I agree it’s not clear who votes. It’s whomever Dave wants to vote.
I also doubt a lot of them (outside of some AEW talent) care that much.
Certainly anyone in WWE probably doesn’t
There isn’t a real ceremony, no rings or physical space or any cash.
You figure they would try to do something but I suspect it’s more a money play from Dave to sell subscriptions than anything else.
That being said it’s more legit than the WWE Hall with Koko
These same voters haven’t put Roman Reigns or Randy Orrin into the hall of fame. If they are eligible and not getting in it kind of seems silly. Even Edge.
It’s a little biased against WWE. Like you can sell out stadiums in the main event and it doesn’t matter. But if you sell out a 3000 seat arena in Japan you are a draw and get in.
Like Ishii probably gets in this year. Great wrestler with great matches.
never a champion
Never has sold anything out or moved tickets on his own
Never the top guy
Yet he will get in over Edge or Randy and Roman.
It’s much more about match quality and honouring those the WWE hall of fame won’t I feel
It seems to be different voting pools for different regions. Ishii doesn’t get in over Edge, they’re almost 2 different categories (if I’m reading this correctly).
Ironically, you could argue this is precisely what they should be doing for women to increase female representation. You don’t want this to turn into tokenism and I fully agree with that. Much like baseball - make it so you’re not obligated to use all those spots so only those that truly separate them from the masses get in.
I’m not entirely sure the voting process, but I’ve heard Dave on his podcast mentioned how he what rank is Ishii above edge and Randy Orton and possibly Roman reigns in terms of hall of fame potential.
The problem is he he’s the guy who runs the Hall of Fame and he’s often on his podcast giving his views. So while good journalist like John etc. will be fine by this, I’m sure there’s knuckleheads out there that just wanna carry favour with him and are influenced by what he says.
Either way I completely disagree that Ishii is a bigger Hall of Famer than Edge or Roman or Randy Orton, when you consider anything but match quality.
In my opinion, match quality shouldn’t matter that much. This is a business about drawing money and is performing art. If you can draw a lot of money and sell out stadiums and have a big presence and sell a lot of merchandise I think you’re a Hall of Famer by that companies standards more than a guy who puts on great matches alone.
Like I’m pretty sure if you trade Roman reigns for Ishii - whe new Japan makes that deal every day of the week. So it to me is more valuable
I think the thing to remember is this is just a newsletter’s Hall of Fame. It only carries the clout that we give it. Yes Dave has cultivated and developed an audience and they will likely have ideological commonalities and the voters may adopt a bit of a hive mindset or wish to participate in an echo chamber to please Dave.
That being said,
Is it really that different to if John and Wai started their own HOF. I’m sure we’d find that John & Wai’s stated preferences would share many of the votes (heck, look at the Best of/Worst of most years and the comments seem to want to swim with the stream rather than against it).
Regarding geographic region, Wikipedia states To gain membership in the hall, potential inductees must receive 60% support on the ballots from their geographic region. I know I haven’t cited the most reliable of sources and I absolutely take your point on Dave’s comments from his podcast on board.
I also dont really get this. 20 years ago it made sense, but I feel that in 2023 journalists who live in the US should be able to vote on performers from Japan. Most wrestling journalists follow New Japan, NOAH etc. We are out of the tape trading days.
Y’all are burying the lede with all this jibber jabber. Who are we nominating to the Post Wrestling Hall of Fame this year? There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason with any other wrestling HOF, so I’m going with Shorty G.
If it’s the inaugural class, it’s Scott Putski going in solo. He’s our Andre.
I mean I don’t think I’d vote for anyone still active. Like ppl that voted Nakamura in mid NJPW run, should they have? Prob wouldn’t today. I like it better as a panel rather then on old man deciding lol
Nakamura being a hall of famer over Edge is downright criminal
Triple H was inducted in 2005. Sting didn’t get in until 2016. The process is flawed.
EDIT: and if Triple H was a Hall of Famer in 2005, then Orton and Reigns not being in by now is absurd.
Since you tagged me bringing this topic up again I think it’s helpful to look back and see who actually did go in the HoF in 2022
Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue
Mistico
Kota Ibushi
Tetsuya Naito
Los Villianos I - IV (I-III posthumous)
Marc Rocco (posthumous)
Lou Daro (posthumous)
Johnny Doyle (posthumous)
Congratulations to them all and I’m sure that they appreciate the recognition for their work which is well deserved.
But you can’t look at that list and say it does a good job honoring and recognizing the work from anyone in North America. Over the past few years it’s become the Japanese online hall of fame.
Again, no Trish Stratus, CM Punk, Reigns, Orton, etc who have had long careers as proven quality in-ring workers and massive draws watched by millions of people every week.
Yeah, thinking back about it now, you made good points regarding the careers of people between the big two companies in North America. And forgive me for tagging you. lmao I just feel like it’s a good discussion to have at least.
It’s just dumb.
The argument is always match quality, but like what match quality did Hogan have? Wrestling isn’t about match quality it’s about drawing fans and money.
To argue that Edge Randy Orton hasn’t drawn more money and main event we more shows and sold mor merch than the majority of these Japanese people is absolutely stupid
The Hall of Fame is heavily biased towards Japan, because Dave likes Japanese wrestling. Dave believes Suzuki has the greatest entrance of all time. He routinely travels to Japan to watch wrestle kingdom yet can’t be bothered to go to wrestlemania. Whether he admits it, but he won’t and will fight you on Twitter if you suggest it, or not, he has bias. And that bias leaks out in his podcast and as such influences people voting. Not everyone, but it definitely influences some.
He let it slip on one of his pods texted Tony one time when the end of the Toni storm match wasn’t on TV. I mean that’s some clear bias He’s not texting Triple H or Vince if you he sees something on the WWE show.
What’s the story with Scott Putski. I always hear the “Scott Putski, really put together” (I think) clip on the Rewind A Wai intro and have no idea why.
The first ever Review-a-Wai (year?) was WWF Ground Zero 97, which was Putski’s only WWF PPV. His appearance (see photo) led to the guys handing out the Scott Putski Award for the best (usually “enhanced”) physique on ensuing Review-a-Wai podcasts.
Respectfully, I think there’s a concept that’s still being overlooked. It’s not WWE HOF logic that says you must induct X number of persons per year. It’s Baseball Hall of Fame logic. They have to pass the threshold. So it’s not that Nakamura gets in because he’s superior to Edge it’s that 60% of Japanese based voters came to a consensus whereas North American voters can’t seem to get on the same page.
But how is that better? That’s even stupider. You shouldn’t be a hall of famer because you compete in Japan where there are less candidates so people get more votes.
That’s like saying you should let Russian Basketball league players into a hall of fame because they have like 3 good players
If they are good enough they belong in the hall of fame. Period. End of discussion. It shouldnt matter what country they are from, the number of voters or the number of wrestlers/athletes in that area.
And Suzuki’s entrance is top tier. Legit. Confirmed.
Dr. Patel, this is a gross oversimplification. I assume its to remove bias (I don’t know his readership analytics but let’s assume). If 2/3 of his readership is in the United States/North America then there’s going to be a bias (unconscious or not) for that style of wrestling/that location. This removes that concept.
I suppose its similar to the Hockey Hall of Fame starting to honour women’s hockey players in the last 10-15 years. No-one is saying that Hayley Wickenheiser is a better hockey player straight-up than Keith Tkachuk but she is fundamentally important to the growth of hockey to a specific demographic (in this case women) - the same is being said about Japanese wrestlers. It places people against their peers.
This is to prevent a western-bias against people who never saw Japanese wrestlers from freezing them out. Conversely, the 60% rule ensures that the entrant is truly a cut above this peer group. If I can again compare it to how baseball runs its Hall of Fame: some years baseball inducts 5 players, some years it inducts 0 players but it ensures that those who get in deserve to be there.