The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame consists of the most important and most talented wrestlers and personalities that the industry has ever seen. Each year, a handful of wrestlers are anointed with the unique honor of receiving 60% of the vote from a wide pool of current and former wrestlers, journalists, and historians, thus etching their name into the history books and cementing their status as a true all-time great.

Roman Reigns is not worthy of being inducted into this Hall of Fame.

A career-long failure who has only recently turned it around thanks to the help of a talented supporting cast, Reigns has failed upwards since he first donned a tactical vest in The Shield. He has been shockingly unremarkable in the ring, largely a non-entity at the box office, and offers no historical significance despite his constant presence on TV for the world’s biggest wrestling promotion. 2023, to most pundits, has been the best year of his career, but a vote for Reigns would cast a shameful shadow over a Hall of Fame that, at times, has had a cruel and rigid voting process.

Dave Meltzer describes the criteria for his Hall of Fame as “…a combination of drawing power, being a great in-ring performer or excelling in one’s 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.”

I fail to find Reigns to excel in any of these categories, let alone all three.