t's time for the 2014 Hall of Fame elections.

This ballot is being sent out to major wrestling stars, past and present, major management figures in the industry, writers and historians.

If you are getting this, you are 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 or excelling in ones 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 be someone so outstanding in one or two of those categories that they deserve inclusion.

The names listed 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.

Longevity should be a prime consideration rather than a hot two or three year run, unless someone is so significant as a trend-setter or a historical figure in the business, or valuable to the industry, that they need to be included. However, just longevity without being either a long-term main eventer, a top draw and/or a top caliber in-ring performer should be seen as relatively meaningless.

The election is broken down into a number of categories. You should check each category for wrestlers that you feel you are familiar enough with based on geography that you've either traveled or are familiar with, and based on the time you have followed pro wrestling. You do not have to vote for a wrestler in every category you've checked.

The ballot is also broken down to wrestlers and those who are not pro wrestlers but have been valuable parts of the industry.

The maximum number of wrestlers that you can vote for all the categories is ten. You can pick as few as zero if you don't believe anyone on this list deserves inclusion.

For wrestling executives, managers, announcers and other outside the ring performers, you can vote for them and they are not counted against the ten. You can vote for as many as five of them.

All responses are confidential. There is nothing to worry about politically about any involvement in this process. Your selections will not be revealed unless you choose to do so yourself.

Anyone who receives mention on 60% of the ballots from the geographical region and time frame (broken down as Continental United States & Canada; Mexico; Japan; Europe; and Hawaii/Australia/New Zealand) will be added to the Hall of Fame in the class of 2014.

If you are unfamiliar with any of the candidates due to geography of having never seen them, that is fine. Ballots are sent to many people from all over the world and from different wrestling cultures so that everyone has as fair a shot at possible.

The breakdown for modern and historical performers is 30 years ago, or 1984. So if the last year the person was a headliner, or was a key figure in the industry, was prior to 1984, they would be in the historical class.

All performers who receive mention on 10% to 59.9% of the ballots from their geographical region or era will remain 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 can return in two years based on if there is significant feedback from voters who say they will vote for them. This is mostly for wrestlers who are still active who may improve their career legacy, but can be for retired wrestlers if voters believe they should be put on or returned to the ballot.

In addition, in following the lead of the baseball Hall of Fame, which is the model here, starting this year we have a 15-year-rule. The following candidates have been on the ballot since 2000. In baseball, this would be their last year of eligibility. Here, if 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 in two years if it is more than 30 years since their career as a Hall Fame level performer is up:

The following candidates will be dropped from next year's ballot unless they are elected in or garner 50% of the vote:

Gene & Ole Anderson
Cien Caras
Carlos Colon
Gran Hamada
Volk Han
Owen Hart
Gorilla Monsoon
Fabulous Moolah
Pedro Morales
Dick Murdoch
Rock & Roll Express
Seiji Sakaguchi
Jimmy Snuka
Wilbur Snyder
Jesse Ventura

Please return this ballot by October 5th. You can e-mail the ballot back to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or fax it to 408-244-3402 or mail (please do so by September 28th) to Wrestling Observer, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228.

Please check by every category you are familiar with

I FOLLOWED THE HISTORICAL PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES
Gene & Ole Anderson
The Assassins (Joe Hamilton & Tom Renesto)
Red Bastien
June Byers
Pepper Gomez
Dick Hutton
Pedro Morales
Ciclon Negro
Kinji Shibuya
Wilbur Snyder
John Tolos
Enrique Torres
Von Brauners & Saul Weingeroff
Tim "Mr. Wrestling" Woods
Johnny "Mr. Wrestling II" Walker

I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES
Junkyard Dog
Edge
Owen Hart
Curt Hennig
Ivan Koloff
Brock Lesnar
Fabulous Moolah
Dick Murdoch
Ken Patera
C.M. Punk
Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
Sgt. Slaughter
Jimmy Snuka
Sting
Ultimate Warrior

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN JAPAN CANDIDATES
Jun Akiyama
George Gordienko
Gran Hamada
Volk Han
Masahiko Kimura
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Yuji Nagata
Seiji Sakaguchi
Mike & Ben Sharpe
Minoru Suzuki
Kiyoshi Tamura
Akira Taue

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN MEXICO CANDIDATES
Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata & El Brazo
Cien Caras
Hector Garza
Ultimo Guerrero
Karloff Lagarde
Blue Panther
L.A. Park
Huracan Ramirez
El Signo & El Texano & Negro Navarro
Vampiro
Villano III
Dr. Wagner Jr.

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN EUROPE CANDIDATES
Jim Breaks
Big Daddy
Giant Haystacks
Horst Hoffman
Billy Joyce
Kendo Nagasaki
Jackie Pallo
Rollerball Mark Rocco
Johnny Saint
Otto Wanz

I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC ISLANDS/CARIBBEAN/AFRICA CANDIDATES
Spyros Arion
Johnny Barend
Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy
Carlos Colon
King Kong Czaja
John DaSilva
Domenic DeNucci
Killer Karl Kox
Mark Lewin
Mario Milano
Jan Wilkens

NON-WRESTLERS
Bill Apter
Dave Brown
Jim Crockett Jr.
Jim Crockett Sr.
Gary Hart
Jimmy Hart
Howard Finkel
Jerry Jarrett
Larry Matysik
Gorilla Monsoon
Gene Okerluind
Don Owen
George Scott
Jesse Ventura
Stanley Weston