Hall of Fame

[Justin Crast]

Five wrestlers that most deserve to be in:

The Destroyer - awesome worker, very over, staple of Southern California

Jim Londos - As far as sustained drawing power over a long period of time, no one touches him.

Ed Lewis - He, Billy Sandow, and Toots Mondt were the most powerful trio in pro-wrestling during much of the 20s, lived in SoCal and was very famous in the area.

Georgeous George - Most recognizable wrestler during the late 40s and 50s, headlined the GOA weekly, "Hollywood" and George always associated with one another

Hijo del Santo - my modern pick, just recently drew an overflowing crowd to FMLL's Compton show, his match vs Negro Casas at the Olympic in 1987 is legendary for both its quality and the amount of people they packed into the auditorium.

Other mentions -

Joe Stecher
Sandor Szabo
John Tolos
Bobo Brazil
Mil Mascaras


A promoter that deserves it:

Lou Daro - the most successful promoter in LA history, period.

Others -

Gene LeBell
Mike LeBell
Jules Strongbow

One ref:

Johnny Dugan - reffed all over the world and was the most recognizable one of them all, certainly most well known in SoCal

Others:

El Indo

Announcer that deserves it:

Dick Lane - voice of the GOA

Others:

Jimmy Lennon (ring announcer)

Those are my early thoughts.

Justin

[Steve Yohe]

I agree 100% with Justin. These are good choices. There are a lot more but these are the major ones.

IM knew at this site and IM wondering how the voting for the HOF works. I haven't seen that explained yet. It seems people are eliminated too easily. Example: Gordman & Goliath. They probably deserve to be in as a tag team, not over people like The Destroyer, Blassie & Londos, but at some point they should be in.

Ive got other questions, like: who is Steve? Is Justin Crast a real name? Anyway, I like this site. I need a local board to keep me in touch with what's going on in LA wrestling. IM a old guy but miss seeing live wrestling.--Steve Yohe

[Steve]

The voting is sort of based on the Baseball Hall of Fame voting. We will send out ballots and the voters will be allowed to make up to 10 choices on the ballots. To be inducted you must be named on 60% of the returned ballots. So if we send out 100 ballots, and only 10 get returned, someone would need to be named on 6 ballots to be inducted.

As for people being eliminated, they are not permenently eliminated, just for this year. The reason for that is they were nominated last year and didn't appear on at least 10% of ther ballots. It's just a measure to keep the number of nominees down. Next year they will be eligible again and we will have a new batch that is ineligible, unless the system gets further tweaked.

I'm Steve. I'm not sure what you want to know about me. I discovered indies in 98, when I came across a flyer for CCW. I enjoyed the shows so much I couldn't get enough and started going to shows all over SoCal. CCW's webpage was rarely updated so I called them one day to ask if I could help. That lead to me doing their site and doing other things in CCW. Talking to Lonnie Hill one day we decided to start up SCU because we wanted a forum where people could discuss wrestling in SoCal that wasn't moderated by people who worked for different promotions. Justin Crast is a real name also. If you want any other information just send me an email and I'd be glad to help.

Steve

[Rev]

Here's what I remember.

The actual voting for the Hall of Fame is done by the HoF committee. At last year's election it was..

Curators & Site Founders: Steve Bryant & Lonnie Hill
(This is the Steve of whom you ask, Yohe)

Honorary Chairman: 'Big Hardcore' Cincinatti Red (wrestler/trainer)

Committee Members:
Justin Crast (fan & analyst)
Aaron Hassan (referee & former promoter)
Adam Marantz (retired referee)
Jason Peters aka Primetime Peterson(wrestler)
T.L. Swineford aka Scott Mercutio/Richards (ring announcer)
Joe Seanoa aka Samoa Joe(wrestler)
Jon Talwar (then fan/current wrestler)

I don't know if the members will stay the same or not, but I think Steve Yohe does deserve a spot on the list.

[CALIFORNIA OBSERVER]

as a long time reader of the OBSERVER ...I think YOHE should be in...I started getting the Wrestling Observer in 86( maybe 87) and YOHE has been reading and writing letters since then if not longer.....HEY STEVE YOHE....RESPOND WITH THE FACTS !!!

[Steve Yohe]

Yes, IM that Steve Yohe...a creation of Dave Meltzer. I would like to hang around this site. I think you guys can teach me something about local independent wrestling. Being as old as I am, IM out of touch. A few months ago I was invited up to SF for The King of the Ring shows and really enjoyed it. Would like to see more but need a site like this to keep me informed.---Yohe

[Justin Crast]

I agree with Yohe being in any wrestling HOF. If not for him, J Michael Kenyon, John Williams, Don Luce, Scott Teal and unfortunately few others, pro-wrestling wouldn't have a history. So many press releases, news articles, and information from the past has been found and recorded for us to learn from.

Frank Sexton and Sandor Szabo probably wouldn't be in the WON HOF if not for their work. Sexton became a reletively forgotten name from the 40s even though he was one of the top draws while Szabo was the top star in Southern California for years, but similarly lacked the recognition guys like Lou Thesz, Georgeous George, and Buddy Rogers had, most likely due to the press they received on the East Coast in addition to West Coast.

We would probably take Marcus Griffin's "Fall Guys" book word for word, same with Lou Thesz' "Hooker", if not for these historians work to show us innaccuracies in the novels. I'll add Dave Meltzer to the list as he not only pioneered a new type of reporting in the business but also helped bring much of these wrestling historians' work to a wider audience by publishing their letters and news in his newsletter throughout the years.

Justin