Chronological Order For Future Inductees

[dd23beatlesfan1]

I'm really ecstatic to see momentum building on here for the old school wrestlers. Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers, Rikidozan, El Santo, Frank Gotch, Bill Longson, Bruno Sammartino, Gorgeous George, and others are building momentum and getting more discussion for early induction. This is awesome.

I want people to know that I don't automatically think the old school wrestlers are better than the modern wrestlers. I don't necessarily think that at all. I just have a very chronological sense and philosophy with HOF inductions, thus I feel that the old school wrestlers, at least the best ones should be inducted before the best of the modern eras (Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and Andre the Giant being exceptions).

But with that said, I thought it would be interesting to select from certain eras and promotions and even countries on the top 10 deserving HOF candidates in each of those categores, and then rank them in the order that I feel they should be inducted. Feel free to discuss and critique my lists and add your own. Let's begin shall we?


Really, Really, Old School Wrestlers (1890's-1940's)

1. Frank Gotch
2. Ed "Strangler" Lewis
3. Jim Londos
4. George Hackenschmidt
5. William Muldoon
6. Martin "Farmer" Burns
7. Joe Stecher
8. Earl Caddock
9. Stainslaus Zbyszko
10. Ed Don George


Old School Wrestlers (1940's-1960's)

1. Lou Thesz
2. Bruno Sammartino
3. Buddy Rogers
4. Gorgeous George
5. Verne Gagne
6. Antonio "Argentina" Rocca
7. Freddie Blassie
8. Bobo Brazil
9. The Sheik
10. Killer Kowalski


NWA Wrestlers (1960's-1980's)

1. Ric Flair
2. Harley Race
3. Terry Funk
4. Dusty Rhodes
5. Gene Kiniski
6. Dory Funk Jr.
7. Jack Brisco
8. Ricky Steamboat
9. Wahoo McDaniel
10. Johnny Valentine


AWA Wrestlers (1960's-1980's)

1. Nick Bockwinkel
2. Ray Stevens
3. Mad Dog Vachon
4. Dick the Bruiser
5. Crusher
6. Billy Robinson
7. Baron Von Rasche
8. Larry "The Ax" Hennig
9. Dick Murdoch
10. Wilbur Snyder


Independent Wrestlers/Other Territory Wrestlers (1970's/1980's)

1. Stan Hansen
2. Bruiser Brody
3. Jerry Lawler
4. Abdullah the Butcher
5. Eddie Graham
6. Pat Patterson
7. Fritz Von Erich
8. Jackie Fargo
9. Bill Watts
10. Carlos Colon


Old School WWF Wrestlers (1970's/1980's)

1. Hulk Hogan
2. Andre the Giant
3. Bob Backlund
4. Superstar Billy Graham
5. Pedro Morales
6. Rowdy Roddy Piper
7. Macho Man Randy Savage
8. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
9. The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase
10. Jake the Snake Roberts


WWF Wrestlers (1990's)

1. Bret Hart
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
3. Shawn Michaels
4. The Undertaker
5. The Rock
6. Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig
7. Mick Foley
8. Triple H
9. The Ultimate Warrior
10. Kane


WWE Wrestlers (2000's)

1. Chris Jericho
2. Kurt Angle
3. Eddie Guerrero
4. John Cena
5. Edge
6. Chris Benoit
7. Rey Mysterio
8. Randy Orton
9. The Big Show
10. Batista


WCW Wrestlers (1980's/1990's)

1. Sting
2. Vader
3. Lex Luger
4. Rick Rude
5. Ron Simmons
6. Brian Pillman
7. Goldberg
8. Diamond Dallas Page
9. Booker T
10. Scott Steiner


ECW Wrestlers

1. Rob Van Dam
2. Raven
3. Tazz
4. Tommy Dreamer
5. Sabu
6. Shane Douglas
7. Bam Bam Bigelow
8. The Sandman
9. Mike Awesome
10. Rhyno


Japanese Wrestlers

1. Rikidozan
2. Antonio Inoki
3. Giant Baba
4. Jumbo Tsuruta
5. Tiger Mask
6. Tatsumi Fujinami
7. Riki Choshu
8. Keiji Muto (The Great Muta)
9. Jushin "Thunder" Liger
10. Mitsuharu Misawa


Mexican Wrestlers

1. El Santo
2. Gori Guerrero
3. Blue Demon
4. Black Shadow
5. Rayo del Jalisco Sr.
6. Mil Mascaras
7. Canek
8. El Solitario
9. Perro Aguayo
10. Dos Caras


I'm not going to count TNA and Ring of Honor as I'm not near knowledgable enough on ROH, nor do I think wrestlers from ROH, nor TNA for that matter are "classic" enough to be in a HOF.

 

[The Prodigal Anti-Lemming]

While a great many wrestling enthusiasts will argue that the qualitative assessment of ranking wrestling greats from era to era in order of greatest to least greatest cannot be done due to the vast array of ring styles and “what being a top wrestler meant,” so to speak, from period to period...I would argue that it can be done.

I’ve even established a logical method in appraising the accomplishments of the ring greats and comparing them objectively.

So how does one compare the ring accomplishments of a Frank Gotch to the stardom of a Hulk Hogan? Well, I’m glad you asked!! My system of criteria focuses on comparing wrestlers in terms of commonalities that link the sport from era to era. Included in my criteria are the following:

—Drawing power
—Overall impact on the industry
—Mainstream visibility
—Championship success
—Longevity
—Caliber of wins
—International dominance
—Wrestling ability/workrate

In terms of structuring the rankings I prefer to arrange it on a tier grouping system. To do this, it is necessary to judge the most dominant wrestler or wrestlers of a specific time frame using the range of criteria mentioned above. Those wrestlers get grouped in tier one. The next most dominant or visible names go in tier two, and so forth. Naturally, as an individual tier consists of only 25 wrestlers rather than one hundred, it then becomes far easier to rate them accordingly. It’s not as exact a science as I make it out to be, but I am adamant that this method is perhaps the only objective way to compare two wrestlers who seemingly have very little in common.

Keep in mind that the individual author’s personal perspective and biases may play a part in determining rankings within specific groups. Try to remember that before you slander me for ranking Flair ahead of Hogan...and please don’t complain if you haven’t heard of [insert name here]. Trust me, that individual is relevant to history, and there’s a great deal of info available on him if you know where to look. To those that believe I do a disservice to lucha libre by only including the top stars, you’re probably right. Mexican wrestling, as intriguing as it is, has never been my forte. Some of you may believe I am biased against modern wrestlers. I say, if your only qualification for a given athlete are that he was a great worker and he died young of an overdose, you desperately need to reevaluate your criteria.

This method is not foolproof, but is strictly a guideline.

 

[The Prodigal Anti-Lemming]

Here we go. Tier one consists of those wrestlers that were indisputably the biggest names of an era. These are the guys who drew incredibly well and/or had a permanent impact on shaping the business:

Tier 1

1) Ric Flair
2) Hulk Hogan
3) Lou Thesz
4) Steve Austin
5) Frank Gotch
6) Ed “the Strangler” Lewis
7) Rikidozan
8) El Santo
9) Shohei “Giant” Baba
10) Antonio Inoki
11) Triple-H
12) Buddy Rogers
13) Jim Londos
14) Kurt Angle
15) Bruno Sammartino
16) Gorgeous George
17) William Muldoon
18) Andre the Giant
19) Keiji Muto
20) Mitsuharu Misawa
21) Tiger Mask
22) Shawn Michaels
23) Bret Hart
24) Bill Longson
25) Mil Mascaras

 

[The Prodigal Anti-Lemming]

Tier two highlights those wrestlers that were dominant stars in their own right, but were debatably trapped in the shadow of a bigger star, or otherwise had some discernable flaw. These are the guys who might have had a major world championship reign, or in the case of the territories, been highly associated with a particular region, but were never the top star in the business as a whole during their respective prime.

Tier 2

26) Verne Gagne
27) Harley Race
28) George Hackenschmidt
29) Nick Bockwinkel
30) The Rock
31) Joe Stecher
32) Dusty Rhodes
33) Antonino Rocca
34) Kenta Kobashi
35) Perro Aguayo
36) Tatsumi Fujinami
37) Jushin “Thunder” Liger
38) Tom Jenkins
39) Riki Choshu
40) Sting
41) Jumbo Tsuruta
42) Randy Savage
43) Big Van Vader
44) Martin “Farmer” Burns
45) Dory Funk Jr
46) Roddy Piper
47) Stan Hansen
48) Bronko Nagurski
49) Bert Assirati
50) “Superstar” Billy Graham

 

[The Prodigal Anti-Lemming]

Tier three refers specifically to those individuals who were respectable draws. These wrestlers did not “define an era,” but still made themselves known. This also pertains to wrestlers that had a lesser, perhaps combined impact on changing the industry, but whose overall career accomplishments do not match up to the true greats.

Tier 3

51) Terry Funk
52) Abdullah the Butcher
53) Bobo Brazil
54) Blue Demon
55) The Great Gama
56) Gus Sonnenberg
57) Eddie Guerrero
58) Earl Caddock
59) Pedro Morales
60) Shinya Hashimoto
61) Toshiaki Kawada
62) The Sheik
63) Jerry Lawler
64) Ultimo Dragon
65) Fritz Von Erich
66) Fred Blassie
67) Killer Kowalski
68) Jack Brisco
69) Bruiser Brody
70) James H McLaughlin
71) Gene Kiniski
72) Ray Steele
73) The Undertaker
74) Mick Foley
75) Ricky Steamboat

 

[The Prodigal Anti-Lemming]

Tier four is comprised of wrestlers that did extraordinarily well, but never rose above a certain level in spite of the potential to do so. They attained a level of success above that of ninety percent of their peers, yet were merely great, not all-time great, and there was something uniquely defining that was lacking in them when compared to the true immortals.

Tier 4

76) Evan “the Strangler” Lewis
77) Steve “Crusher” Casey
78) John Pesek
79) Rey Misterio Jr
80) Mad Dog Vachon
81) AJ Styles
82) Stanislaus Zbyszko
83) Gory Guerrero
84) Pat O’Connor
85) Curt Hennig
86) Rick Rude
87) Ed Don George
88) Bob Backlund
89) Benjamin Franklin Roller
90) The Destroyer
91) Ted DiBiase
92) Chris Benoit
93) Greg Valentine
94) Karl Gotch
95) Dynamite Kid
96) John McMahon
97) Wahoo McDaniel
98) Johnny Valentine
99) Jimmy Snuka
100) Pat Patterson

 

[B.Ware]

Excellent thread, really enjoyed reading these suggestions. I posted something similar in the Speculation thread but in nowhere near as much detail. There's two things which I believe are worthy of a mention that have been overlooked here. 1.British/European wrestlers and 2.Promoters.

Guys like Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki, Mick Mcmanus and Big Daddy gave wrestling to millions of UK viewers on Saturday afternoons in the 60's/70's and 80's. They had a huge impact on UK audiences and were the bulding blocks for the WWF/E to be so commercially successful over here.

As for promoters, these guys are way too often overlooked. We wouldn't be having these conversations without them. The obvious ones being Vincent J and Vincent K McMahon. People like Jim Crockett, Stu Hart and Shoei Baba all deserve honourable mentions for creating talent and putting on the shows we all love and hate so much.

 

[The Prodigal Anti-Lemming]

My list of greats was specifically aimed at ranking wrestlers. Perhaps I could devise a similar method of ranking promoters. As far as putting any of them in the hall (Inoki, Baba and Rikidozan will likely get in there for their wrestling credentials rather than their promoting efforts), I’ve heard it stated somewhere that the Hall is only inducting wrestlers for now. Perhaps specific categories will be enacted in the future.

Thanks for the feedback. This site needs as many members with an appreciation of “the way things were” as possible, to hopefully contribute opinion to the Hall so that it’s not biased toward wrestlers that competed during our individual lifetimes.