The 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony opens with the usual Red Carpet pre-show. Byron Saxton and co-host Maria Menounos welcome us.
They hype the show and send us to Charly Caruso, who is with Shinsuke Nakamura. They talk about how much Nakamura loves New York City.
Kayla Braxton is with Dana Warrior and the Warrior girls, and Dana sees WWE as family, and gives an inspirational speech about being your best.
The Hardys, including Reby, are with Byron and Maria, and Jeff says he can’t wait for the Andre Battle Royal, so since Matt won last year, Jeff wants to win this time. Jeff is looking forward to Harlem Heat going in tonight, and Matt talks about DX transforming the business, and how tag team wrestling is changing the world.
Charly is with Billy and Peyton, and she says they look stunning, and they say they know. Peyton and Billie are excited to see Torrie go into the Hall of Fame. They’re excited for their match tomorrow and have been working toward this since the day they met.
We’re back, and Kayla is with the Lashley family, and Bobby is beaming over his family who get to see him live on the biggest show of the year.
Byron and Maria are with Baron Corbin, and they touch on how much people hate him being Kurt Angle’s last opponent, and he hopes to retire Angle a loser. Maria asks what it’s going to look like tomorrow, and Corbin says it’s going to be brutal. I love shoot comments that aren’t meant to be shoot comments. He’s not intimidated by Angle, and he’s looking forward to DX going in tonight, and credits Billy Gunn helping make him who he is today.
Charly is with Drake Maverick and his fiance Renee, and he enjoys walking around New York City, and he can’t wait to celebrate. He can’t wait to see DX go in, and he used to go crotch chop the teachers and his parents when he was a kid.
Kayla is with Ali and his wife, and he’s looking forward to the battle royal tomorrow. He’s looking forward to seeing the Hart Foundation go in.
Byron and Maria are with Alexa Bliss, who says being the host means Wrestlemania is all about her. Byron asks what the plan is, and she can’t wait to see the SNL guys in the battle royal. She hasn’t seen them wrestle yet, but she knows Braun Strowman terrified them. They talk about fashion stuff.
Charly Caruso is with Titus O’Neill, who is joined by his sons and they are really excited to see, and I quote, “Stevie Ray and… uh… uhhh….. Booker.” I think this may be the first recorded instance of “Stevie Ray and that other guy” in history. They talk about women taking the spotlight, and what path all three of this year’s main eventers took to get here. They’re all looking forward to Kofimania tomorrow, and he’s going to stand in Gorilla for that, which means nothing to 90% of the people watching this.
Mandy Rose and her mother are here, and they talk about girl time and hanging around town and her mother’s new niece. She’s confident as always going into tomorrow.
Byron are with the Usos and Naomi, and they talk about all the great teams going into the Hall of Fame tonight, especially given Booker T helped them get into the business. Maria admits she’s looking forward to Honky Tonk Man and Brutus Beefcake going in. They talk about their title defense tomorrow, and admit that Byron was their first manager.
Kayla is with Buddy Murphy, who isn’t nervous about tomorrow, but is nervous about wearing a white suit. They admire his buddy’s outfit, and he is excited about DX going in.
Charly is with Kalisto, his mask-clad wife, and maskless friend Josh. He says everyone here looks great. Gran Metalik comes in and Kalisto translates that Gran Metalik is really just here to party. He says he’s small, sneaky and quick, and then we throw it to Byron and Maria with Paige, and they talk about the movie and working with the Rock. She was excited about how well it did, and said it was like 95% accurate. She tells girls to be confident, and let haters be your biggest motivators. She’s excited to see women main eventing, especially Becky Lynch, who she says she’s known since they were like 12. Paige says wants it to be Becky winning tomorrow night, because she’s worked so hard for it.
Kayla is with Rey Mysterio ahd Dominick, and she says Dominick has some big shoes to fill (despite Dominick being like two feet taller than his father…are we SURE he wasn’t Eddie’s?), but Rey says his training has been great and he’s looking forward to what he accomplishes. Rey says he’s hurt, but still plans to go forward with the match, and has spent his entire time since getting into New York putting ice on his ankle, and using unspecified “advanced medical technologies” to get his ankle as good as it can be for tomorrow. He’s looking forward to the entire Hall of Fame show tonight.
Charly is with Tony and Elizabeth Nese, and he admits she dressed him tonight. He’s been enjoying the entire weekend, but his focus is on Buddy Murphy tomorrow. He’s looking forward to seeing DX go into the Hall of Fame.
Kayla is with Bobby Roode and his wife, and he talks about possibly facing Chad Gable in the Andre battle royal.
Braun crashes Byron and Maria’s segment, and he says he has nothing to do tomorrow. I love shoot comments that aren’t meant to be shoot comments. He’ll crush the SNL guys, Maria has some ideas on how to destroy them, and Braun no-sells Byron’s follow-up joke.
The party is on, because FAAROOQ, GODFATHER, AND TEDDY LONG ARE HERE! Kayla asks them what it’s like to be Hall of Famers watching their peers get inducted. They talk about who they are looking forward to, and Godfather is looking forward to seeing women in the main event of Wrestlemania. That joke writes itself.
Byron and Maria are with Miz, Maryse, and their respective parents. Miz says he is fighting for his family this weekend, and Mr. Miz says he never expected his son to accomplish all this, but he’s very proud of him. They ask Miz and Maryse what they talk about in bed (in front of their parents, no less).
Kayla is with Sonya Deville and her girlfriend, and she talks about the bond that will get she and Mandy to the end of the battle royal, then they’ll jump off together.
Andrade and Charlotte Flair are here, and this is their coming out party as a couple. Tomorrow, the main event will show that you can do anything, and they talk about Torrie Wilson going in tonight.
We go back to Maria and Saxton for the end of the Red Carpet pre-show.
2019 WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony:
The 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony opens up with a video package. We’re live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City as we see the Superstars in their seats on the floor. Hosts Corey Graves and Renee Young are introduced, and out they come. Graves welcomes us. They have a normal WWE arena set up tonight, with stage, ramp and ring. There is no longer a big stage. The inductees will go to the ring for the honors. Graves and Renee lead us to a video package for the first inductee, The Honky Tonk Man.
The Honky Tonk Man
We hit the video of the Honky Tonk Man, and here to induct him is Jimmy Hart. He first met Wayne Ferris when he managed him in Memphis in 1979, and then he went to New York to manage King Kong Bundy and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, then one time the office called to tell him they had someone new to manage, and it was Wayne Ferris dressed like Elvis. He got Elvis’ best friend to let him into Graceland to film the promo videos hyping his arrival, then they recorded some music for him, then Honky won the Intercontinental Title from Ricky Steamboat and never looked back. He was so hot that Diamond Dallas Page drove his pink Cadillac from Tampa to Toronto to drive him to the ring at Wrestlemania VI, and now he introduces the Honky Tonk Man.
Honky comes out in a pink Cadillac with Peggy Sue (not sure who is in the gimmick tonight), and he starts by thanking Jimmy for everything he’s done for him, because otherwise he’d never be here. He thanks WWE for inducting him, it’s an honor to be inducted with such a great class, and every dream he’s had came true 1000 times, but this is the one he never dreamed would happen. The fans chant that he deserves it as he tells us that he has a saying to never say never in WWE, because you never know what’s going to happen, and he is living proof of that. The video package sent him back in time, and there’s something he’d like to share, and it’s not about him and his career, but how the Honky Tonk Man gimmick happened. He had a lot of people help him whom he’d like to thank, because it’s been a good trip, he wouldn’t change a thing, and would do it all over again. He was at a point in his career that would get the wheels going, and he had a vision of this character in his mind, and thought he needed something to give his career a boost. He was stuck on a name, and heard a song on the radio called “I’m A Honky Tonk Man” that described the character he wanted to create. He showed up one night in the gimmick, and the promoter asked if he could play a guitar, and Honky said not a bit, and the promoter said that would make it even better. The Honky Tonk Man was off and running, he took the character to Calgary, and that’s when WWE was selling out all over America, and they came to Calgary one night, and he got a spot on the show and a friend he hadn’t seen in years said the gimmick would fit right in with WWE, and wanted to recommend him. He wanted to be part of it, and it was on his recommendation that WWE hired him on the spot, and if he hadn’t made that recommendation, there might have never been a Honky Tonk Man here, and he doesn’t know how he could ever thank him enough, they’re friends to this day, and all he can say is thank you, and I LOVE YOU, BROTHER. WWE shined up the character and did something with it that he couldn’t: they gave it life, sent him to every major arena around the world, and made him a household name. This character will never die, it will live forever, and that is the power of WWE, and for all this, he’ll be forever grateful to WWE and an honor to be a part of this family. They call for the music and Honky starts performing his theme. Hart and the girl dance. They exit the modified ring and dance with people at ringside, including The New Day and Kofi Kingston’s sons. They continue performing the song and head to the back.
Torrie Wilson
We go back to Corey and Renee, who play a video of the history of Degeneration X, then we go to our next inductee, Torrie Wilson. We hit the career video, and to induct her after nearly 13 years away from WWE, Stacy Keibler! I see she’s also on the Torrie Wilson anti-aging plan. Before we get to Torrie, she wants to thank the fans for creation the women’s revolution, and she’s sure they’re as excited as she is to watch Ronda, Charlotte, and Becky make history tomorrow night. The Becky chant interrupts Stacy’s monologue, as she talks about Torrie’s strength and determination. When Stacy was in college, she entered a contest to become a Nitro Girl, and here she was surrounded by the stars she watched on TV all these years, and she was welcomed there by Torrie, and she’ll never forget how kind and sweet she is, and that was the start of a friendship that’s still going on 20 years later. They’ve been by each other’s side for all that time, and were even roommates for years, and they gave it their all together. Torrie is constantly evolving and challenging herself, and always pushing others to be their best. her #1 purpose is to leave this world a better place, and she is the embodiment of the evolution of women, and that’s why she’s proud to induct her as the next member of the Fall of Fame.
Torrie comes out to a big hug from Stacy and says it’s been a rough week, but she wants to take us back to 1984 when she got a note saying yes, no, or maybe, then checked yes and passed it back, and later realized she just agreed to date the biggest geek in school. She spent the rest of school hiding from the kid, spent the summer eating, and is back at school when “Mr Suave” comes back, and he comes up next to her and goes “What’s up, fatso? What happened to you?” then he chased her around the playground calling her fatso. They put a picture of her at age 8 up on the screen as she talks about what a loser she felt like and how she cried all night. She didn’t want to be a fatso, and made a vow right then that she would make him eat his damn words. Fast forward to her first day in WWE, her stomach is in knots as she walks in and sees Stone Cold and the Rock, and tried to take the long way around them, and walks right into Bubba Ray Dudley and thought she had heat already. She wanted to avoid everyone because she’s shy and had no confidence, so she decided what if she stopped being shy, and everyone thinks fear is something you just overcome, and we all face it in some way. But fear only has one enemy, and that’s a confident persona, and thanks to WWE, she found a confidence she’d have never gotten anywhere else, by playing someone she wished she could be. The fans pushed her to push through her fear, and that helped in all areas of your life, and you don’t have to be a WWE superstar to find your confidence and have your moment. What they taught her was invaluable, and if she can give that back in some way, maybe it will help you too. She wants to share that the first thing you have to do is realize that permission is for pansies, and nobody asked the guy who didn’t think she belonged in the WWE Hall of Fame, she didn’t ask the guy up in the stands there who thought she sucked if he would put her boots on and spend a night living her life, because he wouldn’t. She showed up here for the fans who helped her play who she wished she could be outside of the ring, who knows she is a badass whether anyone else believes it or not. She tells people to forget the failures, and the fans might not be surprised by this, but she wasn’t hired for her wrestling skills. She admits she sucked in the ring, and even dancing for the fans was rough (her words), and she came back because she forgot the failures. Also, she wants people to summon their swagger, and even when they feel dorky as hell, you have to be who you want to be. One time she recalled trying to summon her swagger at Judgment Day 2003, it was a poseoff thing against one of the sexiest and most confident women she ever saw named Sable, and she was praying for God to strike her dead or give her five minutes of rhythm, and she ended up not getting either. The women have come a long way since then, and people can win their struggle with fear anytime. She said even the people who were real jerkoffs to her (again, her words) made her who she is today, and she loves Kevin and Hulk for giving her the opportunity that got her here today. She also mentions Fit Finlay, and she’s so sorry for all the times she cried when she screwed up, and says Finlay is the most patient guy in the world, even when she had a hard time taking herself seriously, and he helped her realize what she is made of, and she thinks Finlay is a big reason we get to see women main eventing Wrestlemania tomorrow. The fans chant “thank you Finlay” as she brings up her ex-husband Billy Kidman, and she knows there were 1000s of times he wanted to bash her head with a chair and didn’t, and he helped her get through the business in her early days, and she also thanks Stacy for being there for her because nobod understands her journey like Stacy does. Stacy did a lot of things to get heat early on and she was worried about it rubbing off on her, and she claimed Michelle McCool as her road wife before Undertaker got his hands on her, and they spent hours driving around and contemplating life. She mentions Lisa/Victoria, who she calls one of teh craziest people you’ll ever meet, and they were friends way before wrestling, and she builds up everyone around her, whether they suck in the ring or not, and she loves her and thanks her for being her friend. She shouts out Candice Michelle, who was all the things she wished she could be outside of the ring, and she doesn’t feel that way all the time, but she came in as a sexpot and became a champion. She can’t forget her family, and starts to cry as she talks about the ride her family has ridden with her, and she starts to talk about her dad, and tears up as the fans cheer Al. She says her dad passed away two days ago, and she was glad she got to have this experience with her, and he came here and acted like an ass to spend some tmie with her, and she thanks Dawn Marie for making his life. Most of all she wants to thank the fans, who are the only reason she is standing here right now. They are not easy to win over, but she loves how hardcore they are, and thanks them for letting her be a part of their lives, and apparently, their puberty from what she hears a lot. That gets a BIG pop. She wants to thank (I couldn’t catch who because the fans chant “thank you Torrie”) and also thanks her fourth grade boyfriend for giving her the motivation to become who she is.
– Miz and Shane make faces at each other, then Corey and Renee take us to this year’s Legacy inductees: Bruiser Brody, Jim Barnett, Hisashi Shinma, Luna Vachon, “Playboy” Buddy Rose, Primo Carnera, Professor Toru Tanaka, SD Jones, Wahoo McDaniel, and Joe Cohen.
Hart Foundation
Corey and Renee introduce Joe Cohen to the audience, then we hit the video for our next inductees, the Hart Foundation. Nobody inducting them, but accepting the award is Bret Jart and Jim Neidhart’s daughter, Natalya. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch are wearing Bret Hart sunglasses as they make their way to the podium, and all Nattie can say is wow, because she had to put herself in her dad’s shoes to think about what he might say. She thanks her mother for having Jim’s back every step of the way, and she wants to thank Bret for helping Jim discover the potential he had, and also the WWE Universe for showing the Hart Foundation love since 1985. All of them made this happen, and her father’s favorite team to wrestle was the British Bulldogs, and she knows the Bulldogs, Owen, Stu, and her dad are all watching this together. New York was his favorite place to wrestle, hands down, and the Hart Foundation inspired teams to follow them for decades to come, and rattles off about a dozen teams from the last decade. Her father was approached about doing a book, and she thought it would be a great thing for him to tell about all the cool stuff he did even outside of WWE, and in what was the last text she got from him, he said the greatest thing he ever did besides be a father to three girls was become a WWE superstar. He was a wrestler, and that’s what he loved most.
She turns it over to Bret, who says it’s an honor to be here because many are called and few are chosen. It still hurts having just lost Jim last summer. He loved him, and he was the best friend and most hilarious cellmate anyone can hope for. Wrestling is tough, and Jim made him laugh his ass off every day, and every day was an adventure. He mentions how Dr. D just slapped John Stossel. Wrestlemania was coming up, and he found out WWE was finally going to do something with him: he’d be Cowboy Bret Hart, and would have an action figure with a horse and everything. He said sure, but when he told Anvil and Adrian Adonis about it, they laughed at him the entire way, and by the tiem he got back to the hotel that night, he had totally changed his mind about Cowboy Bret Hart. He knocked on George Scott’s door at 1 am and said he didn’t want to be a cowboy, because where he comes from, he better be a real cowboy if he wanted to call himself that. Scott said they’d come up with something else, and in that moment, he suggested teaming him with Anvil, giving them Jimmy as a manager, and calling them the Hart Foundation. Scott said he could never be a heel, and said to hang in there, but after another few weeks of no TV tapings, he decided to quit, but that’s when Scott said they’d go with the Hart Foundation idea. He realized at that moment that he never asked Jim about any of this, and…a couple guys jump into the ring and attack Bret. Security swarms in as we keep the cameras on the crowd. We come back to the ring as we see a bunch of wrestlers and agents hit the ring to help Bret and Nattie, and the assholes get dragged out of the building as the fans chant that they’re a-holes, which I can’t disagree with. Drake Maverick says to pay no attention to that man, and to keep this going. Nattie says it’s time to get back to the speech, and the fans pop HUGE for Bret as he continues saying he never asked Jim about any of this and hoped he liked the idea, and luckily, he did. He hopes he can describe what it was like being a heel team in WWF 1985, and it’s a bit like what happened just now. He thinks they were the most wild and fun nights in his life, and he wants to tip his hat to the teams back then who, like he and Jim, were often top workers from the territories who were just thrown together. He runs down practically every team from the 80s boom period, and the memory of those golden days never left him, and she remembers having some brilliant matches with the Bulldogs, and Vince was never there to see them work.
One night, his parents flew in from Canada to watch them work the Killer Bees, and Stu didn’t like the idea of him working heel, but it was her mother’s first time in a wrestling arena since the 40s, and they went 20 minutes, and were dirty cheating heels, and on the way out, he pointed at his mother and went “Sit down and shut up, you old bag!” and then told his father to “sit down and shut your mouth!” before coming to the back to standing ovations. Vince held out his hand and told him it was a great match, and it was the first time Vince ever noticed anything they did. One time he was riding with King Kong Bundy, and the Foundation was on early while Bundy was working the main event, and when they went back to their car after the show, Bundy and Anvil saw an angry mob waiting for them, and Bundy said they needed security. Bret was new to being a heel, so the three of them pushed by the fans and walked right to their cars, and he got kissed by pretty girls while they got spat on and punched. They asked if he was trying to get them killed, and he thought about it, apoligized, and said he was new to being a heel in America. He was also driving in New York for the first time, and they pulled out of the parking lot right into the same angry mob, and he just honked and the fans saw Bundy and wanted to get him, and they surrounded the car until a cop got them out of there. They jumped a curb, and he wasn’t sure where they were going, but the Anvil (holding a map upside down) led him in a complete circle, and brought them back on the same street again. He honked at them again, and the cop and mob couldn’t believe it, and Bundy called him a stupid dumbass. He also wants to thank Jimmy Hart because he belongs up there with them, then he even name drops Danny Davis (making Mike Johnson’s day) and appreciates him getting them the tag title. He thinks back on being so young and full of life, being a heel was the biggest joy he could have, and he thanks the Brain Busters, Powers of Pain, the Rockers, Legion of Doom (who they only faced one time), the Nasty Boys, and he and Anvil had a story with each team and never used stories on more than one team. They stood side-by-side facing the world, and said Jim was a one of a kind character, and the greatest thing to ever happen to him wasn’t the call to go to Calgary and train with Stu, it was the love between he and Bret’s ssiter Ellie, who is a bottomless pit of patience. He knows Nattie couldn’t have made Jim more proud, and Jim Neidhart was always a true friend and always there to make him smile even in his darkest times. The Hart Foundation lived life to the fullest, broke lots of rules, and made new ones. Bret has lost too many friends these last few years, and one thing he’s learned is his friends won’t all grow old with him. He never had a disagreement with Anvil, which is especially remarkable because they were always together, and they’re proud of their accomplishments, but even more proud of their friendship. One day, he hopes to have a meeting with his lost friends, and when that day comes, he wants a path straight to the Anvil. They lived by a few rules, and he reads off a few deep thoughts of the Anvil, especially how 99% of people don’t get to live out their dreams, and he wants to thank WWE for helping him follow all the dreams they had. Now that they’re officially in the Hall of Fame, he can say with pride that they are the best there is, was, or ever will be. A clip of Anivl on screen saying “That’s right, Hitman baby! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” comes up on screen as we wrap the segment.
Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake
Corey and Renee send us to the video for our next inductee, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, and here to induct him is Hulk Hogan, who “Too Sweets” Hall and Nash on his way to the ring. He says “LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, MEAN GENE!” before saying he and Brutus were in Tampa watching Dusty Rhodes wrestle, and he tells the story about Hiro Matsuda breaking his leg, and wrestling for a while before quitting to manage a bar. President Carter shut down Cape Canaveral, and he had to shut down the bar, and he called Superstar Billy Graham, who set him up to work for the Fullers, and he took Beefcake with him. Beefcake pretty much trained at those shows, were on the road for years together, then they went their separate ways for a while, and he talks about the million names they had for Brutus before he became the Barber. He thought they were a great team, except they never had any tag matches, and they weren’t a polished team like the Harts or Road Warriors, but the matches they did eventually have were great because of the way Brutus sold. He said Brutus got good and the fans reacted, and he got better and better because he has wrestling in his blood. He went through a lot of problems with his parents dying and then the parasailing accident, and because he loves the business so much, it’s only fitting to ask WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN BRUTUS “THE BARBER” BEEFCAKE HAS A HAIRCUT FOR YOU, DUDE?
Beefcake says if anyone told him as a kid in Tampa that he’d be traveling the world with WWE and standing here tonight, he’d have thought they were crazy. His life has been super crazy, and he’d like to thank WWE for taking a chance on him, giving him an identity, and an ability to put food on his family’s table. This is an incredible reward, and he is honored to receive it. He wants to express his gratitude for the recognition he’s received, and who knew the guy in the front row heckling the wrestlers at the aromry would become his best friend Hulk Hogan, and he thanks Hogan for the good times they had and the good times to come. He talks about getting that call from Hulk asking him to become a wrestler, and says he’s his friend until the end. The next call came from WWE, the big break, and the first idea was a butler type character called Baron Beefcake, and he wasn’t digging the name too much (no offense to Baron Corbin), but they’re all sitting around when Hulk throws out the name Brutus, like Popeye. He tightened up his look a bit and went back to New York, walked in and wondered how this could not make money. That’s all he heard, and it was the best feeling in his life, and that’s when Brutus Beefcake took off. He got the Barber gimmick and hated it at first, and he’s backstage getting mad that they gave him such a terrible gimmick, and again Hulk calmed him down and suggested putting a guy to sleep with a sleeper, then cutting their hair after the matches. Beefcake said he didn’t even think of that, and said it might just work, and thanks Pat Patterson for giving him the gimmick. He thanks his wife for rescuing hmi because he needed rescuing, also his family here and watching at home, especially his grandson Gino and daughter Alanna. He thanks Greg Valentine, Kenny Casanova for helping with the book, DDP, Marty Jannetty, Wade Boggs, and people ask him what his favorite match is, but Summerslam 1989 teaming with Hulk against Macho Man and Zeus, facing Hulk in California in 1985 in front of a bunch of Hell’s Angels wearing Hulk Hogan shirts, the Piper-Adonis match where he got his gimmick, Wrestlemania 6 against Mr Perfect with the Genius there, and then cut the Genius’ hair even though Genius had no idea he was supposed to get his hair cut. Savage wanted to kick his ass until Patterson explained what happened. The only way he can describe those times was electrifying, and above all, he wants to thank God for sparing his life after the accident, and he was so close to going out at that time, and it gave him a second chance to be standing here tonight. He also announces that he just renewed his barber’s license, and wants to give Shawn Michaels a shoutout, and not for putting Marty Jannetty through the Barber Shop window (which he still owes him $350 for), but for letting him practice his skills by shaving his head. He is happy to be cutting and strutting his way into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Warrior Award
Our next inductee is Sue Aitchinson, who has been the driving force behind WWE’s philanthrophy work, including Make A Wish. Dana Warrior comes out to introduce the Warrior Award, and how the Warrior inspired a generation, and his Warriors grew up and raised their own little Warriors, and taught them to always believe. She starts to cry as she talks about how this year’s recipient is very close to the hearts of everyone here due to her hard work and years of service. Sue has no shortage of guts, she is passionate and persistent, and every one of the boys who has worked beside her has a story about her, and she had to wrangle many of the legends, including the man this award is named after. She’s never afraid to kick some…Big Apple, and it is an honor to introduce John Cena to speak some more on Sue.
Out comes Cena, who is promptly informed by the crowd that he sucks. He says he must have wandered into the audience participation part of the program, then says he learned a lot from Sue, and the most important is that there are two ways of looking at things: how can this place help me, and how can I help this place? The fans start dueling Cena chants, as he says Sue operated from the position of asking how she can help. She is the reason WWE has a relationship with Make A Wish, and that partnership has given him a wonderful perspective on life. He owes all of that to Sue because of four words: how can I help? And now that he knows there is energy here, it takes him great pride to ask the fans for their help in showing her the respect she deserves and introduces Sue Aitchinson. Rey Mysterio helps walk her down the ramp, then Cena leads her into the ring.
Sue says she was shocked to hear she was winning this award, and she thanks the McMahons, and the word that came to mind was inspiration, and that’s what she gets from the kids they work with. She first started with a kid who lost both legs to cancer, and she set him up to meet Hulk Hogan. She mentions Conor Michalek and his wish to meet Daniel Bryan, and then he was asked to be a guest at Wrestlemania. She helped Conor’s dad wrestle with the reality of what happened to his son, and while Conor left this world, he made an impact and became a recipient of the Warrior Award, and now we have Conor’s Cure to help raise money for sick children. It take a village to raise a child, and the same to grant a wish, and she thanks the team who surrounds her to help do this work. Most importantly, she wants to recognize the WWE superstars like DX, the Undertaker, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, the Bellas, Charlotte, Sasha, and also the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage, She is blessed to have so many wonderful talents to make sure these kids get a wish they will never forget, and WWE leads the pack in the number of wishes granted. Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan, the Rock, and John Cena have all been given awards for the greatest number of wishes granted by anybody, with Cena leading the pack at 619. Nobody else has achieved this, and Justin Bieber tried to claim he did more, but she immediately picked up the phone to call Make A Wish and dispute that. She will finish with a word of insipration, and she is happy to say most of the kids recover and go on to live happy lives, and one of her top motivators is here tonight, a former Wisher who met the Rock 15 years ago, kept in touch, and is here with his two kids today, Jody Phillips. Jody stands up to applaud Sue and thank the fans for applauding him, and he is ushered onto the stage to join Sue. She says it’s the greatest thing to put smiles on these faces, she is truly humbled, and wishes do come true, so let’s keep on wishing.
Harlem Heat
Another DX video of them causing all kinds of havoc for the McMahons and other people over the years. We go back to Corey and Renee, who throw us to the video for Harlem Heat, our next inductees (they even included the infamous Spring Stampede promo of Booker calling Hulk Hogan something very not nice, though they cut the clip before he said the word). No inductor again, and out come Stevie Ray and Booker T. They both look every bit as ready to go as they ever did. Stevie is still a monster. Booker talks about how Stevie always had his back since he was little, and he just wanted to do everything Stevie did. They lost their parents when they were young and he had to watch Booker’s back even more. He ended up going to prison, but Stevie still had his back, and every time they did it would be about wrestling and what Hulk and Piper were doing. When he came home, his brother had his back, and he helped Booker get a job, on the condition that he does it to his best no matter what it is. To this day, he’s been doing that job to the best of his ability. He wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for his brother, because he is truly living Stevie’s dream. He had weight belts made for them that said Mr. Ebony 1 and Mr Ebony 2, and to this day, he still wants to be like his big brother. He’s going to pass it to his brother now because he’s been living his dream, and it’s time for him to wake up.
Stevie said they never started out as Harlem Heat, and they never planned to be a tag team, and they were trained by Ivan Putski and Scott Casey, and they started out in Putski’s organization, but that company closed down within months. Booker thought it was over before it started, but then they got a call from Tugboat Taylor and eventually wound up in the GWF, and he was supposed to go there as a solo tryout, but brought Booker with him and Eddie Gilbert, who was booking at the time, and Booker looked like a wrestling version of John Shaft, so Gilbert asked if Booker worked too, and decided to put them together as a team. A week later, they come back to Global and wants to make them a babyface team even though they had never tagged before, they came up with Stevie Ray and Booker T and became the Ebony Experience, and they got the worst team ever as a tryout, Eddie Gilbert got fired, and Booker again thought it was over before it started. Stevie says they are going to do what Scott Casey taught them to do, went out there and made the bad team look better than they ever did in their lives. Stevie got the hot tag and went over, and Global said they’re not giving them a job but to come back next week, and a month later, the place was sold out for the Ebony Experience. Booker says that’s when they went to Atlanta, and it all started with this lady right here, and a picture of them with Sherri comes up on screen. Booker says Sherri Martell was a big, big part of the women’s revolution, and Stevie says someone wanted to come down and try out with us to see how good they are, so he got a partner and did a tag match with him and his partner, it went great, and Sid later told him that the partner was his best friend who was not a wrestler, but he was impressed when they made him look good. They went to WCW, had a great match, and Ole Anderson brought them into his office and says that they told him to send them back to Texas, and Booker again thought it was over before it started, but Ole says he saw something in them and isn’t getting rid of them. He wants them to change their gimmick and not let him down, and they want Ole to know they are here and they did it. Working in WCW was a challenge, and they always got to work with top talent, but they weren’t getting anywhere. Then a new guy came in to evaluate talent and told the office that they were the best team in the company, and that man was Hulk Hogan. They got Sherri, won ten World Tag Team Titles, main evented, and because of that one opportunity, they became what they became. He wants to give an extra big thank you to a man who shook their hands and offered to help them, and that was Arn Anderson, and after that, Stevie did the same for everyone who came into the company after that. Arn taught him that respect is everything in this business, and he wants to relay that to everyone in the business. Stevie tells everyone to watch that they don’t get slapjacked, and Booker says to all the teams still representing, especially the New Day, and they put over Kofimania. They thank their family, and now he’s a 2 time Hall of Famer, and can we dig that, SUCKAAAAAAAAAAAAA?
De-Generation X
Corey and Renee hit the video package, then introduce our final inductees of the evening, Degeneration X. In true character, DX rides in on a jeep with a cannon on the back, and Tripel H says they’ve always broken the rules, but he’s office now, so they have to set some boundaries. He says it’s like Fight Club: you don’t talk about it, and you don’t say Vince McMahon. They all proceed to say Vince McMahon about three or four dozen times. They experiment with Kennedy, and Road Dogg asks who says they can’t say it, and Triple H says Vince McMahon. Road Dogg asks what happens if the fans say his name, and the fans start a Vince McMahon chant. Triple H says that makes him mad, but what really pisses him off is thanking him, so of course the fans chant that too. Shawn says he will never, ever thank Vince McMahon, especially for giving him two rings. Billy says at least Vince can’t fire him, and that pops the rest of them. Triple H says Vince will buy that pissant company just to fire him again. OH SNAP! Shawn says everyone knows that DX likes to have fun, but they want to thank one member who is not out here tonight. The fans stand up and chant “thank you Chyna” as an image of her appears on the screen. Shawn says the word trailblazer gets thrown around a lot, but DX would not have become what it had without Chyna. The fans chant “she deserves it” as Shawn puts her over, then Road Dogg pulls out about 50 pages of paper to do the Hillbilly Jim speech, and Triple H has his glasses on with crooked eyes, and Shawn has glasses with a giant nose, and they realize they got each other’s glasses. Road Dogg thanks God for his sobriety, for being inducted into the same Hall of Fame his father was inducted into, and he doesn’t have a ton of friends, but most of them are on stage with him. Mostly he wants to thank his wife, and he thanks God for her because he put her through hell, and she stayed there beside him the whole time, and he loves her with all his heart. He has trouble talking to guys that way, so he put something together to show his friendship, and we see a hilarious video of DX being friendly, and then a dog humping someone’s leg finds its way into the video. Billy says this is the part where they let him talk, and Triple H says not to make them regret it. He wants to thank the Bruise Brothers, Bill DeMott, his family, and he gets a bit emotional as he thanks his wife because without her, he wouldn’t be standing here now. Now Billy says they’ve done a lot of stuff together, they remember some better than others, but this was the coolest of them all. He says excuse me while he whips this out, and he pulls out a Super Soaker and pulls the trigger…and only a trickle comes out. Triple H says it’s okay because that happens sometimes at their age, no matter how many times you pump it, sometimes it just dribbles out. Shawn says we can always count on Billy Gunn to over promise and under deliver, and this must be what he meant by being All In. X-Pac asks if it’s his turn, and Triple H reminds him not to make them regret it. The fans chant “123” as Triple H said they were going to have him come out as the Kid and shave his eyebrows. X-Pac says he never thought he’d be here, or what he’d be inducted for, whether it’s 123 Kid, DX, NWO, but he wasn’t sure he’d live to see this day. His family is here, and he’s so grateful to have a relationship with them again, and he worked really hard, and he has tons of notes and everyone has been making fun of him backstage. The fans chant that he deserves it, and he wants to thank everyone because to know the things he did, we can look it up on the Network, and asks if it’s still $9.99. He wants to thank Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes, and says the first show he was ever at had Flair and Dusty in the main event for the NWA Title, and that’s when he decided this was what he wanted to do with his life. He wants to thank the Great Malenko, as well as Joe and Dean Malenko for training a skinny 15 year old with no money, also Jerry Lynn because he’s one of the greatest wrestlers ever, and he wouldn’t be here without Jerry, but he also wants to thank the Bad Guy, Razor Ramon. Scott Hall stands up and shows respect to his longtime friend, and X-Pac says Hall made him, and he wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for him. He also wants to thank the rest of the Clique, because they were responsible for DX and the NWO, and he also loves Big Kev and laughs at him for not standing up because his knees are killing him. He makes a joke about a torn quad, and Triple H said that’s not funny. He wants to thank Bret Hart for giving him the best match of his career, and to this day one of the best matches ever on Raw. He also wants to thank Eric Bischoff for bringing him to WCW as part of the NWO, then firing him just in time to come back and join DX and help win the Monday Night Wars. He wants to thank his fellow DX members, especially Billy for not beating him up with he superglued his hat to his head before he came to the ring. Last but not least, and he thanks Maria Menounos and a guy I don’t recognize for bringing him to LA and giving him a show. He thanks his girlfriend Angela, and finally thanks Chyna, calling her the magic ingredient in the DX recipe. He suggests naming the women’s battle royal at Wrestlemania the Chyna Battle Royal, and the fans seem to like that. X-Pac says one of his favorite parts of their time back then, was when women showed their boobs. They say boobs over and over while asking if boobs is acceptable to say on TV. X-Pac still keeps in touch with some of them, and we see a picture of the first one ever on the screen, and then a photo of what she looks like now, and gravity has taken over. We see more and strategically covered photos of naked old ladies with DX logos over their boobs. Triple H says he’s sorry, but X-Pac needs to be done. Now it’s Shawn’s turn to thank his family, except that they didn’t come, and he’s here all alone with nothing, and some of that’s on them because his wife and kids are embarrassed of them. Triple H says it wasn’t them, he wore a cowboy hat and assless chaps, and even Bret Hart knows better than that. Triple H comes up and the fans chant NXT, and he wants to thank Killer Kowalski, as well as everyone who ever stepped foot in the ring with them because they’re nothing without the guy standing across the ring from them. He thanks the Clique, they do the Wolfpac hand signal, and does Too Sweet. They’re all brothers, and they usually just pointed a camera at them and they were off, and that was how they did things. He wouldn’t be where he is without her, DX wouldn’t be what they became without her, and it’s fitting that we’re here a night before the women headline Wrestlemania for the first time, and Chyna’s sister is here in the crowd, and Triple H says she’s here, the real her. The fans chant their thanks to Chyna, and Triple H tells his daughters he loves them more than they love him, he thanks the Big Pop because he can’t say Vince McMahon, he thanks Linda (and jokes about her getting his taxes audited), he thanks Stephanie and says it’s forever for them, and he thanks his parents as well. They said and did a lot of things they shouldn’t have, they mooned a lot of people, they had to shave Shawn, and it was immature and they made a lot of genitalia jokes, juvenile humor, and he wants to tell the world a little known fact: his mother wrote most of that stuff, and she’ll act like she didn’t, but she absolutely did because she is the master of the penis joke, so if you ever got suspended from school for imitating them, blame her. Shawn says they corrupted an entire generation, and he knows that’s true because just LOOK at these fans, and they’re disgusting. They owe not just the WWE Universe, but the world an apology, so the DX podium comes up on stage, and Shawn walks up to the podium, takes a minute to compose himself, and tells the Kid he as always the eloquent one, and tells him to lead them off with something from the heart, understanding what they did to an entire generation. X-Pac says our ass is grass and he’s gonna smoke it, and to raise some hell and make a little noise. Triple H doesn’t think that’s what Shawn meant, so Road Dogg comes in to do the New Age Outlaws promo. Now Triple H takes the podium, Shawn and the rest hug him from behind real manly like, Shawn fondles Triple H’s chest, and he just needs to know one thing before he apologizes: are you ready? No, he said ARE YOU READY? They line up, and he says for the thousands in attendance and the millions watchign at home, and because DX is now officially in the Hall of Fame, let’s get ready to SUCK IT! Road Dogg says someone’s gotta bring it home, so here comes Billy Gunn, taking off his jacket, and he says there’s still a roof on this place, but if you’re not down with DX being in the Hall of Fame, they’ve got two words for us. DX gets their now fully-functional Super Soakers out and spray the crowd to close us out.
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