nakano, Aja Kong, Devil Masami, Jaguar Yokota, Manami Toyota, Jackie Sato, Mildred Burke

 

Realistically, there are some fairly interesting candidates out there who aren't slam dunk candidates but are interesting in a world where Pillman, Hall, & Nash are getting added to the ballot and folks like Satomura & Hayabusa pull in enough votes to stay on the ballot.

I remember years ago, jdw would always point to Kyoko Inoue as someone who might "deserve a shot at the ballot" and would always compare her to Arn Anderson. I don't think John would call Kyoko a strong candidate and its probable he was using the comparison to dig at Arn more so than advocate Kyoko. But now its not Arn Anderson anymore its "Arn, Tully & JJ" and Dave's adding Brian Pillman to the ballot. So I think there's room for more borderline Joshi candidates.

Maki Ueda, Sato's partner in the Beauty Pair and The Black Pair (Yumi Ikeshita & Shinobu Aso) strike me as strong candidates, but I won't pretend I've done any significant research. I just know these were the big names in the 70s and AJW would run Budokan on occasion back then. Given that Sato went in the 1996 class by fiat, it seems like her tag team partner & their top rivals deserve a look.

Jumbo Miyamoto?

I would like to know more about Yukai Ohmori in general. I think she's awesome in the matches I've seen, but I don't know how valuable she was to the promotion compared to her 80s Peers. Although, she did win the 1986 AJW Grand Prix beating out Chigusa, Lioness & Dump. Additionally Ohmori & young Hokuto finished 2nd in the 86 Tag League behind Chigusa & Hotta. She also had a 400+ day long run with the WWWA Title in 86/87

Megumi Kudo & Shinobu Kandori seem like the obvious missing names from the 90s Interpromotional Era and Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki would seem to be right behind them.

Actually Yumiko Hotta might be interesting to think about because she was well positioned for a long time. She finished 3rd in the 1987 Grand Prix ahead of Lioness & Devil & 2nd in 1988 (losing to Bull in the finals). In the 90s, Hotta won the 1994 & 1999 Grand Prix & was runner-up in 1990, 93 & 95.  So during the Joshi Interpromotional Era Hotta's placement in AJW's signature singles tournament was: 2, 1, 2. Hotta had 3 longish runs with the WWWA title but it was post Prime Joshi era. She also has a Tag League win & runner up finish in the 80s and then a win & runner up finish in the 90s.

Based on "Arn & Tully & JJ" and the fact that their specific run together was like 18 months before Arn & Tully jumped to WWF, the Jumping Bomb Angels & LCO seem like viable candidates.

I don't know enough about Maki Ueda & the Black Pair to feel comfortable doing a ranked a top 5. But If I could include 5 act's to the ballot, it would be Ueda, Black Pair, Kudo, Kandori and the Jumping Bomb Angels. Although, I suspect Miyamoto belongs on that list, I just don't know anything about her.

I don't know enough about territorial era women's wrestling to pick. Surely there's got to be some candidates? June Byers? I don't think Trish is a terrible candidate to be perfectly honest.