Every baseball fan knows who the first five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame were (Babe Ruth, Christy Matthewson, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, & Walter Johnson). Those five guys were major stars who stood head and shoulders above the rest, and increased the popularity of the sport. True titans of baseball. So... you are on the selection committee for the first ever Independent Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (for argument's sake, let's say any North American promotion in existence after 1990 aside from WWE, TNA, WCW, AAA, CMLL, or ECW)... who are your FIVE first-ballot inductees?

Chris Hero
Low Ki
Bryan Danielson
CM Punk
Christopher Daniels

Guys who just miss the cut:
Samoa Joe
John Zandig
Homicide
Necro Butcher
Mike Quackenbush

I think first you start with the people who've created the promotions that made the indies what they are now. The promoters:

Gabe Sapolsky and Rob Feinsten (who created ROH, arguably the most famous of all "indy" promotions)
Allison Danger and Dave Prazak (who actively work to popularize women's wrestling as more than a side show with SHIMMER)
Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth (who work to popularize the "Lucha Libre" and "Puroresu" styles, as well as to repopularize tag-team wrestling with CHIKARA Pro, in addition to the numerous wrestlers they've trained)
John Zandig (Created the top "hardcore" promotion in CZW, which is also very well known for it's junior heavyweight divison)

After that, you then induct the top draws among the indies:

Bryan Danielson
CM Punk
Low Ki
Chris Hero
Mike Quackenbush (also inducted as a wrestler)


Sara Del Rey
Cheerleader Melissa
Allison Danger (also as a wrestler)
MsChif
Lacey

First class -

Chris Hero
Mike Quackenbush
Bryan Danielson
CM Punk
Sara Del Rey
Samoa Joe
Zandig
American Kickboxer (I know I'm gonna get schtick for this, but he trained a crapload of wrestlers)
Claudio Castagnoli
Delirious