The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame welcomes four new members in the class of 2016, with Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan, Gene Okerlund and Sting being voted in, and 19th century pioneer James McLaughlin, generally considered the first American pro wrestling champion, also being added.
To get into the Hall of Fame, you have to get 60 percent of the vote from various geographical regions. If a wrestler fails to get elected 15 years after being put on the ballot, they must garner 50 percent of the votes or be removed from the ballot. A person who gets less than 10 percent of the vote any year is eliminated from the ballot the next year.
A wrestler is eligible for the ballot 15 years after the start of their major league career, or turns 35 and has been an active pro wrestler for at least ten years.
Wrestlers are supposed to be judged based on four major criteria: positive historical influence on the business; drawing power; in-ring ability as well as longevity. A wrestler should have all of those, but if they were among the true dominant standout performers of their era in one or two of those categories, they should also be put in. But longevity, without being a major draw, worker or being a major historical figure should be seen as meaningless. For non-wrestlers, they need to be among the elite of their era in their specific profession.
Danielson, 35, made it in his second year on the ballot. Clearly his retirement made the difference as people sometimes don’t vote for people whose careers are still in progress (not that many haven’t gotten in while full-time and active), particularly for someone who really only had a few years with true national spotlight. Danielson becomes the first wrestler where the majority of his career was spent on the independent scene, although he did end up as the most popular wrestler in WWE in 2014 and defied all odds in being the star of WrestleMania 30, given his size and the way he was pushed when he first started with the company.
Danielson finished first among reporters, second among historians, 11th among retired wrestlers and 7th among active wrestlers.
Unfortunately, it appears his career ended prematurely due to a number of concussions, and a lesion found on his brain that caused WWE to make the decision not to allow him to wrestle. He remains a key figure in the promotion as the General Manager of Smackdown and star of “Talking Smack,” where he gets about as honest as you possibly can within a storyline WWE environment.
Danielson is generally considered as one of the best in-ring performers of this generation. Perhaps even more than his wrestling ability is his influence changing the genre at the top level of the WWE and to an being a pioneer to the modern independent scene. His success changed the very way WWE looks at talent, and some of the top stars today would not have even been signed by WWE based on the previous mindset of what a star looks like.
He also reached the top, even though many times he was booked to fail. He became the classic example of a vocal audience rejecting company booking.
Danielson was actually signed by WWF at the age of 19, but cut 18 months later when the Memphis developmental territory he was working at folded. At one point he was nearly brought to the main roster as a cruiserweight. After being cut, he still did some WWE enhancement work in that era on television. Being cut was the best thing to happen to him, because in 2001, largely at the prodding of Nick Bockwinkel, he was put over in the King of Indies tournament. Gabe Sapolsky, Doug Gentry and Rob Feinstein watched a videotape of the tournament and saw the talent and that was the impetus to form Ring of Honor in 2002, where Danielson was immediately one of the signature stars. He was also a successful junior heavyweight star in both Pro Wrestling NOAH and New Japan, and had a long run as ROH champion in 2005 and 2006, working through a series of major injuries.
He signed with WWE in 2009, and was given the name Daniel Bryan,
a name chosen by William Regal, who Bryan usually calls his main mentor and trainer, even though his first training and matches came with Shawn Michaels’ school and promotion right out of high school. In his first major break, as part of the Nexus angle, because he choked Justin Roberts with Roberts’ tie as part of one of the great modern WWE angles, he was fired. He was about to sign a contract
To get into the Hall of Fame, you have to get 60 percent of the vote from various geographical regions. If a wrestler fails to get elected 15 years after being put on the ballot, they must garner 50 percent of the votes or be removed from the ballot. A person who gets less than 10 percent of the vote any year is eliminated from the ballot the next year.
A wrestler is eligible for the ballot 15 years after the start of their major league career, or turns 35 and has been an active pro wrestler for at least ten years.
Wrestlers are supposed to be judged based on four major criteria: positive historical influence on the business; drawing power; in-ring ability as well as longevity. A wrestler should have all of those, but if they were among the true dominant standout performers of their era in one or two of those categories, they should also be put in. But longevity, without being a major draw, worker or being a major historical figure should be seen as meaningless. For non-wrestlers, they need to be among the elite of their era in their specific profession.
Danielson, 35, made it in his second year on the ballot. Clearly his retirement made the difference as people sometimes don’t vote for people whose careers are still in progress (not that many haven’t gotten in while full-time and active), particularly for someone who really only had a few years with true national spotlight. Danielson becomes the first wrestler where the majority of his career was spent on the independent scene, although he did end up as the most popular wrestler in WWE in 2014 and defied all odds in being the star of WrestleMania 30, given his size and the way he was pushed when he first started with the company.
Danielson finished first among reporters, second among historians, 11th among retired wrestlers and 7th among active wrestlers.
Unfortunately, it appears his career ended prematurely due to a number of concussions, and a lesion found on his brain that caused WWE to make the decision not to allow him to wrestle. He remains a key figure in the promotion as the General Manager of Smackdown and star of “Talking Smack,” where he gets about as honest as you possibly can within a storyline WWE environment.
Danielson is generally considered as one of the best in-ring performers of this generation. Perhaps even more than his wrestling ability is his influence changing the genre at the top level of the WWE and to an being a pioneer to the modern independent scene. His success changed the very way WWE looks at talent, and some of the top stars today would not have even been signed by WWE based on the previous mindset of what a star looks like.
He also reached the top, even though many times he was booked to fail. He became the classic example of a vocal audience rejecting company booking.
Danielson was actually signed by WWF at the age of 19, but cut 18 months later when the Memphis developmental territory he was working at folded. At one point he was nearly brought to the main roster as a cruiserweight. After being cut, he still did some WWE enhancement work in that era on television. Being cut was the best thing to happen to him, because in 2001, largely at the prodding of Nick Bockwinkel, he was put over in the King of Indies tournament. Gabe Sapolsky, Doug Gentry and Rob Feinstein watched a videotape of the tournament and saw the talent and that was the impetus to form Ring of Honor in 2002, where Danielson was immediately one of the signature stars. He was also a successful junior heavyweight star in both Pro Wrestling NOAH and New Japan, and had a long run as ROH champion in 2005 and 2006, working through a series of major injuries.
He signed with WWE in 2009, and was given the name Daniel Bryan,
a name chosen by William Regal, who Bryan usually calls his main mentor and trainer, even though his first training and matches came with Shawn Michaels’ school and promotion right out of high school. In his first major break, as part of the Nexus angle, because he choked Justin Roberts with Roberts’ tie as part of one of the great modern WWE angles, he was fired. He was about to sign a contract
