The Official Sherdog Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame-3.0

[DannyBoy1985]

Though i nominated Jack Pfefer, im not gonna vote for him this time, but i certainly will down the line. I don't have much of a problem with Pfefer having broke kayfabe and doing that interview, i find it quite interesting as a matter of fact. The "Trust" tried to leave him on the outside & out in the cold of the pro wrestling business and he wanted revenge. If they hadn't messed with him like that then it wouldn't have happened to begin with, but in the end the effects of his having broken kayfabe were only short term. It didn't kill the business anymore than any other time kayfabe was broken, the only thing that has been killed is kayfabe itself.

Anyhow, Pfefer was a innovative and imaginative promoter with a long career in the wrestling business. He saw pro wrestling then for what it is today, entertainment/show, before Vince McMahon Jr was even born much less promoting, and Pfefer promoted it as such himself. He saw the value in various ethnic wrestlers in pro wrestling for the immigrant community, as well as the "freak show" aspect that attracted many curious fans. He helped popularize what were at the time seen as novelties in tag team wrestling & women's wrestling, as well as midget wrestling. Pfefer was also instrumental in the early success & rise of stars & World Champions like Dave Levin & Buddy Rogers, amongst others. At times he'd go into territories and help other promoters get their gates up. Or like he did with Sam Muchnick, send them wrestlers to help them get started.

All in all, Jack Pfefer was good at what he did and lasted so long as a promoter in the wrestling business for a reason. As far as im concerned, he undoubtedly belongs in any pro wrestling HoF before the likes of Eric Bischoff, Jim Crockett Jr or Paul Heyman, amongst others.

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by Its Me Austin

Just read up Jack Pfefer. No way I'd vote for him. Like that idiot WWF guy who showed 20/20 about blading back in the 80's.

"Continental Lover" Eddy Mansfield wasn't a WWF guy and not an idiot either, he did the 20/20 segment because Ole Anderson was trying to screw him. Eddy's whole reason behind exposing the business on 20/20 with his teaching John Stossel how to work a match and showing how blading was done was to help other wrestlers from being screwed by a promoter like he was and so wrestlers, especially the young guys new(er) to the business weren't taken advantage of and were paid. As he put it, wrestlers were treated like slaves and kayfabe was meant to keep the wrestlers under the thumbs of promoters & stupid.

Eddy Mansfield says those were his intentions anyway, and they're noble if true, though only he would know that i guess. It may have worked out to some extent, but whether it did or didn't, that segment surely didn't hurt the wrestling business in the end. Not-to-mention Vince McMahon himself broke kayfabe & exposed the business not too long after that as well. Obviously it's something that's happened multiple times over the years, Mansfield was just the first to do it on national television.

[flowwiththego]

Originally Posted by DannyBoy1985

"Continental Lover" Eddy Mansfield wasn't a WWF guy and not an idiot either, he did the 20/20 segment because Ole Anderson was trying to screw him. Eddy's whole reason behind exposing the business on 20/20 with his teaching John Stossel how to work a match and showing how blading was done was to help other wrestlers from being screwed by a promoter like he was and so wrestlers, especially the young guys new(er) to the business weren't taken advantage of and were paid. As he put it, wrestlers were treated like slaves and kayfabe was meant to keep the wrestlers under the thumbs of promoters & stupid.

Eddy Mansfield says those were his intentions anyway, and they're noble if true, though only he would know that i guess. It may have worked out to some extent, but whether it did or didn't, that segment surely didn't hurt the wrestling business in the end. Not-to-mention Vince McMahon himself broke kayfabe & exposed the business not too long after that as well. Obviously it's something that's happened multiple times over the years, Mansfield was just the first to do it on national television.

Lou Thesz was on a talk show with Mansfield after the 20/20 show aired. He challenged Eddy Mansfield to a match and prove to Thesz that it was fake. Of course Mansfield declined because even at 70 Thesz would have handled him.
The funny part is when Thesz was working for UWFi a few years later he proclaimed all other wrestling fake and the UWFi as real.

[flowwiththego]

Still wouldn't vote for Pfefer, DB. Even without the kayfabe breaking, he was no Curley or Mondt. Too many freak type stuff and low class fake wrestling stars, imo.
If it wasn't for Moolah and the kayfabe incident I doubt most would even remember him.
Good argument though.

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by flowwiththego

Still wouldn't vote for Pfefer, DB. Even without the kayfabe breaking, he was no Curley or Mondt. Too many freak type stuff and low class fake wrestling stars, imo.
If it wasn't for Moolah and the kayfabe incident I doubt most would even remember him.
Good argument though.

To each his own.

[Its Me Austin]

Originally Posted by DannyBoy1985

"Continental Lover" Eddy Mansfield wasn't a WWF guy and not an idiot either, he did the 20/20 segment because Ole Anderson was trying to screw him. Eddy's whole reason behind exposing the business on 20/20 with his teaching John Stossel how to work a match and showing how blading was done was to help other wrestlers from being screwed by a promoter like he was and so wrestlers, especially the young guys new(er) to the business weren't taken advantage of and were paid. As he put it, wrestlers were treated like slaves and kayfabe was meant to keep the wrestlers under the thumbs of promoters & stupid.

Eddy Mansfield says those were his intentions anyway, and they're noble if true, though only he would know that i guess. It may have worked out to some extent, but whether it did or didn't, that segment surely didn't hurt the wrestling business in the end. Not-to-mention Vince McMahon himself broke kayfabe & exposed the business not too long after that as well. Obviously it's something that's happened multiple times over the years, Mansfield was just the first to do it on national television.

Well considering he got blackballed from the sport over the 20/20 thing...yeah, he was an idiot.
Sounds like he's pretty full of himself too. "Do you think wrestling stars of today would be making the huge dollars they are if I had not stepped up and said what I said? I think not." Who does he think he is, Kevin Nash?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...onal-wrestling

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by flowwiththego

Lou Thesz was on a talk show with Mansfield after the 20/20 show aired. He challenged Eddy Mansfield to a match and prove to Thesz that it was fake. Of course Mansfield declined because even at 70 Thesz would have handled him.
The funny part is when Thesz was working for UWFi a few years later he proclaimed all other wrestling fake and the UWFi as real.

Yeah, i don't doubt that even then, Lou Thesz could've handled Eddy Mansfield in a legitimate wrestling match. On that note though, Eddy never called professional wrestling fake, he just said it wasn't real wrestling. It was John Stossel/20-20/ABC who called it fake. At that, Eddy says they even originally wanted to call the piece "Wrestling: It's Fun, but it's Fake", but he had a fit over that title and wouldn't let them call it that. He says ABC double crossed him with some aspects of the piece.

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by Its Me Austin

Well considering he got blackballed from the sport over the 20/20 thing...yeah, he was an idiot.
Sounds like he's pretty full of himself too. "Do you think wrestling stars of today would be making the huge dollars they are if I had not stepped up and said what I said? I think not." Who does he think he is, Kevin Nash?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...onal-wrestling

Ole Anderson was already trying to have Eddy blackballed from the business before he did 20/20 and Eddy wasn't wrestling at the time that he did it, and that's why he did the 20/20 piece to begin with. It wouldn't have happened if Ole hadn't messed with him and his career in the first place, so you can thank Ole for that one as well. Then again, 20/20 may have just found somebody else to break kayfabe anyways.

I don't know about wrestlers today making what they do being exactly because of Eddy breaking kayfabe on 20/20, but him exposing pro wrestling on that segment did have an impact and help change some things. Eddy's career as a pro wrestler was definitely over after that, but he had others things to fall back on and ended up back in the business, running his own wrestling promotion for awhile in the 90's anyhow. I find what Eddy did to have been pretty smart on his part and it sure smartened up a lot of fans & wrestlers alike.

And what does Kevin Nash have to do with Eddy Mansfield, lol?

[DannyBoy1985]

Finally sent my promoter nominations in.

You know, im kinda surprised nobody nominated Pinkie George. Ah, oh well....

[flowwiththego]

The votes have been counted. The next two inductees into the Sherdog Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame are:

Sam Muchnick
Don Owen

Muchnick was the leading vote getter with 21 points listed on five ballots.
Owen had 17 points and was listed on 4 ballots.