(been working on this post off and on for a couple weeks. Hope it holds together.)
The ballots for this year’s Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame are out. It’s the closest thing to a legit hall of fame. I am not so interested in hall of fames for a lot of the same reason I decided I wasn’t much interested in awards this year. It’s often junk food history, which isn’t even a problem itself until people start treating it like a real meal. I’d like to have some history with some real meat. (Also, the whole Ron Santo/Baseball Hall of Fame thing.) Wisely, the rest of the world goes on without my weird thoughts about things, so this hall of fame still exists and is generally respected.
Yet: I have a vote this year, for the first time ever. Since I find this situation weird, I thought I’d make it weirder by soliciting opinions from readers about where my vote should go. There are a lot of people smarter than me reading this (smart enough not to be the one writing this), and I could stand to learn a bit more from you. I’m restricting my votes to the luchadors on the ballot; I have followed US wrestling, but I don’t know/care enough about the older guys to have a balanced and well thought out ballot.
This is how the ballot is explained:
The basic criteria for the Hall of Fame is a combination of drawing power, being a great in-ring performer as well as having historical significance in a positive manner. A candidate should have something to offer in all three categories, or be someone so strong in one or two of those categories that they deserve inclusion.
The names listed below are those under considerable for this year. To be eligible, a performer must have reached their 35th birthday and completed ten years since their debut as a full-time performer, or someone who has been a full-time pro wrestler for at least 15 years.
Longevity should be a prime consideration rather than a hot two or three year run, unless someone is so significant as a trend-setter in the business, or valuable to the industry, that they should be included. However, just longevity, without being either a long-term main eventer, a top draw and/or top caliber worker should be seen as relatively meaningless.
There are ten lucha candidates. As I’ve gone thru them, there seems to be three groups: those who’s careers ended before lucha libre TV in Mexico was a factor, those who became TV stars but who’s best matches are likely to have gone untaped, and those who’s careers have mostly be on TV.