Steve's View #103
By Steve
Since we are currently in the process
of voting on the Southern California Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame,
I thought I'd go over my 2003 picks.
For those who aren't familiar with
the Hall of Fame, every year ballots are sent out with a list
of that year's nominees, and each voter can list up to 10 people
on their ballot. This year to be inducted you have be listed on
at least 60% of returned ballots. Here are the ten I listed on
my ballot in no particular order.
El Hijo del Santo - To me
he is the only active wrestler who should make it in this year.
His list of accomplishments in wrestling, and in SoCal are amazing.
He drew over 1,000 people to the Anaheim Marketplace for a match
versus Misterioso and he had a legendary match with Negro Casas
at the Olympic in 1987 that was a sell out (or near sell out).
He is still the number one draw in Southern California and still
has tremendous matches.
John Tolos - Maybe the best
heel in Southern California history. He was also involved in arguably
the biggest feud in Southern California history, which lead to
the biggest show in Southern California history. His feuds with
Hall of Famers Blassie and Mil Mascaras are legendary. He really
should have made it in two years ago, and it would be a crime
if he doesn't make it in this year. If I only had one vote it
would be Tolos.
Lou Daro - The most successful
promoter in Southern California history. With Toots Mondt he brought
Jim Londos to SoCal for one of the most successful runs in SoCal
history, with huge money making events for the time. Because Daro
was around in a time without a whole lot of recorded history (at
least that's available to most) it isn't likely that he'll be
voted in this year, but if any promoter deserves to be in it's
him.
Jim Londos - Aside from Ray
Steele, the first big star in SoCal, and the man who is most credited
with really creating the scene out here in the 1930's. The first
California World Champion.
Lou Thesz - There isn't really
enough that can be said about Lou Thesz. One of the biggest stars
in SoCal, and wrestling history. By the time he could be considered
a Southern California regular, and not just a big name making
the occasional appearance, he'd lost some of that luster, but
no Hall of Fame should be without Thesz.
Mando Guerrero - One of the
sons of Salvador Gori Guerrero, not only is he known for his great
in ring work, but there are few SoCal wrestlers that were around
in the 1980s to the present who hadn't trained and been influenced
by Guerrero.
The Sheik - I will be honest
and say I wouldn't have voted for him if it wasn't for his recent
death. His death brought out so much information on him, and information
on him in SoCal, that he easily moved onto my ballot. I don't
know what his chances are, but he has my vote.
Sandor Szabo - Had a big
feud with Londos over the California version of the world title
in the 1930s, then was a multiple time Beat the Champ International
champion in the 1950s, not to mention multiple time International
TV Tag Team champion.
Jesse Hernandez - I had to
think long and hard about this. I was originally against voting
for Hernandez this year, but really you have to compare people
versus their peers, and not all of history. As a promoter he's
not LeBell or Daro, and as a ref he isn't Duggan, but over the
last decade Hernandez has been a huge part of SoCal, and the scene
would be radically different without him. One of SoCal's two promoters
over the last few years along with Martin Marin. Jesse's current
promotion the EWF has been around over 6 years, which is an incredible
run for an indy promotion, and Jesse has run successful promotions
in SoCal prior, such as the WSWA. Not to mention EWF's School
of Hard Knocks which is where quite a few wrestlers got their
starts, including some of SoCal's current top stars like the Havana
Pitbulls, John Black, Joey Ryan, etc.
Pedro Morales - Morales is
one of the most popular Latin wrestlers of all time in the United
States, and began his career in Southern California. He really
grabbed everyone's attention on a national scale when he defeated
the Destroyer for the WWA World title. Morales is a two time WWA
World champion, and from 1966 through 1968, he was a four time
WWA tag team champion, with four different partners; Luis Hernandez,
Mark Lewin, Victor Rivera, and Ricky Romero. In the late 1960's
he left SoCal for the WWWF where he held the WWWF World title
for nearly three years.
--
Real Pro Wrestling, the wrestling
promotion that ran back in October with all shoot Greco-Roman
and freestyle wrestling is currently promoting at wrestling tournaments
around the country. Also they are starting an advertising campaign
focusing on popular web sites, national wrestling publications,
and martial arts magazines. They have also been shopping their
television taping around to various stations such as ESPN, but
sources inside the promotion say they have encountered a few snags,
but nothing they think they can't overcome.
--
Just a little trivia on this month's
rankings:
