Bill “Ax” Eadie and Barry “Smash” Darsow walked through their WWE Hall of Fame weekend on the latest episode of Demo Pod with host Ryan Maher, sharing stories about their speech, their inductors, and a surprise WrestleMania tribute.
Darsow revealed that Demolition were given a combined six-minute window for their Hall of Fame speech — far less than he originally planned.
Darsow’s speech cut from 30 minutes to three
“When they first were telling us to do all this, I had a speech that was going to be about a half hour long,” Darsow said. “I was going to tell stories about Andre the Giant and different people and how I got in the business and all that. And when they came to us and said, you had six minutes, six minutes between both of us? They said, yes.”
He said the time limit forced them to split the window down the middle. “It was like, well, how am I going to take three minutes? And Bill take three minutes?”
Both men ended up going long. “Mine ended up being probably four or five minutes. And then Bill’s was four or five, six minutes, maybe,” Darsow said. “So we went over the time limit, but it’s almost, you know, you’re getting inducted in the Hall of Fame. How can you just not really tell what you’re thinking?”
Darsow also noticed how WWE edited the speeches afterward. “On the WWE site, they just have a couple words that I said, and they have Bill’s whole speech, which is fine for me, but it’s because we went over the time limit, I’m sure.”
Eadie said he saw a different version. “There’s different variations, because I saw just a reverse of it. So I think they’re doing little splices and stuff. So some place out there, the whole thing’s out there,” he said.
Three inductors, finalized days before the show
The trio of inductors — Arn Anderson, The Warlord, and Haku — was locked in about two days before the ceremony. Eadie said WWE asked Demolition to submit a list of possible inductors, and Darsow sent in around six names. Eadie believes it may have been the first time three different people handled an induction.
“And then it was probably, what, two days before, I think, Bill, that one of the guys from the WWE said, we’re going to use three of them, and it was going to be those three guys,” Darsow said. “And when they were kind of debating which one of those three, then somebody in the office says, well, why not just have all three of them. It’s the ’80s. We’ve wrestled them all. They’re all friends of ours, and they’re all good guys with the WWE.”
Rehearsals, missed thank-yous, and focus on today’s talent
Eadie said WWE had them rehearse the speech a few times, but he changed things once he got on stage.
“I have to admit, I got off track, because when I got out there, I rethought some of the lines that I had submitted,” he said. “One of the things that my wife mentioned to me right after is I forgot to thank Barry for his contribution to the team, and I didn’t mean to slight him.”
Eadie said he wanted to highlight current wrestlers and the production crew. “I wanted to emphasize the activity of the current people in the business and the production,” he said. “Barry and I talked about over the weekend, I would hate to be in that production crew, because they take a lot of flack and don’t receive too much support. And those guys and girls in the business, they’re under a lot of pressure, and I want to acknowledge them, but I also want to acknowledge the people that had given me guidance, like Barry as well. So it was a stressful time, and I wish we could have gotten longer.”
Darsow said his favorite moment came during their back-and-forth about new talent. “When you were talking about the new guys and girls wrestling and how good they were doing everything, and then when I said, I think we should do a run-in. And then the whole crowd went nuts. It was like, wow, perfect line.”
Backstage with Nash, X-Pac, and a room full of beat-up veterans
Demolition shared the Hall of Fame holding area with Kevin Nash and Sean “X-Pac” Waltman. Darsow said his first move was to thank Nash.
“The first thing I said to Kevin Nash, we came in, he stood up, I gave him a big hug, and I said, Kevin, thank you. You started this two, three years ago, about getting us into the Hall of Fame,” Darsow said.
Eadie painted a vivid picture of the room. “It’s funny, because they got all these beat-up old wrestlers in there putting on the tuxedos at one time,” he said. “And we’re all having to help each other put it on because our shoulders are so banged up we can’t get our jackets on.”
Darsow said they were in the holding room from about 3 p.m. for a 9 p.m. show, with snacks limited to “gummy worms and some pop and water.” He recalled a moment with The Warlord: “The Warlord says to me, hey, Barry, when it’s time, can you help me get my coat on, I can’t get my coat on. I said, well, I’ll help you. If you help me get my coat on, I can’t get mine on either.”
How they found out about the Nia Jax and Lash Legend tribute
Demolition first learned about the Nia Jax and Lash Legend tribute at WrestleMania during the red carpet ring ceremony. Darsow said Triple H tipped them off.
“We were on the red carpet, and we were doing the ring ceremony, and it was Bill, myself, and Triple H,” Darsow said. “Triple H was talking to us, and there was probably 40 cameras in front of us taking all the pictures and everything. And Triple H turned and looked at us and said, hey, there’s going to be something pretty neat at WrestleMania tomorrow night. We’re going to get you in the front, and there’s going to be a couple of girls that are going to do something for you.”
About three hours before WrestleMania Saturday, Eadie and Darsow were brought backstage to take 30 to 40 photos with Nia Jax and Lash Legend in their Demolition-inspired white spiked gear.
Demolition Detail WWE Hall of Fame Weekend, Speech Time Cut
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