After a year that saw his reign as the Undisputed WWE Champion reach a historic 1,316 days, Roman Reigns has officially been announced as a Hall of Fame headliner albeit not the WWE Hall of Fame.
For almost 30 years, the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" has recognized the greatest performers in the history of the industry, with both active and retired wrestlers, as well as select wrestling historians and journalists, participating in a secret annual vote. This year's edition was headlined by Reigns, with 66.7% of voters. Other inductees including NJPW's Shingo Takagi, WrestleMania I main eventer Paul Orndorff, Canadian wrestler and promoter Johnny Rougeau, three-time AEW World Tag TeamChampions The Young Bucks, lucha libre icons Los Hermanos Dinamita, Dragon Gate icon Cima, former "WWE NXT UK" commissioner and British wrestling pioneer Johnny Saint, and one of wrestling's earliest managers, Bobby Davis.
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The inclusion of the Young Bucks is noteworthy, passing the 60% threshold required for induction alongside Reigns as part of the modern category described by Dave Meltzer as "ridiculously strong," while former AEW and current WWE star CM Punk infamously opposed to the Young Bucks after during and after the incident that became known as "Brawl Out" just missed out on induction with 52.1%. Someone with deep connections to both Reigns and the Bucks, Cody Rhodes, likewise missed out with 48.1%, while current AEW World Champion and Reigns' own former Shield teammate, Jon Moxley, ended up with 28.4% and fellow WWE-turned-AEW star Adam Copeland (Edge) earned 28.4%. Meanwhile,WWE stars Asuka, Kevin Owens, Jimmy & Jey Uso, Sid Vicious, the late Bray Wyatt, and Reigns' on-again off-again stablemate, Sami Zayn, failed to earn 10% of the vote and will thus be excluded from next year's ballot, along with AJPW's Kento Miyahara and AAA's Psycho Clown.
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