The official 2024 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame ballot

General
1

First things first: Dave Meltzer doesn’t decide who gets inducted and hasn’t since the first class in 1996. It’s voted by wrestlers (today and old), reporters, and well reputed historians

Secondly: the voting criteria includes "historical significance, ability to attract viewers, and wrestling ability. Inductees must have at least 15 years of experience in the wrestling business or be over 35 years old and have 10 years of experience.

To gain membership in the hall, potential inductees must receive 60% support on the ballots from their geographic region. Any person that gets less than 10% of the vote is eliminated from the ballot. If a person fails to get inducted 15 years after being put on the ballot, they must get 50% of the vote or be eliminated."

Essentially, you might have at least two out of the three to be inducted by the majority of the voters. Or be extremely overwhelming in one.

Here is the official ballot now released courtesy of @WONHOFTracker on X:

HISTORICAL PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES

Ole Anderson
Afa & Sika Anoa’i
Bob Armstrong
Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson w/J.J. Dillon
British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith)
June Byers
Wild Bull Curry
Junkyard Dog
Cowboy Bob Ellis
Pampero Firpo
Black Gordman & Great Goliath
Archie “Mongolian Stomper” Gouldie
Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart)
Sputnik Monroe
Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch
Johnny Rougeau
Iron Sheik
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood
Mad Dog & Butcher Vachon
Kevin & Kerry & David Von Erich

MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES

Asuka/Kana
Mark & Jay Briscoe
The Young Bucks
Edge
Bill Goldberg
Samoa Joe
Matt & Jeff Hardy
Becky Lynch
Jon Moxley
Kevin Nash & Scott Hall
Paul Orndorff
Randy Orton
Kevin Owens
C.M. Punk
Roman Reigns
Cody Rhodes
Trish Stratus
Rick & Scott Steiner
Jimmy & Jey Uso
Sid Vicious
Bray Wyatt
Sami Zayn

JAPAN CANDIDATES

Cima
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Hayabusa
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi
Kento Miyahara
Zack Sabre Jr.
Meiko Satomura
Tiger Jeet Singh
Shingo Takagi
Yoshihiro Takayama
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada

MEXICO CANDIDATES

Angel Blanco & Dr. Wagner
Sangre Chicana
Psycho Clown
El Dandy
Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000)
Dorrell Dixon
Gran Hamada
El Hijo del Santo & Octagon
La Parka AAA
Huracan Ramirez
Mascarita Sagrada
Volador Jr.

EUROPE/AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/PACIFIC ISLANDS/AFRICA

Spyros Arion
Dominic DeNucci
George Gordienko
Billy Joyce
Killer Karl Kox
The Royal Brothers (Bert Royal & Vic Faulkner)
Johnny Saint
Adrian Street
Jose Tarres
Otto Wanz

NON-WRESTLERS

Dave Brown (U.S. & Canada modern)
Zane Bresloff (U.S.& Canada modern)
Bobby Bruns (Japan)
Bob Caudle (U.S. & Canada historical)
Bobby Davis (U.S. & Canada historical)
Joe Higuchi (Japan)
Jim Johnston (U.S. & Canada modern)
Larry Matysik (U.S.& Canada historical)
James Melby (U.S. & Canada historical)
Rossy Ogawa (Japan)
Reggie Parks (U.S. & Canada modern)
Morris Sigel (U.S. & Canada historical)
Tony Schiavone (U.S. & Canada modern)
George Scott (U.S. & Canada historical)
Kevin Sullivan (U.S. & Canada historical)
Mike Tenay (U.S. & Canada modern)
Ted Turner (U.S. & Canada modern)
Roy Welch (U.S. & Canada historical)
Stanley Weston (U.S. & Canada historical)
Grand Wizard (U.S & Canada historical)
Koichi Yoshizawa (Japan)

2

I listen to his show and he had some dumb ass Brit on who said he wasn’t gonna vote for Roman reigns. Immediately turned it off. If you don’t think Roman reigns is a Hall of Famer then you have brain damage.

3

A lot of ppl won’t vote for currently active performers. Would I vote for Reigns if anyone cared for my vote, sure! Wouldn’t vote for many still active though

4

Yes but this guy was just an idiot if you listen. Like he’s going on and on about people no one has cared about and then casually says he isn’t high on Roman after Dave says he’s a no brainer.

Just an idiot trying to get himself over by sounding smart talking about useless drivel. You know the type.

Look you can hate Roman for not getting over for a long time. But he’s been so huge for so many years (just look at the Summerslam pop) that you can’t deny he’s more hall of fame worthy than Sargent Slaughter or Ishii or someone whose already in

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5

I do like the idea of voting for current performers. The logic is simple. We’re living in their hottest period if they are hot. Cody Rhodes is likely the hottest he’ll ever be, so let’s recognize that.

What I do like is the desire to argue as to why someone shouldn’t be in, especially your own votes.

Cody Rhodes seems to have no argument against him. Roman’s argument is getting over through attriction but if you look past 2015 to 2019, it’s easy to see why he deserves it. The Young Bucks revolutionized tag team wrestling and how tag teams present themselves on the indies. The only argument against them is they are partly responsible for AEW’s current down period with the CM Punk issues. Punk also shares that responsibility, but like with the Bucks, his positives outweigh his negatives as far as being a draw, his matches and his influence.

Junkyard Dog is someone who was so over during his time on top in Mid South, I can see that as the extreme example of someone excelling in a particular field, despite not being the best wrestler.

I can’t vote in it but I’d like to look up more on Asuka. The Queen of Villians podcast Karen did showed some great perspective of Japanese women’s wrestling and Asuka came up post All Japan Women. I was originally a no on her but she might have a lot to her.

Lots of not yets in modern for me. I think Jon Moxley is good, but his drawing hasn’t been that good compared to Punk and Kenny Omega. Trish I don’t see as that influential and the matches are just ok. Owens and Zayn I would wait. Orton is a no. Bland style and wasn’t the draw Batista and Cena would be. I like Becky but also no unless things change. I would love to learn about other regions though.

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6

I’m not a fan of the young bucks, but you can’t deny that Cody Rhodes, the young Bucks and Roman reigns should be in. Out of them I just think you can’t deny Roman given.m the last few years.

Cody single-handedly changed the course of a wrestling war first by starting another company and secondly by essentially burying that company by moving to the opposition.

The Bucks have been the most dominant tag team for well overa decade and helped launched a new style of wrestling and a new company

I mean, like what is Ishii credentials? He has good matches? But doesn’t draw a dime and it never put in a position to be the top guy?

I don’t really get how people can overlook these three

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7

Ishii got in for excelling in his wrestling.

I was gonna compare Junkyard Dog to him with his drawing but I thought more about and how Dog is different. Dog getting over when the idea for black wrestlers was to be the black wrestler of the territory and that’s your spot. I remember when Rocky Johnson died and his obituary talked about all the territories he went to and if he was white, maybe he sticks around a territory for a longer period.

I guess when people think of excelling in a particular field, they only think of wrestling and not things like how significant it would be for someone like Junkyard Dog to do that during that time period. But maybe people not realizing it or the voters putting more stock into wrestling ability is what keeps him out and Ishii in.

I think the Ishii argument will be used for certain wrestlers, specifically the Briscoes. An incredible team with great matches but when ROH was at its hottest, it was off the backs of Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega.

8

Maybe I’m not as picky as the WON hall of fame voter but I look at that list of “modern USA” candidates and would vote for every single one. They have all at some point in their career been a huge draw with memorable matches, long term feuds and effective character changes that have entertained me throughout their careers. While themselves having excelled in challenging business environments and battling through pain and injuries for our entertainment.

With the criteria being so vague as being a draw with wrestling ability every single one of those candidates meet that criteria.

9

A true “shoot” wrestling Hall of Fame is damned near impossible, and WON is doing the yeoman’s work trying to be that. But these criteria read to me like a way to justify almost anybody getting in. Wrestling ability is subjective. Hell, “historical significance” is pretty subjective a part from a handful of guys (Hogan, Austin, Inoki… maybe 20 guys total where its an undisputed fact).

As long as you’re not putting James Ellsworth on the ballot, almost everybody below can be “ret-conned” into fitting the criteria if they get voted in.

10

I’ve always had an issue with active performers going in. Its one thing if you do a match from time to time (ie. Goldberg), but if you are still a regular performer, I feel you should not go in.

With that said, since this is not the rule, I agree with @Alex_Patel. Roman not being in kills any credibility the hall has IMO.

11

I think they do a good job of at least attempting. Historical significance is just one aspect. Another reason I like it is while it is subjective, the arguments are the fun part. With Roman Reigns, there is an argument against him. It might not be the most apt anymore, but it exists. There’s an argument against most of the people on the list, save for Cody Rhodes. I’m trying to figure out the argument against him, but the only one I’ve read was that he rode the coat tails of the Elite in ROH, but because he’s a great drawing WWE Champion, it’s reasonable to assume him being the best drawing ROH Champion ever had a lot more to do with Cody Rhodes than is imagined.

I do think that eventually, nostalgia will get people in. I don’t see Randy Orton going in, but 20 years from now, people will look back and be like, well, back in my day kids, we had wrestlers like Randy Orton and he did all this. I remember Sting in 2016 was a controversial one because at the time, he was never seen as the top draw in WCW. People look at others instead of him.

One problem as well is I think tribalism is the issue. So Punk, Roman, and the Young Bucks probably should be in, but there would be controversy because of who they are. Roman and the Young Bucks should have went in last year.

12

Am I right in assuming its that he was not over like he should have been when pushed down people’s throats during the Vince era, pre heel turn?

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13

Sting not getting in until 2016 was ridiculous.

What’s funny is, all of the people who argued against Sting would say that he was never on top when WCW was beating WWF and was never a draw. Same for Goldberg.

But as of right now, The Outsiders aren’t in. You know, two of the three guys who were absolutely on top when WCW was beating WWF.

And just knowing the Observer demographic, you know that same standard won’t be upheld when a bunch of AEW guys start (rightfully) getting inducted in the next decade or so.

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14

Yeah. I think what’s happening in WWE right now as far as buisness goes shows how bad it was when Roman was on top. Granted, Vince McMahon was the guy making the decisions, but Vince was also in charge of making the decisions during the 2020 to 2023 period where Vince did have decision making power. Apparently, Vince made the call for Roman to go over Cody at Wrestlemania 39.

WWE doing so well now compared to how bad popularity and attendance got really is a mark against the guy. I think it’s also an interesting discussion to have on who is and isn’t a Hall of Famer because at the end of the day, the booker man is making the call and Vince was that. Are guys a draw for them being a draw, or are they a draw because the booker said they were? And for 4 years, Roman was the top guy because Vince said he was and if Vince wanted Dolph Ziggler to be in that position, he was going to be in that position. I think that’s the biggest knock against him. Despite Roman doing so well, is it because he’s doing so well, or is it because the crowd finally gave up? Now granted, I do believe his heel stuff was great but as people pointed out earlier this year, he was the sidechick to The Rock for a time period.

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15

I think the best example of somebody who is not in the Observer HOF that sums up the intent of the criteria is The Ultimate Warrior. Was definitely a phenomenon for WWF fans for a short period, but wasn’t much in the territories, was never the top babyface even during his title run (though being #2 to Hogan isn’t bad), and really didn’t contribute anything positive to the business.

And that’s even overlooking the in-ring, because there are plenty of other guys inducted who don’t know a wrist lock from a wrist watch.

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16

Any non-wrestlers stick out to you guys? For me, would sure vote for Jim Johnston, Reggie Parks, Kevin Sullivan, Dave Brown, Tony Schaivone and Stanley Weston.

17

I used to listen to Kevin Sullivan’s podcast, Helluva Deal and the recent Poisonrana episode on Halloween Havoc reminded me a lot of it. Sully talked a lot about trying to get Hogan to trust him and the lengths he had to go to do that, which is what the Dungeon of Doom was. I’m not sure if this was before or after Halloween Havoc 95 but there is this promo with Hogan in a mask and a sword and its awful. But it’s right up the Hulkster’s alley.

It’s impressive to try and work around someone’s creative control. I also remember Keep it 2000 and how Russo would piss people off and they didn’t want to do anything. I think one time he wanted Chuck Palumbo to go over Lex Luger and Luger balked at it so Russo would have a fit. Sully was someone as a booker who would try to gain trust so if he wanted Chuck Palumbo to beat Lex Luger, he would get what he wanted.

As I say this, you can see issues. That Poisonrana episode really shows how bad fuck finishes can get on that show. Sully has to do gymnastics to try and keep everyone happy, to the point where he makes Tony Khan look like Vince McMahon or Bill Watts. Wrestlers in 2024 are so much better. It’s a miracle the NWO angle was able to happen.

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18

Ah yes. Another year, another sad denial of Hayabusa being inducted to WON HOF.
namztaes-sad

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19

Ted Turner. Maybe another “who really gets credit for what” scenario, but the guy started the show that beat Raw for some indeterminate number of weeks

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20

Pollock said that the voting ends this Friday. If I had a ballot of my own, these ones are who I would vote for personally.

MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA:
Paul Orndorff (which I’m confused as to why he’s in this category, I feel like he belongs in the historical)
Bill Goldberg
CM Punk
Cody Rhodes
Roman Reigns

HISTORICAL PERFORMERS:
Ole Anderson
British Bulldogs
Junkyard Dog
June Byers

JAPAN:
Hayabusa
Yoshihiro Takayama
Shingo Takagi

NON-WRESTLERS:
Dave Brown
Jim Johnston
Kevin Sullivan
Ted Turner
Larry Matysik
Stanley Weston