ICYMI: NEW EPISODE: Zack Sabre Jr. with Curtis Spears

ICYMI: NEW EPISODE: 2026 Primer & More

NEW EPISODE: 2026 Primer & More

New episode of The Ballot out with Adam Berger and Fred Morlan discussing the results of the 2025 WON HOF voting. Who got in? Who were the biggest movers and shakers? Why Kane? redcircle.com/shows/aaad2e...

ICYMI: NEW EPISODE: The WON HOF 2025 Results with Fred Morlan & Adam Berger

And yes, we are still continuing to collect ballots even though the results are in for this year's WON HOF season. You can DM us or email us your ballot at [email protected]. We will make it anonymous if you are a voter and request it.

The 2025 WON HOF Public Ballot Tracker is now up to 80 public ballots as 1 more ballot was added today. docs.google.com/spreadsheets... If you are a Hall of Fame Voter and want to reveal your ballot, tag us in a post, send us a DM or email [email protected]

And yes, we are still continuing to collect ballots even though the results are in for this year's WON HOF season. You can DM us or email us your ballot at [email protected]. We will make it anonymous if you are a voter and request it.

The 2025 WON HOF Public Ballot Tracker is now up to 79 public ballots as 1 more ballot was added today. docs.google.com/spreadsheets... If you are a Hall of Fame Voter and want to reveal your ballot, tag us in a post, send us a DM or email [email protected]

Famed Wrestling Photographer George Tahinos Passes Away

VIP ALERT - PWTorch Dailycast – Best of PWTorch Livecast (AD-FREE): 5 Yrs Ago – 2020 Observer Hall of Fame discussion, Brandi’s promo on Dynamite, linguistics and law talk with Melissa, more: vip.pwtorch.com/2025/11/16/v...

All three are now in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

I wrote about the new class of Observer Hall of Famers, what went right with the voting process, the challenges some candidates still face and the new candidates for 2026.

Always a reminder that we will continue to collect ballots even though the results are in for this year's WON HOF season. You can DM us or email us your ballot at [email protected]. We will make it anonymous if you are a voter and request it.

Dick Murdoch comes back on the ballot in 2026 after falling off the ballot this year as a tag team with Dusty Rhodes with less than 10% of the vote. Murdoch came off the ballot in 2014 under the 15/50 rule as he only got 45% of the vote as he first came on the ballot in 1998.

Batista, Booker T and Kane will come back on the ballot in 2026 in the Modern US/Canada region. Batista fell off the ballot in 2013 with less than 10% of the vote. Booker T fell off the ballot in 2006 with less than 10%. Kane fell off the ballot in 2012 with less than 10%.

Along with Tam Nakano, the following candidates make their debut on the WON HOF ballot in 2026: KENTA Tibor Szakacs Colosso Colosetti Andreas Lambrakis Gunther Los Espantos Le Petit Prince

In 2026, two more female candidates are added to the ballot with Kyoko Inoue and Tam Nakano. Kyoko Inoue fell off the ballot in 2021 with less than 10% of the vote. Tam Nakano makes her debut on the ballot.

In terms of the female candidates on the ballot and their performance in 2025: June Byers 58% Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada 34% Becky Lynch 28% Io Shirai/Iyo Sky 24% Meiko Satomura 18% Mercedes Mone/Sasha Banks 11% Trish Stratus 11%

Always a reminder that we will continue to collect ballots even though the results are in for this year's WON HOF season. You can DM us or email us your ballot at [email protected]. We will make it anonymous if you are a voter and request it.

In terms of YOY % increases by Region REST OF THE WORLD 1. Billy Joyce +9% [40% in '25 vs 31% in '24] 2. Jose Tarres +8% [57.3% in '25 vs 49.8% in '24] 3. Dominic DeNucci +7% [32% in '25 vs 25% in '24] 4. George Gordienko +4% [39% in '25 vs 35% in '24]

In terms of YOY % increases by Region MODERN US/CANADA 1. Cody Rhodes +16% [64% in '25 vs 48% in '24] 2. Samoa Joe +13% [37% in '25 vs 23% in '24] 3. CM Punk +12% [64% in '25 vs 52% in '24] 4. The Hardys +12% [36% in '25 vs 23% in '24] 5. Briscoes +11% [49% in '25 vs 37% in '24]

In terms of YOY % increases by Region MEXICO 1. Gran Hamada +33% [75% in 2025 vs 43% in 2024] 2. Dorrell Dixon +22% [75% in 2025 vs 53% in 2024] 3. Mascarita Sagrada +1% [26% in 2025 vs 24% in 2024] 4. Volador Jr +1% [25.2% in 2025 vs 24.7% in 2024]

In terms of YOY % increases by Region JAPAN 1. Zach Sabre Jr. +33% [50% in '25 vs 16% in '24] 2. Bobby Bruns +6% [63% in '25 vs 56% in '24] 3. Koichi Yoshizawa +6% [43% in '25 vs 37% in '24] 4. Hayabusa +6% [59% in '25 vs 53% in '24] 5. Tiger Jeet Singh +5% [32% vs 27%]

n terms of YOY % increases by Region: HISTORICAL US/Canada 1. Cowboy Bob Ellis +9% [37% in 2025 vs 28% in 2024] 2. June Byers +7% [58% vs 50%] 3. Wild Bull Curry +6% [37% vs 31%] 4. Von Erichs +6% [53% vs 47%] 5. Black Gordman & Great Goliath +6 [26% vs 20%]

CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and Sabu among eight inductees to Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame

The "Death Bump" for the WON HOF continues to have some validity as here were the increases for these candidates: Gran Hamada - 75.2% of the vote, 33% increase from last year Sabu - 64.1% of the vote, not on the ballot last year Cowboy Bob Ellis - 37%, 9% increase

Here's some numbers with the voters of each region: - Historical US/Canada: 408 [405 last year] -Japan: 314 [282 last year] -Mexico: 238 [188 last year] -Modern US/Canada: 449 [460 last year] -Rest of the World: 218 [212 last year]

Volador did not decrease 16%. Thanks to Ethan Tyler. Adrian Street is next on the list with -7%

In terms of % of YOY decreases, here were the top 10: Volador Jr -16% El Hijo del Santo & Octagon -16% The Royal Brothers -15% Ole Anderson -14% Angel Blanco & Dr. Wagner -13% Kevin Sullivan -10% Yoshihiro Takayama -9% Toyota & Yamada -9% Iron Sheik -9% Joe Higuchi -8%

In terms of % of YOY jumps, here were the top 10: Zach Sabre Jr. +33% Gran Hamada +33% Spiros Arion +32% Dorrell Dixon +22% Otto Wanz +16% Cody Rhodes +16% Samoa Joe +13% CM Punk +12% The Hardys +12% The Briscoes +12%

John Pollock covers the news from Friday, November 14 Today’s News: - Frankie Kazarian wins the TNA Championship - TNA Turning Point - UFC 322 - SmackDown card - John Cena to wrestle on Raw - WON Hall of Fame inductees Double Double & Espresso members: www.patreon.com/posts/143596...

2026 Season of The Ballot Podcast: KENTA, Tam Nakano, Tibor Szakacs, Colosso Colosetti, Andreas Lambrakis, Gunther, Los Espantos, and Le Petit Prince

For many years I've called Spiros Arion "The Forgotten Superstar". A major rival of Bruno's, big star in Australia and around the world. I'm glad to see him in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame and surprised he was the highest vote getter. Forgotten no more. #wrestlesky

We will be back later with further breakdowns of percentages and vote totals. We want to verify the data before releasing more posts.

The candidates that will be added to the 2026 WON HOF Ballot are KENTA, Dave Batista, The Great Sasuke, Kane, Tam Nakano, Tibor Szakacs, Colosso Colosetti, Andreas Lambrakis, Booker T, Dick Murdoch, Kyoko Inoue, Gunther, Los Espantos, Le Petit Prince.

June Byers, Dominic DeNucci and Killer Karl Kox will be under the 15 year/50 percent rule in 2026. Byers received 57.6%, DeNucci with 32.1% and Kox with 16.5%

The candidates that got less than 10% of all votes from their region and dropped from next year’s ballot were Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch, FTR, Drew McIntyre, Los Infernales (El Satanico & Pirata Morgan & MS-1), Les Kellett and Bill Mercer.

The Public Ballot Tracker was correct in pointing to 6 of the 7 inductees that were voted in with Arion, Hamada, Dixon, Sabu, Punk and Rhodes. We also had Bobby Bruns tracking at 56.06% of the vote. We did not know that the 8th was a fiat vote.

Cody Rhodes had 64.4% of the vote, YOY jump of 16%. Sabu had 64.1% of the vote, which is the biggest voting percentage after a wrestler's passing since King Curtis Iaukea in 2011 (63% of the vote) Bobby Bruns had 62.7% of the vote, YOY jump of 6%.

Spiros Arion lead all inductees with 78% of the vote, a YOY jump of 32%. Gran Hamada came in 2nd with 75.2%, YOY jump of 33%. Dorrell Dixon came in 3rd overall with 74.8%, YOY jump of 22%. CM Punk came in 4th overall with 65.5%, YOY jump of 12%.

The 8 new inductees to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame are Spiros Arion, Gran Hamada, Dorrell Dixon, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Sabu, Bobby Bruns and French promoter Raoul Paoli by fiat. 7 voted in, 1 via fiat. www.f4wonline.com/newsletters/...

Also, @americannumbers.bsky.social has Cody Rhodes and CM Punk at 65.5% and 61.4% at their Hall of Fame Probability. June Byers, Morris Sigel, Ted Turner, Sputnik Monroe who are over 50% on the public ballot tracker are projected below 40% on the HOF Probability. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

To get more advanced, @americannumbers.bsky.social has his own projections as he published the WON Tracker Visualizer. His projections has Sabu, Bobby Bruns, Dorrell Dixon, Gran Hamada, Spiros Arion, Jose Tarres, and Hayabusa over 75% in Hall of Fame Probability. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Net +/- Among Returning Voters is a key metic as every Hall of Fame inductee last year had a positive gain in returning voters. Last year, Roman Reigns had +9 and CIMA had +7 on the public ballot tracker which projected the eventual jump that they had in the actual results.

In terms of gained votes from returning voters with Public Ballots: Gran Hamada +14 Dorrell Dixon +13 Zach Sabre Jr +12 Hayabusa +11 Cowboy Bob Ellis +10 Roy Welch +8 Samoa Joe +7 Koichi Yoshizawa +7 Spiros Arion +6 Cody Rhodes +6 Jon Moxley +6 Bobby Bruns +5 George Scott +5

As we were doing this preview for WON HOF projections, we added another public ballot to the tracker. The WON HOF Public Ballot Tracker is now up to 78 Ballots. The same 8 that had over 60% before are still over 60%. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...