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What's the story?
The ballots are in and six wrestlers are joining the Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame's class of 2017. Five of the six are legendary wrestlers from the past and one is a legendary wrestler of today.
Joining this year's class are Minoru Suzuki, Pedro Morales, Mark Lewin, Ben & Mike Sharpe, and AJ Styles.
In case you didn't know...
Dave Meltzer created the Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame in 1996 where such wrestlers were inducted like The Road Warriors, The Dusek family, and The Fabulous Kangaroos. Meltzer selected a group of journalists, historians, past wrestlers, and those currently working in the industry to cast ballots for nomination and induction.
Including this year's nominees, this Hall of Fame has a total of 216 teams and/or individuals.
The heart of the matter
The legendary Minoru Suzuki started his pro wrestling career in 1988 and still competes for New Japan Pro Wrestling today. He was also an accomplished mixed martial artist where he competed from 1993 to 2003 and founded the Pancrase MMA promotion.
The brothers Ben and Mike Sharpe go into the hall as a tag team where they were 18-time NWA Tag Team Championship in Chicago and the Pacific Coast. Mike was known as "Iron Mike" Sharpe and trained such wrestlers as Simon Dean, Charlie Haas, and Crowbar.
Mark Lewin had an impressive 45-year career that started back in 1953. Some of his biggest success came in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) where he was a part of Kevin Sullivan's "cult" or stable.
Before there was the WWE or the WWF, there was the WWWF; where Pedro Morales made his mark in the 1970's and 1980's. Morales was part of the WWE Hall Of Fame class of 1995 and held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship as well as the WWF Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships (with Bob Backlund).
Anyone that is a fan of pro wrestling for the past 15 years does not need an introduction to the current WWE Champion, AJ Styles. Highly regarded as the best wrestler of this generation, Styles made his mark for TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling before taking the WWE by storm in 2016.
What's next?
For one of the inductee's, AJ Styles, he will defend his WWE Championship at Clash Of The Champions on December 17th against Jinder Mahal. The pay per view takes place from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Author's take
This is a very well-rounded class this year. The class represents all types of backgrounds and eras as well as a current superstar adding to his accomplishments every day in the WWE.
Just like recent inductees Shinsuke Nakamura, Brock Lesnar, and Tanahashi, AJ Styles more than deserves this accolade from the Wrestling Observer.
They don't shy away from current superstars, but the rule exists that they have to be in wrestling for at least 15 years or be older than 35 with 10 years experience.
