November 20, 2023 Observer Newsletter: 2023 Hall of Fame issue

The 2023 class of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame adds seven new members in a year where there were no blowaway vote-getters but a number of people who barely made it, and a few who came close.

The top vote-getters were Argentina Rocca & Miguel Perez, who one could make a strong case were the biggest drawing tag team in pro wrestling history. Rocca & Perez only had a few-year run on top, basically the extension of the Rocca era which started as a single. During their era tag team wrestling headlined Madison Square Garden almost every month, and drew large crowds and frequent sellouts.

While one can argue the Road Warriors were the top-drawing tag team ever due to a longer tenure and that they drew all over the world, I would make that argument, being No. 2 in history and the only tag team in history that was ever the No. 1 draw in the world (in both 1958 and 1959) to me made them a slam dunk no-brainer pick. They barely missed last year. I considered that a strong negative regarding voting and many felt, probably correctly, that it showed that his ballot wasn’t fair to people pre-1965 or 1970. But with Rocca & Perez and George Kidd getting in, it is getting better.

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