The Ballot: The 2026 Ballots are Out!

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2:21Back to the balance of the podcast. The season has started. Today we'll go through that ballot. Pretty much we've been going through it all year for sure. But obviously there are certain regions we don't necessarily cover. I will go through all the regions who's on the ballot and throw in some stats along the way. Long-term listeners know that I'm an insane person. Of course I'm going to throw in some stats for you. Very exciting season. I'm excited to see how everyone does in terms of percentages and see who falls, who drops, who grows, who gets in. Don't know. Honestly, we've talked about it all year. But honestly, I don't know. A lot of these regions, I just really do not know how things are going to turn out for

3:27these various regions. Let's get through it. Let's go talk about it and see where we basically left off the last year, the results of last year, along with the new ballot. So we'll start off. I'll talk about the ballot here. This is the ballot for the 2020-26 Hall of Fame. Sit out the major wrestling stars, past and present, major management figures in this tree, writers and historians. If you are getting this, you're being asked your opinion on who should be inducted into this year's Hall of Fame class. The criteria for the Hall of Fame is a combination of drawing power, being a great in-ring performer, excelling in one's field in pro wrestling, as well as having historical significance in a positive manner. A candidate should either have something to offer in all three categories, or someone so outstanding in one or two of those categories that they deserve inclusion.

4:27The names list below are those under consideration for this year to be eligible. A performer must have reached their 35th birthday and completed ten years since their debut as a full-time performer, or be someone who has been a full-time pro wrestler for at least 15 years. Long Jeviti should be a prime consideration rather than a hot two or three-year run, unless someone is so significant as a trend-setter or historical figure in the business or valuable to the industry that they need to be included. We're looking for long Jeviti as the prime consideration for what qualifies for these drawing power in-ring performers, historical significance, which I guess is not really a thing you could quantify in time for long Jeviti, but I mean, well, you can't if someone is the best of a decade, that's historical. But you're at my point. Anyways, rather than a hot two or three-year run, we're looking at, basically, four plus years in longevity is at minimum, I guess you could say, unless they are a trend-setter,

5:34such a historical figure or incredibly valuable to the industry is basically what we're saying here. However, just longevity without being either a long-term main eventor, a top draw and or top caliber in-ring performer should be seen as relatively meaningless. So if you've been around forever, but you are just a, let's say, a mid-carner. One that is not really a draw, maybe it's a negative draw, but maybe just like a guy on the card or you're okay in the ring, even just maybe like a good worker in the ring. You should not be seen, that should be seen as a relatively meaningless and they should be on the spallet. Anyways, I think that's pretty much it. There's a lot of other nonsense in here. You can pick a few as zero in categories. If you don't believe anyone, this list deserves inclusion. All responses are confidential. Anyone who receives mention on 60% of the ballots for the geographical region and time frame

6:36will be added to the Hall of Fame class of 2026. And the breakdown of modern historical formers is 30 years ago where 1996, the year of my birth. Thank you Dave for the shout out. Oh, he wrote it in here. Thanks for the thanks Dave. Anyways, all preferers who received mention or 10% to 59.9% of the ballots from the GRIF or region were made on the ballot for consideration next year. All those who receive less than 10% of the vote will be dropped from next year's ballot. They will return in two years based on if there are significant feedback from voters who say they will vote for them. Bubbly, Bubbly, Bubbly, Bubbly, Bubbly, in addition based on the Hall of Fame, which is the model here. 15 year rule, the following candidates have been on the ballot. The following can have been on the ballots since 2009 full on brain fart. In baseball, this would have been the last year of eligibility. Here they don't get at least 50% of the votes in this year's election. They will be removed from the ballot. If they are modern candidates, they can be brought back in the historical performers era

7:38in two years. If it is more than 30 years since the career as a Hall of Fame level performer is up. Yeah, and then we are returning this ballot at the end of October. We'll go through each of these categories. That's basically the rules. I don't think there was any less I completely missed it. I went over that. I don't believe there's any major rule changes or anything to this ballot. Pretty bog standard, if you will. Let's get into who's on this fricking thing. Let's start off with historical since that is what Dave has it in order. I'm going to go in order, not as Dave lays it out, but in order of wrestlers, how they marked on their percentages last year. Of course, we'll, at the end, we'll say the newbies in this case, the returnees. In order from highest percentage, and I'll give a couple of percentages here, we have

8:40a junkyard dog at the top last year, 58.6%. June buyers, 57.4%. Also important to note, June buyers is at 15.50. Meaning this is her 15th year. She doesn't get over 50%. She's off the ballot. She's all right at 57.4, so that's pretty solid. Assuming to just stay at the very least. We have the Von Erichs, Kevin Carey and David Von Erich, 53.4%. Then we have the British Bulldogs, 45.1, Sputnik Monroe, 41. El Bull Carey, 37. Cowboy Bob Ellis, 37. Oli Anderson, 27. Black Ordman and Greek Goliath, 26. The heart foundation of Brit Heart and Jim, the Anvil Knight Heart, 23%. The tag team of Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, 22%. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson with J.J. Dillon, 22%. Mad Dog and butcher for Sean, 21%. The Iron Sheik, 19%. The Wilds and Mellons, Alpha and Seaka, 19%. Bob Armstrong, 12%.

9:42Archie, the Mongolian Stomp or Goodlay, 12% as well. Sweet, Debbie Seake, 11%. And Pimpero Fırpo at 10% on the dot. I feel like it's safe to say that Fırpo might not last too much longer on this list. In addition to those individuals, Dave has also moved Bill Dundee from the modern region. He was in the modern region last year. He got 11.1% in modern. So enough to stay on, but it doesn't matter that you got moved over to historical for Bill Dundee. And then also the returning of Dick Murdock. Oh, wait. Okay, yeah. So that's pretty good. Let's look at any other stats here for... Let's see, how do people do year over year growth wise? Let me filter out my information here. What am I doing? What am I? I'm a big old scrap here.

10:43So year over year growth wise, Kabo Bible has had the biggest year over year growth. He went from 28 to 37% last year. So he had a good solid pickup. Black Orban and Great Life as well. 20% to 26. It's a pretty big solid one. And Wildpool Curry also from 31 to 37. So another big movers and shakers down at the... Near the bottom of the ballot there. The people that did not do well that lost a lot of votes. Pomparo Furtbo went from 16.5 in 2024 to 10% in 2025. So they're on the downstroke. Holy Anderson. Let's say you only Anderson. I don't... Did I miss it? I do not remember single-learners' name if I did. I apologize. Holy Anderson went from 40% to 27% last year. And Iron Sheik went from 28% which I believe 2024 was their debut on the ballot. Or at least maybe return.

11:44I think it was return. 28% down to 20%. So those are the people that are on the downslope. You can expect... I mean, I don't think there will be much maybe like in all the Anderson. Maybe in Iron Sheik, I don't know. I don't expect those trends to not continue. I see sort of see them on the downslope there. But you know, that all comes down to research that's been done throughout the year or sentiment or extra votes because the good thing about this region is that there are seven votes up for grabs because there are 21 acts. We have seven votes in this region. So if you're voting this region, folks, I mean, good luck. It could be anyone, right? It could be anyone in, you have seven votes to give out. Just some big names. The people that ranked highly in historical per voter base, right? There's different voter bases as Dave lays out. There's reporters, there's historians, there's active professionals,

12:46and there are retired professionals. The people that ranked pretty highly, I'll just do the top, people that were in the top 15 of these four voter bases. You have from reporters, we have the Von Erich's, ranked at number five, June Byers at 12, and JYD at 14. For historians, the top 15, June Byers was at seven, Cowboy, Bob Ellis was 11, and JYD was at 15. So pretty solid for showing for reporters and historians, JYD and June Botters, I don't know why I said that like that, June Byers, with two people showing up on both those voter roles. For active professionals, the Von Erich's were ranked eighth, Junkyard Dog, ranked ninth, and the British Bulldogs ranked 11th. So pretty solid there. For retired professionals, no one was in the top 15, but I'll just say the highest, went to number 20, the British Bulldogs for retired professionals. So yeah, that is basically the historical region there, folks.

13:50I'll be interested to see how obviously this all shakes up, because obviously remains to be seen. Historical, always fascinating to see how it happens. If you wanna hear me more, talk about the historical region. I sort of went in depth in that region. Kind of at the end of the Build Dundee episode, the RIP episode for Build Dundee, which was the last one. So pause this episode. No, don't even pause. Just go, you can hear me, go to the App Store, not the App Store, go to the App Store, download Temple Run, and then with the playing on there. No, go to the podcast feed where you're looking at, download last time's episode of Build Dundee. There's a lot of great people giving their thoughts on Build Dundee's career in Hall of Fame, candidacy, but then obviously you can listen to it right after this, and hit the three dots, and then do add to Q, or play next, whichever you prefer. Let's move on to the next region that Dave has in here, and that is gonna be the modern section, the modern US and Canada performers.

14:50Let's go through the list here that I have in front of me. Obviously three people went in modern last year, that was CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and Sabboo all went into the Hall of Fame last year, only two acts fell off, and that was FTR in Drew McIntyre. I didn't mention it with historical, but the only act, no one went in from historical, and the only act that fell off was Disty Rhodes and Dick Murdock as a tag team, and obviously Dick Murdock is back on as a singles. So modern, a little bit slimmer, there's to a degree, but it became slimmer of only 14 acts, but of course Dave added a crap to new people, and including a brand new person, we did not know about the beginning of the season of the ballot show, so there'll be someone that'll be working really hard to book a guest, to get someone and to get an episode done on them. So there's a couple that's three of those guys that are brand new, last minute additions to the Hall of Fame ballot this year, so I'll talk about that momentarily.

15:50But let's start off here with last year's highest percentage getter, Mark and Jay Brisco, the Brisco brothers, they received 48.8% last year. Following that, Samoa Joe, 37%, the Hardy Brothers, 36, run their tails, Steiner Brothers, 35, they're all very close. John Moxley, 32, Randy Orden, 32 as well. I'm rounding up if anyone wants to know, but they're pretty much very close. Becky Lynch, 28, Edge, AK, Adam Copeland, 28 as well, Bill Goldberg, 27, the outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Asht, 21%, Bill Dundee, he's outta here, 11.1%. So I ignore him. Mercedes-Benz, 10, 11%, Tristratus, 11% Seth Rollins, 10%, the Pempero Fırpo of the modern US and Canada region. There are some new people added to this. We've already talked about a lot of them, this year that of course was Kane

16:50and Booker Tier returning to this ballot. Along with Dave Batista, big Dave himself, is returning to this ballot, new to it as well, is Gunther AK, Volter, is new to it. Great episode of John Pollock about Gunther, but brand new last minute edition on this 2026 ballot is of course, Double J, the King of the Mountain himself, Jeff Jarrett. He is brand new to this Hall of Fame ballot here for 2026. So we'll see, like I said, last year we left off the 14 people and Dave added five. So we have, is that correct? Is that five, one, two, three, four, to click math here, got math counting, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18. Is that my math rate? I don't know, show that, that's 14. Plus, hold on, I mean someone,

17:51oh it's counting bill, that's why. Okay, yeah, 18, we have 18 axon here, that gives you six votes off these, out as group of people. I think it was 17 before. So Dave adding Jeff Jarrett here, gives everyone an extra vote. It's a little bit of that. I've noticed this trend of Dave, I feel like Dave adds people, just, you know, maybe, just, I'm wondering what his threshold is, because I sometimes feel like he just adds people for the sake of adding them for an extra vote. Maybe Jeff Jarrett is one of those guys, but I digress, we'll talk more about them later. But he had six votes in modern New York, in Canada this year. Who will they go to? We'll find out. Last year, when it comes to year over year growth, let's see how people, who did the best in terms of growing, who was more of a shower? Samoa Joe went from 23% to 37% last year,

18:52massive growth with Samoa Joe. Same thing with the Hardies, went from 23% to 36%. So they are the big movers and shakers there. People that are still in the ballot as well, or Mark and Jay Briscoe, they went from 37% to 49% a year over a year. So they're doing really well. When it comes to these voter pools, the top 15, no one's in top 15, because the people that were in the top 15 all went in. The highest person, the highest act that was voted on by the reporters that still in the ballot is Mark and Jay Briscoe. They got 18th for the reporters here. John, John, John, I'm actually getting 28th, and no one else was on it. No one else is in the top 40. Of that poll there, or top 30, rather. Let's see, historians, again, no one in the top 15 that's still in the ballot, Mark and Jay Briscoe, also 18.

19:55They get 18 for the reporters and historians. So the reporters and historians, lots of votes up for grabs when it comes to reporters and historians in a modern US and Canada section. All of their top three sort of that region have all gone in a lot of votes for grabs. I mean, I even said it 49% was the highest vote percentage. No one above 50% in modern US and Canada. One of the reasons I'm very excited to see what this region does is because there are a crap ton of votes up for grabs. I'm very fascinated to see how this region does. I don't necessarily expect, I'm not gonna bet, I'm not a big betting guy. I'm not a cow, she, not a polymarket man. Nor should anyone be. I digress, but I'm not gonna necessarily bet that anyone from this region is going to get in because it is so up for grabs that like I have no idea.

20:55I mean, there's people that obviously that have grown a lot, some of them would join the hardies, but like beyond that, I do not know. Plus with the addition of five other acts, some of which are definitely gonna get votes. I, there are so many votes up for grabs, who the heck knows if anyone's gonna get in into this region. Anyway, it's back to those voter roles, active professionals, the only other acts that were in the top 15 were the Hardy Brothers and the Steiner Brothers, some tag team wrestling active professional love for the hardies and the Steiner's by the active professionals, for their tired professionals, maybe not much of a shocker on this one. Ran the ordinate number six, edge Adam Copeland at number seven, the hardies at number eight. So the tired professionals are holding down strong for big old Randall, Adam and Matt and Jeff. So that is the modern region. Like I said, I'm very fascinated to see how this region will shake out. Like I said, there is a lot of voters up for grabs,

21:58a lot of votes up for grabs rather. So it will really come down to just, like I said, I don't know who's gonna vote. I don't know if anyone's gonna go in. There's just so many votes up for grabs that are available, that all got consolidated into the top three guys that went in. So we'll sort of see, we'll sort of see how everything shakes out. To me, it's fully up in the air. Is it a week? I've seen a lot of people say already that it's a week category. Yeah, it's pretty weak. I think what helps with the weakness is the fact that like, there's no one that's above 50. Like, you know, there's no, there's no clear, like, oh, this guy's getting in, right? Like JYD, June buyers, there are people that are over 50%. Those are people that are like, oh, this person is probably going in. They're probably gonna be a hollow famer. No one's above 50%. No one is like, you know, that kind of guy yet. We'll find out, like I said, I'm not, I'm not gonna embedding man saying that anyone from moderns

22:59going in this year is plausible, certainly plausible, but I, I, I, I simply do not know. So let's see what happens there. Let's talk about Japan. Japan has a bunch of people here. There are, let me do a quick word. My note here, Japan has 15 acts. So you're gonna get five votes. We added a couple of people for or two new, two returning into the Japan region. So let's talk about how it was last year, Japan. No one came in, no one fell off. No one went into the hollow famed last year. No one fell off. So sort of a stalemate situation, and indeed throwing in four new people. So at least you get one more vote, but a fascinating situation unfolding in Japan right now when it comes to the hollow famed. So last year, the highest vote getter was high a boost up at 59% excuse me, that was a little hiccup. 58.9% to be exact very close on getting in high a boost up.

23:59Following that, is that so much junior at 50%. Tag team of Toyota Yamada, 34%. Tiger Jeet Singh, 32. Yoshiyaki Fujiwara, 28. Yoshirai or Yoskai, 24. Yoshihiro Takiyama, 21. Masaki Mocha Zuki, 21 as well. Mikosatamura, 18%. The tag team of a no key, no key and Sakaguchi, 17%. And then 10 Koji, Satoshi Koji, and Hiroshi Tenzan, 13%. So lots of going on there, no big, I mean, there's some big movements, I mean, for sure. But I mean, the biggest movement by far is Xaber Jr. 2024, I believe which is his debut on the ballot, 16% last year, he grew to 50%. So massive, massive year of a year growth when it came to Xaber Jr. Let's see if that, you know, at least trend can continue and he can get into the hall of fame this year. We'll find out.

25:00Do you have any people that grew a little bit? Tiger Jeet Singh, 27 to 32. High a boost up from 53 to 59. The people sort of dropped a little bit. Were the person that dropped the most was Takiyama. Yoshihiro Takiyama went from 30% to 21%. Dropping down nine points there. You also had Ten Koji from 17 to 13. And the Tag Team of Toyo-Roye Yamada went from 43 to 34. So some solid drops, lots of movement, a lot of votes went to Xaber Jr. But let's we forget, we also have some newbies. We have Kenta making his debut on the ballot. We have Tamikano making their debut on the ballot as well. And returning here, we have the great Sasuke and Kyoko in a way. So I suspect Kenta will do fairly well. I think Tamikano will get a certain specific amount of votes as well. Great Sasuke, Kyoko in a way. Yeah, probably. I mean, Sasuke at the very least will certainly get votes.

26:02But we'll see sort of what happens, how it all plays out in this region. Very interesting region. Looking at the voter rolls here, only one act got in the top 15. That was high a boost up. That was ranked fourth for reporters. For historians, you have ranked eighth, Xaber Jr. For active professionals, you have Xaber Jr. ranked sixth for them. And for retired professionals, you have Toyota Yamada ranked second. So they're the ones that are really holding strong for Toyota Yamada. If they, if retired professionals vote for Toyota Yamada less than I expect, a bigger drop from them as well. Because then basically the ones holding down the fort for Toyota and Yamada. That's the Japan region. We'll see how it goes there. Again, no one went in, no one went out the ballot last year. We're adding four new people.

27:03You get five votes in this region with these 15 acts. So we'll find out where the extra vote goes. A lot of extra votes. Does every region have an extra vote? Japan has one compared to last year. Historical, I believe has one. Yes, 21. So they would have had 20 last year. And modern has 18. So yeah, they would have had less. I pretty sure what it, what a modern have. How many people are modern last year? Last year you had 19 this year, you got 20, you got 18. So it's the same number of votes. You have the same number of votes in modern. Just one less act. So that's interesting. That is actually kind of interesting. We'll see how that plays out for modern. But anyways, let's talk about Mexico. Let's talk, let's go a little south of the border here. Let's talk about Mexico. There are nine acts in here. You got three votes. If you don't know, I don't think I said it, but if you don't know, you get three votes.

28:04You get a vote for every act, every three acts rather. You get a vote for every three acts that are in the on the ballot. So nine divided by three is three votes. So you get three votes in the Mexican region. So let's talk about Mexico here. Two people went in last year, Granamada and Dorel Dixon, and only one act fell off, Los Enfernales, which I can't say that. I kind of upset about that, but that's fine. I'm not a Mexican resident Mexican region voter. So that's fine. I get it. They're not, they're perfect, but whatever. Anyways, rest of the ballot you have again, wide open area for votes here. Sangre Chicana at 32%. That's the top vote getter last year that's still on here. A lot of the votes consolidate around Granamada and Dorel Dixon. They had 75% of the voting body each voting for them. Sangre Chicana next high is 32%. So a lot of votes consolidated. Let's see how they get split up around here.

29:06After Sangre Chicana, you have Mosca Reedus and Grada, 26% Volodore Junior at 25% on Hublanco and Dr. Wagner at 18%. El Dandy at 16% LaParca, the AAA version, not the current version, the past LaParca from AAA, not the WCW LaParca, but the one that came after and it came before the current one. Less to be confused, folks. And of course El Hio de Santo and Octagon at 13% this region as we have discussed on the podcast before. Los Espantos, they are new and along with Coloso Colacetti. They are also new to the ballot. So we'll see how their debut matches up here. So yeah, like I said, a lot of the vote consolidation happen. Outside of that, there isn't really much movement on people. Massca Reedus and Grada was the biggest year of year growth.

30:08They went from 24 to 26%. That's two points. That's really nothing. All the votes basically got consolidated to Hamada and Derel Dixon. And to that point, they had big drops for the tag teams in this region. El Hio de Santo and Octagon went from 26% in 2024 to 13%. They basically have their vote totals in a year spanned. And then Blanco and Wagner, they went from 31 to 18%. So nearly half drop as well in their vote percentages. So they didn't good for them. There was consolidation at top and no one else kind of moved. And it looks like the votes came from Blanco from the tag teams. Blanco Wagner and Santo and Octagon. So we'll see how they do now that those votes are, I guess, in a way freed up. But again, three votes, the same amount of votes is last year. Hey guys, it's Rich from the Voice Wrestling Podcast Network.

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33:12With compatible DC fast chargers, they can charge to 80% in less than 30 minutes, making it easier to get back on the road. One model that really stands out is the 2026 Kia EV9. It's an all-electric SUV with three rows of seating over 300 miles of all-electric driving range and the capability and technology you'd expect from a modern SUV. Whether it's your daily commute to Burbank or a weekend drive to Ohio, the EV9 is built to fit the way you live. If you're ready to make the move to electric, Kia has an EV designed to fit your needs. For more at Kia.com or visit your Southern California Kia dealer. So let's see how that goes. Speaking of, let's look at these voter rolls. It tells the same story, reporters. Number one for Grant Hamada. Number two for Dorel Dixon. No one else ranked for the reporter rolls here. So again, that consolidation exists. Historians, they tied at both at two. Grant Hamada and Dorel Dixon, the only other person that ranked for historians, was 25th.

34:17That was Sangre Chicanna. For active professionals, only one active within the top 15. That was LaParca from Chippale. From Chippalea. And then for retired professionals, only one act ranked for them. That was 17 Dorel Dixon. So again, retired professionals, your votes are up for grabs. Historians and reporters, they are the ones where the votes consolidated the most for Hamada and Dixon. Lots and lots of votes are up for grabs in this region. Big, big toss up to see what happens. The highest vote getter being 32%. Very interesting to see how it all shakes up. Similar to the modern region of, there are a lot of votes up for grabs. The top vote getter last year is pretty low. There's 49, Sangre Chicanna at 32. Lot up for grabs here in Mexico.

35:19Let's move on to the next region. And that is of course the rest of the world. I followed wrestling in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Africa, can glamor it. So we'll talk about the rest of the world you have. I believe you have 15 acts here. Five votes for grabs. Got an extra vote this time around in the rest of the world. Let's talk about it here. So you have in this region the top vote getter from last year at 57% Jose Torres, Otto Vanz, 41% Billy Joyce, 40% George Gordianco, 39% Dominic Danucci, 32% Adrian Street, 28. Royal Brothers, 26, Ted Boymerino, 25, Javier Le Duc, 23, Killer Carole Cox, 17, Steve Gray, 10.1% for Steve Gray.

36:21Important to note here as well, like June buyers, we have three individuals at that 15, 15, that is of course Billy Joyce, 40% Dominic Danucci at 32% Killer Carole Cox at 16% Killer Carole Cox, they're on the downswing, I'll just say this right now, 2024, they're at 22, they went down to 17, they're on the downswing, it would take a miracle for Killer Carole Cox to remain on the ballot in their 15th year. Or I guess this is their 15th year for the 16th year, I guess. So more than likely, I would suspect that Killer Carole Cox has fallen off unless a miracle happens outside of that. I mean, Billy Joyce is basically 10 points away from staying on Dominic Danucci, Danucci a little farther away at 18%, so they need to pick up a lot of ground in a very, very tough region. Because last year, only one person went in, that was Spirits Arian on their 15th year, and only one person fell off, Les Kellett.

37:21So the new people are joining them, another round of tough contenders kind of, for the most part, T-Boys Zakash is new, Andreas Lombrakis is new, and Le Petit Prons is also new. We also have a brand new name getting added to this ballot, this person helped, helped bringing it to 15X, get you that extra vote. So shout out to Mark Merciet, is how I'm going to pronounce it, a French promoter or professional wrestling. That has an interesting tail, an interesting tail he has weaved. But regardless, Mark Merciet is on here. Hopefully we'll talk more about Mark Merciet as we move on into the show, trying to get these last couple guys, these brand new acts on the ballot. I'll work to try to get an episode about them for the rest of the world region. But this is a tough region, like I said. You have three people that are at 1550, you have Jose Torres, who is a 57%er, who could

38:28basically sneak themselves in, not maybe sneak themselves in. You have some great addition on Andreas Lombrakis, Prons and T-Boer, I think are all genuinely great additions to this ballot. Mark Merciet, haven't seen great stuff so far about Mark Merciet, but certainly maybe they add something to here, they definitely added a vote. But let's look at the sort of voter rolls here. Only person in the top 15 as Jose Torres for the reporters ranked 10th last year. Historians, you have a couple people, you have Jose Torres ranked 4th for historians, and Billy Joyce ranked 5th amongst historians as well. Active professionals only one act here, Otto Vans at 12. And then you have retired professionals, you have Dominic Danucci at ranked 5 and Jose Torres at 14 and Jose Torres at 15.

39:31So you need retired professionals on your side, are they going to show up for you and keep on this ballot? And for everyone else to show up for you, how you lead out at my friend? No, not my friend, not my friend. I want to be associated. But nonetheless. Yeah, so it's interesting. There are obviously votes up for grabs, historians ranked Spirors area on number one, active professionals ranked number two, reporters ranked in number three. So there are votes up for grabs. You have an extra vote in here, but it's a very tough region. You have 31550s, you have a bunch of brand new people on the ballot that are really solid cases. You have people that are already on here that have really solid cases. Rest of the world, a very, very tough region. A lot of duking it out. After talking at the Hall of Fame all year, I have almost reached this point. I can also feel, I have to apologize. I feel my voice going out. I'm trying to drink water in between all this.

40:31There is a little bit of like we talking about it all year long, which I always enjoyed about. But I may add to the point now, I'm like, okay, where is the conversation? Is it going to be a little more conversation amongst more people, which is always exciting? But I'm also at the point of like, yeah, I want to see how this all, we have a lot of fights, good fights in our hands. A lot of things up for grabs, historicals very fascinating to me. Rest of the world is even more fascinating to me as a region in terms of like, what is going, how is this all going to shake out? I truly do not know how some of these regions are going to shake out. If you ask me today, who's going in, I genuinely don't know. I mean, I put votes down on the over 50% but like rest of the world, I mean, this is a tough region. And like, look, like legitimately, look, Jose Torres, it should be a Hall of Fame, right? Big, big Hall of Fame level draw there. But he's ranked, he's five, I think this is his six year on the ballot. We have, I could not vote for Torres and vote for someone else and, you know, and try

41:34to, try to book them out because Torres is going to last a little bit longer, you know? Where you have, you know, Dominic Danucci, who I know Ethan Tyler, former guest is constantly, constantly banging down the doors for Dominic Danucci. So very fascinating region there. Let's move on to the final region of the ballots and that, of course, the non-restular region. This works, I always get confused explaining this. So I apologize. Basically, this works is that you have a giant list of non-restlers in this category. I believe, how many acts do we have here? B, B, B, B. You have 22 acts, seven votes. That's right, 22. Yeah, 22. 22 acts in here, seven votes up for grabs in this region. So a lot of votes, but how it basically works is that like each non-restular in this category in this region, I guess. Not region, not region, but in this category also has a region assigned with them.

42:37So you have Jesse Ventura. They're assigned to the US and Canada historical, right? I didn't write this down. I'm looking at my notes with a heck of Jesse Ventura. Yeah, historical. You have Ted Turner, who is of course US and Canada modern. You have what's someone at different? Kuichi Yoshizawa, which is Japan. You have, I think those are the only three regions that are represented as of now. I'll talk about the new guy in a moment. But basically that's it. So basically how the votes can count it is that they get, you can vote. These are kind of like bonus votes for the non-restlers and they get counted along with the region that they are in. They're counted against those folks. That's the best I can explain it because that's the best I understand it. Because I'm a big old dummy. All right, let's talk about this region. Again, obviously with all these things, you need to get 60%. Only one person got in. That was Bobby Bruns last year.

43:38And only one person fell off. That was of course Bill Mercer. So a lot of a big time category as well. You have Jesse Ventura, 57% Ted Turner, 56, who also just passed away this year. So genuinely he would be a person. I suspect to go in the Hall of Fame this year. Guilamon, soon 52. Mike, today 49. Morris Siegel, 48. Kuichi Yoshizawa, at 43. 40% Larry Maistick. Jim Johnston, 34% Roy Welsh, 34% Grand Wizard, 32% Stanley Weston, 28% James Melby, also 28% the same exact 20. 2 Tony, Tony Ski of Own, Tony Ski of Own, 23% Dave Brown, 23% Rossi Ogawa, 17% George Scott, 17% Kevin Sullivan, 17% Bob Coddle, 15% Zane Brezlaw, 15% Reggie Parks, 14% and Joe Haguichi, 14% poor.

44:41There's only one new person in this region. They're added late. They're late newcomer here. And that was of course Salvador Lutharoth III. This is of course the current promoter of CMLL. They have been there since in that position since 2019. They've been around in the company because look his grandfather was the founder of CMLL. It's a family business after all. So they are the current promoter for the past seven years of CMLL. So again, yeah, I mean, I suspect it would be on the ballot. I feel like a little soon for the Lutharoth to be on here. But we'll talk more about Salvador in a minute. But obviously like I said, they will be representative of course of the Mexican region on the ballot. There were every year growth who did the best was of course Zane Brezlaw. They grew from 12% to 16%. That's literally the biggest move in Shaker in this region was someone that went up 4%.

45:41I mean, it's technically less because of rounding. They went from 11.8 to 14.5. That is the biggest mover in Shaker in this region. It's really a lot of votes that dropped. The biggest drop being Kevin Sullivan. They went from 27% down to 17%. So they dropped 10 points. You have Joe Higuichi went from 22% to 14. And you have Tony Shivani who went from 30 to 23. So a lot of people kind of dropped voting numbers here. A couple of people grew. A lot of people stayed the same. This region is so bloated. This region has is like a log jam times 10. It's so incredibly bloated. There are so many acts in here with not a lot of movement. The biggest movement is people falling off. I mean, what was it? Was Zane Brezlaw was four points.

46:41The next highest one is Mike Tene. Went from 42 to 49. So again, this isn't like big, big movers and shakers in the slightest. But they are growing here. So it's interesting. It's ultimately it's interesting to see how it's going to go because it's always an interesting region. The non-resolvers here. But let's look at the voter rolls here. For reporters, the highest voters were Ted Turner at ranked eighth. This event sure ranked 11th and left over on the ballot. Koichi Yoshizawa at 15 for the reporters historians. You have Koichi Yoshizawa as well, ranked 13th and Ted Turner ranked 14th for active professionals. Number one with a bullet gorilla monsoon. Then you have Jesse Ventura ranked 15 or not 15. Number five from active professionals.

47:42And retired professionals. You have Larry Mastick at three gorilla monsoon at four. Tony Shivani at nine. Mike Tene at 10. And Joe Huguichi at 11. So a very interesting category fairly bloated. I'll say. But again, not a lot of movement. Not a lot of movement. That's pretty much it. That is the ballot as it is laid out in front of us. Now voters jobs to look over the criteria, look over the names on this ballot. You have a lot more votes up for grabs. I think the overall number went up. Let's see. Now can I do a quick math? Let's see. So historical. You have six votes there. You have in modern you have. Sorry, no, modern you have six votes. In historical, you have seven votes. In Mexico, you have three in Japan. You have five rest of the world. You have five and in non-restlers.

48:43I believe you have seven. That's 33 votes up for grabs. If you think about it like an insane person. And of course, last year you had seven, four, three, three, six, and six. So 29. So basically four more votes, a lot more movement, hopefully. Could be some stagnation, I don't know. It's very interesting. We have three new people being added completely. Mark Mercier, Salvador Luthorov III, and Jeff Jarrett. I will work hard to try to get episodes out on them as quickly as I can. There's now a whole lot of time, like I said, the ballots are due at the end of October. So now a whole lot of time to get these votes in, or rather get these episodes recorded and out. So we'll see. I'll do it as quickly as possible. But we'll sort of see how it all goes and how everything shakes out.

49:46So this podcast, there's a good chance it can become weekly for the next foreseeable future. We'll see. We'll find out what happens. Next week I can't promise, but I feel like there's a good shot the week after there might be an episode. Yeah, folks, there's a lot more audio coming your way. It's Hall of Fame season. And I do want to say this as well. It is Hall of Fame season. I know you have hung around for my little spiel at the end. You have heard about the sort of call line for this show. This 9495 ballot, this 9495225568. You can go right ahead and give that number a call.

50:49Again, 9495225568. And please give me your thoughts on this Hall of Fame ballot. I would love to collect as many voicemails as possible and sort of put that in here on this as a special little episode. So please, this is your call to action. I'm winter soldiering you right now. So please leave a voicemail drop a line 9495 ballot. That's 9495225568. And I want to hear what are your thoughts in various regions. If you had a ballot, who would you really vote for? Maybe make the case for someone. Maybe call in and just say like, look, I'm an avid edge voter of avid admon Copeland voter. And here are my thoughts on why I think people should vote for Adam Copeland. Or look, I love Mike today. You're a carrot kid. You're calling in. I love Mike today. And just give me give us a line of like, hey, you know, give it, you know, keep it short.

51:50Obviously, you know, keep it, you know, quick little spiel. Hey, this is why I think this person's a Hall of Famer. I would love to hear that. We can get a nice, hopefully a nice amount of a collection of people calling in and leaving a voicemail and giving their thoughts on various different wrestlers. You can do it as many as you like as long as the swim within. I would say it within sub five minutes. I don't know how long a voicemail will even last. So maybe two, maybe two minutes. But you know, do you can talk about any minute, you know, say, I'm going to, I would vote for these people. Maybe this is why. So that's your call to action of you've been winter soldiered officially. Don't kill Tony Stark's parents. All right, I think that's it. Again, nine, four, nine, five, two, two, five, five, six, eight, it'll be in the description, hopefully, if I know things, if I remember to put it there. Outside that there'll be some more extra episodes, hopefully every week. Maybe we'll see how it goes in terms of, it really comes down to scheduling and recording. So we'll see how that goes. Otherwise, I'll see you guys around for whatever the next episode is very shortly soon.

52:55So until then, have a good one and enjoy the Hall of Fame. See's everybody is here. We finally made it another year, another destiny for all of us voters. So thank you everybody for listening to this week's episode of the ballot. Until next time, catch you later. The ballot podcast was recorded and produced by myself, Ryan Nightsea, as part of the voices of wrestling podcast network. Please rate, subscribe, and most importantly, review the show wherever podcasts are found. To continue the conversation, please leave us a message at nine four nine five ballot or nine four nine five two two five five six eight. You could also join the VOW discord and join us in the ballot channel. Have a good day and we'll talk to you next time on the ballot. Hi, I'm Andrew Rich.

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