2022 Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame Class Revealed

Wrestling Observer

The 2022 Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame has been revealed, with the panel using a different balloting system.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required) confirmed the entries on December 9 2022, stating that the panel had voted the following into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame:

All Japan tag team stars Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada

CMLL star Mistico

New Japan stars Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito

Los Villanos from Mexico

Rollerball Mark Rocco, a star who changed the in-ring style in the U.K. and was part of the junior heavyweight boom in Japan as the original Black Tiger, a top rival for the first Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama.

Also added into the Hall of Fame this year were two of the leading promoters of all-time, Lou Daro and Johnny Doyle.

Meltzer explained the rationale behind the balloting method, compared to what Wrestling Observer had done in the past, saying:

“This was a different type of balloting as in the past.

“We introduced a number of tag teams to the ballot, and they were believed to be the strongest candidates.

“Because of this, and because there are so many different people on the ballot, we changed voting from ten to 18 maximum, but also maximized five people in each category (U.S. & Canada historical, U.S. & Canada modern, Japan, Mexico, Rest of the World and Non-Wrestlers) aside from U.S. and Canada historical we had eight because we figured with all the tag team added on, that five wouldn’t be enough.

“It was an experiment.

“The conclusion is that adding all of those tag teams in the historical category wound up with none getting voted in, even with increasing the votes.

“Argentina Rocca & Miguel Perez, who should have been sure things, ended up with 57 percent, nine votes shy of making it.

“Being it was their first year on the ballot, hopefully this mistake will be rectified in time, as historically has usually ended up being the case.

“The clear issue is with so many good candidates in the historical category, it worked against everyone in that category.”

Quotes from Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

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