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Former WWE writer on the Hall of Fame and his favorite wrestler growing up PDF Print E-mail
 
I know I don't get to vote, but:
 
As a young teenager, I was a huge fan of Roy Shire's San Francisco promotion in the early and mid-1970s.  I kept track of win/loss results, ranked wrestlers, made lists of dream matches.  When I walked into the Cow Palace, I felt the electricity that other people feel at rock concerts.  I felt more excited, more alive there than anywhere else.

Rocky Johnson was the face I loved best.  He ranked above even Peter Maivia, Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens in my pantheon of the greats.

Johnson participated in some of the most exciting matches I've ever had the pleasure to witness.  (In fact, the television match in which he and Maivia won a non-title bout against tag champions Patterson and Billy Graham was one of the two best TV matches I ever saw, with Maivia's non-title defeat of U.S. Champion Paul DeMarco being the other.)

His hot tag was fantastic.  And his Ali shuffle, flying dropkick, headbutt, and Boston Crab were the most electrifying finishing combination I've ever seen.  

And while I probably think of him primarily as a tag wrestler, due to his domination (with Pepper Gomez and then Patterson) of the tag title and his epic wars with first Patterson-Graham and then DeMarco-Lars Anderson, I was thrilled when he took the U.S. title from DeMarco, the man who'd ended Stevens' incredible series of title reigns.

When it comes to the HOF, if I could vote I would vote for the Soulman, one of the greatest heroes I ever had.
 

 

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