Mid-Atlantic Gateway
We recently learned the news that Jim Crockett, Sr. had been voted to the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. It was officially announced by Wrestling Observer editor and publisher Dave Meltzer in his newsletter dated 12/16/19.
We are thrilled that Crockett garnered the votes for inclusion into the Observer Hall. He acquired 136 of the needed 130 votes in the U.S. and Canada historical category and received the second highest number of votes over-all in the 2019 balloting. He received votes that were 63% of the total ballots cast.
Jim Crockett Sr. joins the Class of 2019 which also includes Edward "Bearcat" Wright, a Mid-Atlantic Wrestling alumnist, described in the Observer as the first major world heavyweight champion of African-American ethnicity.
Also in the Class of 2019 are Gedo, current booker of New Japan Pro Wrestling that brought that company back to global prominence, Paul Pons of France, described as an overlooked historical figure, and a number of legendary wrestlers from the country of Mexico including Los Misioneros de la Muerte (El Signo, El Texano and Negro Navarro), Ultimo Guerrero, Villano III, and Dr. Wagner, Jr.
The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame is considered one of the most legitimate Halls of Fame for professional wrestling in the world. The selection/voting process is based on the model used by the Baseball Hall of Fame. As outlined in the Observer, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame via voting, one must get at least 60 percent of the vote from the different regions, which are U.S. and Canada historical (full-time careers ending 1989 or earlier), U.S. and Canada modern, Japan, Mexico and the rest of the world.
Per the Observer, voters are generally broken down into categories of historians, reporters, those current working in the business, and those formerly in the business. In those categories, Crockett Sr. placed first with reporters, seventh with retired wrestlers, seventh with active wrestlers, and twenty-first with historians.
