The 2023 Lifetime Service inductees for the California Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame were (front, left to right) John Phillips, Michael S. Young (deceased, accepted by his widow Cheryl), Mark “Cal” Calentino, Neal Campbell, (top, l-r) Dr. Kenneth C. Lane, Ricardo “Rich” Trevino, Michael Lengyel and Donald Apodaca. Also inducted were John Beresford (left below) who passed away at 94 on August 3, just before the event, and Tony Leon (right below) who was unable to attend the banquet held in the Laguna Hills Community Center on August 20 because his home in Brawley, east of San Diego, was in the projected path of a rare Category 4 Hurricane that threatened Southern California.

The event still attracted an appreciative and enthusiastic crowd that braved intermittent rain from the first tropical storm to hit the area in 84 years. There were no fatalities reported in the state, and damage to structures was minimal, but the storm brought record-breaking rainfall to some areas, flooding roads and causing mudslides that affected some attendees when they drove home. The storm dumped half the average annual rainfall (5 to 10 inches) on some desert and mountain areas.