We will be covering the WWE Hall of Fame red carpet and the induction ceremony tonight.
Red Carpet
Michael Cole and Maria Menounos open up the red carpet coverage. Cole says that reporters from Germany, Middle East, UK, Mexico and the US are here.
Renee Young interviews Roman Reigns. He talks about attending the Hall of Fame when Afa and Sika were inducted. Byron Saxton interviews The Miz. He is with his wife Maryse. Renee interviews Hulk Hogan. He is with his wife Jennifer. He introduces Brooke Hogan, Nick Hogan, and Jimmy Hart. He teased that he might call one of the young guys out tomorrow. Back to Michael and Maria. She’s a big Hulkamaniac. Byron Saxton talks to Pat Patterson. He says the HOF is bigger than ever. Renee talks to Randy Orton. Orton says he’s looking forward to what Warrior has to say and he heard that Warrior didn’t come out for rehearsal. Cole talks to Fandango and Summer Rae. They plug Total Divas. Byron interviewed the Usos and Naomi. Renee interviewed Booker T and Sharmell. Sharmell hasn’t aged a bit. Maria and Michael interviewed Dolph Ziggler. They showed the Warrior DVD commercial. Tons of media in attendance. Renee interviewed Roddy Piper and his son Colt. Alicia Fox is interviewed. Then Lawler and his wife Lauren are interviewed. Lots of standard interviews. Natalya, Tyson Kid, and Tamina are interviewed. Tamina looks great. Tamina talks about being proud of her family members that have been inducted. She says that the HOF is motivation for every superstar and every diva. Leah Maivia is interviewed. We see our first shot of Steve Austin. Big Show talks about tomorrow’s battle royal. Renee Young talks with Stone Cold Steve Austin. He says that he’s looking forward to big things tomorrow. He’s looking forward to Wyatt vs. Cena and Undertaker vs. Brock. Cody and his wife Eden are interviewed followed Alberto Del Rio with his family. Cena, Triple H, Cesaro, Steph and Triple H all were interviewed. Bruno Sammartino and we see Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella arrive on the split screen. The company has done a good job making this event seem bigger than ever. Bruno says hes excited to see the triple threat and Brock vs. Undertaker. Renee interviewed Bryan and Brie. Byron interviews Ted DiBiase. Renee interviewed Zack. He said that he idolized some of the guys going into the HOF. He talked about his preparation for the battle royal. Maria says that she wears a snake at her birthday parties in honor of one of her favorites Jake Roberts. Sgt Slaughter is interviewed. He’s looking forward to the “Ultimate Puke” and hopes he leaves the ego at home. Renee interviews Damien Sandow. Foley is interviewed and calls tonight undescribable. The Hall of Fame is next.
WWE Hall of Fame ceremony
Jerry “The King” Lawler is the host.
Lita induction. Lita is getting inducted by Trish Stratus. Trish talks about Lita being the godmather to her child. She talks about Lita’s career and talks about hanging out with her for 7 years in WWE and post-WWE. She talked about main eventing Raw with Lita and talked about her accomplishments in WWE. Lita comes out. Lita comes out wearing a long red dress. She said that everyone’s career is kind of like one big roast but its great to have the HOF to celebrate. “Thank you Lita” chants. She told the story of how she got to Arena Mexico and started her wrestling career. Very long speech. At one point the TV screens went out in the building and there was a loud “put the screen back” chant. She gave Arn Anderson and Rey Mysterio Miller Lite’s. Trish and Lita downed some wheat grass. She then moved on to talking about her ECW 6 month stint. She said that she wore the most slut-tacular dress for her TV wedding to Edge. She talked about Kane and the crazy storyline and Gene Snitsky’s catchphrase “it was not my fault.” She said that Glen was one of the most favorite people that she’s ever worked with. She talked about being dropped on her head on the TV show “Dark Angel.” She said that when she broke her neck she talked with Steve Austin, not the doctors. She said that he took her to Dr Youngblood and continued her career after doctors first told her that she could never wrestle again. She thanked Danny McDevitt, Ace, Kevin, Danny, the Funkin Dojo, Tommy Dreamer, Victoria, Manami Toyota, Luna Vachon, Terry Taylor, Tom Pritchard, Jim Ross, Mickie James, Essa Rios, Team Extreme, Dudley Boyz, Edge, Christian, the crew, Trish Stratus, her mom, her brother, the punk rock and hardocre scene.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts induction. Jake is inducted by Diamond Dallas Page. Today DDP celebrates his 58th birthday. Fans chanted “Happy Birthday.” He told a story about being at DDP’s house when he first started in the business and Jake losing a cobra in the house. He talked about Jake’s journey. The plan 18 months ago for Jake to be at the HOF. DDP said Jake put the work in. Great speech. Jake comes out. Jake comes out to a great ovation. He said he hated wrestling because he never saw his father and blamed it on wrestling but he realized that wasn’t the truth. He said that he did the same thing his father did and he walked away from the responsibility of raising his family. He dropped an F’bomb. He said he doesn’t regret loving wrestling. He said that he misses wrestling but he could hit a DDT every once in a while. “You still got it” chants. He says that he was a rotten son of a bitch and “the ring” was the only woman he never cheated on. He talked about the low point in his life and not wanting to live anymore until DDP reached out. He said that DDP saved his life. He said that the indiegogo campaign to help get his shoulder surgery woke him up and showed him that somebody does care. He brought an 18 month old kid on stage and said that he’s his hero. He asked his family to stand up. He thanked the WWE for giving him a second chance.
They showed crowd shots of Bruno Sammartino, Ron Simmons, and JBL. El Torito chased Hornswaggle on stage. Torito speared Lawler with the horns. I guess that was supposed to be comedy.
Mr. T induction. “Mean” Gene Okerlund inducts Mr. T. Gene talked about T’s career in TV, his jewelry, and his role in the first WrestleMania. He introduced Mr. T’s son “T Junior.” Junior introduced his dad Mr. T. He read a prepared speech. He thanked God for making it all possible. He paid tribute to his mother. T gave a speech on his mother. It started out preachy but got good towards the end and he even got “WHAT” and “YES” chants. He got a “This is Awesome” chant. You really should listen to this speech if you haven’t yet. It’s hard to transcribe. I don’t see this show ending by 11:30pm eastern. T went on forever. Kane’s music hit. It looked like Kane told him to wrap it up. That was the end of the speech. Wow.
WWE Legends House commercial airs.
Paul Bearer induction. Kane is back out to induct Paul Bearer. Kane said that he hates to cut off Mr. T while he was talking about his mother but he wanted to talk about his father Paul Bearer (Bill Moody). He talked about Paul Bearer’s beginnings in wrestling and his real life job as a mortician. Moody started as Mr. X and then became Percival Pringle III. He talked about his transformation to becoming Paul Bearer.Kane told a story about arriving at the arena and trying to hide his identity from fans when Moody shouted “Kane can drive!” Kane thought that the role Paul played (after his death) in the storyline at WrestleMania 29 was a fitting tribute. His sons Michael and Daniel Moody accepted the induction. Short speech and his son gave an “Oooh yes”. Undertaker’s music hit. He came out in character, kneeled down and held the urn up towards the graphic on the big screen of Paul Bearer.
Razor Ramon induction. Kevin Nash is inducting Scott Hall. Nash talked about Hall being a mentor to him. He didn’t think it would get more emotional than Shawn’s induction. He introduced Razor Ramon. He looks great. He gave a “Hey Yo.” He said that when he stepped through the curtain it was a powerful thing whether he was hated or loved. “Bad times don’t last but bad guys do.” Shawn, Triple H, Nash, and X-Pac joined him on stage.
Lawler is about to announce the next inductee but he’s cut off by Wade Barrett. “Thank you Barrett” chants. He’s got some bad news. He told the superstars that this is the closest that they will ever get to the WWE Hall of Fame.
Carlos Colon induction. Primo, Epico, and Carlito will induct their father. Loud Carlito chants. He said he’s used to working in bingo halls and high school gyms so its nice to hear that. He says that they got a time cut so it’s like he never left. He also joked that the company needed someone to bring the crowd down so they brought out the Colons. Carlito is great. Primo talked about his dad. Carlos worked all over the world … Mexico, Japan, Puerto Rico. Epico talked about their dad founding Capitol Sports Promotion. Carlos Colon comes out. He thanked Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Abdullah the Butcher, Tully Blanchard, Dutch Mantel, The funks, The Briscoes, Wild Samoans, Pedro Morales, and many others. He then spoke in spanish for the latin fans watching. He thanked his mom, wife, daughters, sons, nephew, brother and his entire family.
Ultimate Warrior induction. Linda McMahon will induct the Ultimate Warrior. She said that she was flattered when Warrior asked her to induct him. She said that he is truly a unique individual and he legally changed his name to Warrior. Just Warrior. Because he lived in the principles of living a Warrior lifestyle. She joked about him running to the ring and around the ring and she believed that it’s probably because he could not stop. She said that he was a loner on the road and in the locker room and he wasn’t always the easiest guy to be around. He wanted her to be his direct contact during his last run in WWE. She talked about Warrior venting to her on phone calls. During one of the rants he called her mom. She told him that he was behaving like a child and she would bend him over he knee and that made him laugh. She said he’s a devoted husband, father and patriot. Warrior came out with his daughters. He joked that this was the most anticipated speech in sports entertainment. He thanked his wife, his mom, and his daughters. He said that Mr. McMahon and WWE do awesome stuff. He told his daughters that the most awesome thing he will ever do is be their father. He said that he’s finally gonna get some DDP Yoga. He thanked Paul (Triple H). He got “One more match” chants. He said that the one more match won’t happen but other things will happen. He thanked Red Bastien. He talked about breaking in with Sting, working for Jerry Jarrett, Bill Watts, WCCW. He said he fashioned his clothesline after Ted DiBiase. He talked about WCCW, the Von Erichs, Bruiser Brody, George Scott. He said that he wishes that they could but the F back in WWF. He said he couldn’t believe that Jerry McDevitt got his ass kicked by those wildlife people. He then talked about WWE and thanked Jose Estrada, Steve Lombardi, Terry Gibbs. He said that the boys in the business have a good bullshit detector. He talked about the stories of him being unwelcome and an asshole to everyone. He said the DVD pissed him off but it also broke his heart. He said that he was a good guy and he is a good guy. He thanked the superstars that you never see… the people behind the scenes, the ring guys, etc. He said that he suggests that they have a category (Jimmy Miranda) for the people behind the scenes. He said that the fans are legendary. The fans waited all of these years for this. He said “THEY” tried to reprogram your minds and rewrite history. Loud “thank you Warrior” chants. He thanked Vince McMahon for giving him the opportunity to use his imagination and use his creativity. He talked about wrestlers that were mad about not getting their checks and saying that they were going to give Vince a piece of their mind but they always walked out of Vince’s office with a bobbily head. He thought for sure Vince would go down when Bad News Brown went into Vince’s office but he came out with the bobbily head. Vince knew he was dedicated. He said it was awesome being on the road and being bigger than life. He said that there are few legit tough guys and “the rest of us” get to play that role. He gave kudos to John Cena for all of the Maka-a-Wish stuff he does. He said that he knows from Ed Connors that Cena is a big Ultimate Warrior mark. He talked about wrestlers not putting on gear like other sports do. He said that people say he doesn’t respect the business but not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about the business. He expressed his appreciation for becoming really good friends with blowing up in the ring. He said what they don’t say is that he continued through the match. He said that pushing his body that far was the greatest thing. He said that people wonder what he would say tonight and all he could say that when he was in the business no one said anything to his face. He said the DVD was just hurtful. He announced that he got a multiyear deal as an ambassador of the company. He joked and asked Vince if his check would bounce. He said that he’s proud of the fans for supporting him and fighting for him. He finished up just after 12:30am.
