WWE 2015 Hall of Fame Review
Last night's WWE Hall of Fame ceremony was a spectacle, to say the least. The night was filled with emotion, as the stars of professional wrestling gathered to honor several legends of this great industry.
Overall, the show was one of the best ever, as for the first time in a while, many inductees were allowed to speak freely and unscripted, (for the most part), and time constraints were as loose as I can remember them. Well, in some cases, I guess that wasn't always a great thing. But I will touch on that later.
The Great
Without question, the overall best part of the night was the range of emotions and variety of speech style, up and down the card. Though I think the WWE chose to induct too many people this year, I thought the variety of inductees and induct-or was fantastic.
The Bushwhackers were the best of the night. Simply hilarious and original. Butch was the star of the show and hilarious. After you got over how old and crippled he looked, he was sensational. And Luke with his Just for Men hair kit was classic. The story Butch told about him working 25 minutes in the Royal Rumble, and Luke only working 5 seconds, but them getting the same payday was hilarious! When they had all the legends including Bret Hart, do the Bushwhacker dance, it was hilarious. Great great stuff.
Madusa was great, just great. i thought she covered all her bases and did allot of good shout outs. She was actually pretty entertaining as well.
The Warrior award presented to the memory of little Conner, by the Ultimate Warriors widow was the emotional moment of the night. While I felt it went a little long and was gut wrenching, it was full of emotion and memorable. Daniel Bryan did an excellent job with his induction speech, and who couldn't feel anything but compassion for Conner's father, who stood up there and poured his heart out. Gut wrenching man.
Hulk Hogan inducted Randy Savage and it was great. You can tell Hogan tried his best not to make it about himself as many feared he would, but he also wanted people to know that Randy and he were really close at different times and were friends. Of course Hogan has his haters, but it can't be denied that Hogan and Savage's careers will forever be linked. Lanny Poffo accepted for his brother and recited some excellent poems. Very good moment.
Rikishi was excellent. He paid homage to his entire family and really delivered a great speech. While I don't feel he is worthy of the HOF, he did a good job.
Shawn Michaels was tremendous inducting Kevin Nash. He was funny, and he was natural and he worked the crowd like he was back in the ring. He actually was so good, you wanted him to get another HOF ring when it was over.
Should have been better
One thing I was disappointed in was the timing issue. Early in the show, the mid card inductees were given entirely too much time to free lance and ramble at times. This led to the main eventers time being cut. Now some of that is the WWE's fault from a planning aspect, as 9 performers being inducted in one year is way too many, and the class should have been kept at 6 at the most. But overall guys were given more time than ever.
Kevin Nash as a headliner was not good. He seemed cold and reserved. He left out talking about so much of his career because he likes to try to act like his WCW run with the NWO never happened. He wants people to forget that he is a major reason WCW died. He wants people to forget he is the one who booked himself to beat GOLDBERG. Smh, pathetic. It just wasn't good. plus the fact that he and Shawn gloated they Nash was a big reason for guaranteed contracts. You know, the thing that definitely killed WCW. Yea, I hate him.
Ric Flair's time was cut entirely too short while inducting Tatsumi Fujinami and he was obviously put on a short leash. I get it. Flair tends to ramble and say whatever is on his mind, which has been a problem in the past, ask JR about that. As for Fujinami, I'm glad they kept it short. Great worker though.
Pathetic
Larry Zbyszko was simply terrible. The guy came out with no notes and thought he was going to able to just wing it, and rely on his previously great gift for gab. Well he was so wrong. He got out there in front of all those people and he choked. All the trash he has talked over the years, all the cockiness, and he simply choked. It was like watching a an animal trapped and dying. It was pathetic. All he did was talk about Bruno Sammartino, who is the man who trained him and gave him his big break. If you didn't know that, you definitely knew by the end of that long terrible speech. Pathetic.
Arnold Schw..... Who cares.
Overall, a very entertaining show and I highly recommend you watching the replay on the network. I love that the WWE network broadcast the entire ceremony and the time constraints are minimal. In years past, the show was so rushed because of the TV constraints of USA. Now they let the show play out then edit it as they want for TV broadcast later. Makes for better authenticity.
Overall I enjoyed it and hope the Free Bird's finally get their due next year in Dallas.
Overall, the show was one of the best ever, as for the first time in a while, many inductees were allowed to speak freely and unscripted, (for the most part), and time constraints were as loose as I can remember them. Well, in some cases, I guess that wasn't always a great thing. But I will touch on that later.
The Great
Without question, the overall best part of the night was the range of emotions and variety of speech style, up and down the card. Though I think the WWE chose to induct too many people this year, I thought the variety of inductees and induct-or was fantastic.
The Bushwhackers were the best of the night. Simply hilarious and original. Butch was the star of the show and hilarious. After you got over how old and crippled he looked, he was sensational. And Luke with his Just for Men hair kit was classic. The story Butch told about him working 25 minutes in the Royal Rumble, and Luke only working 5 seconds, but them getting the same payday was hilarious! When they had all the legends including Bret Hart, do the Bushwhacker dance, it was hilarious. Great great stuff.
Madusa was great, just great. i thought she covered all her bases and did allot of good shout outs. She was actually pretty entertaining as well.
The Warrior award presented to the memory of little Conner, by the Ultimate Warriors widow was the emotional moment of the night. While I felt it went a little long and was gut wrenching, it was full of emotion and memorable. Daniel Bryan did an excellent job with his induction speech, and who couldn't feel anything but compassion for Conner's father, who stood up there and poured his heart out. Gut wrenching man.
Hulk Hogan inducted Randy Savage and it was great. You can tell Hogan tried his best not to make it about himself as many feared he would, but he also wanted people to know that Randy and he were really close at different times and were friends. Of course Hogan has his haters, but it can't be denied that Hogan and Savage's careers will forever be linked. Lanny Poffo accepted for his brother and recited some excellent poems. Very good moment.
Rikishi was excellent. He paid homage to his entire family and really delivered a great speech. While I don't feel he is worthy of the HOF, he did a good job.
Shawn Michaels was tremendous inducting Kevin Nash. He was funny, and he was natural and he worked the crowd like he was back in the ring. He actually was so good, you wanted him to get another HOF ring when it was over.
Should have been better
One thing I was disappointed in was the timing issue. Early in the show, the mid card inductees were given entirely too much time to free lance and ramble at times. This led to the main eventers time being cut. Now some of that is the WWE's fault from a planning aspect, as 9 performers being inducted in one year is way too many, and the class should have been kept at 6 at the most. But overall guys were given more time than ever.
Kevin Nash as a headliner was not good. He seemed cold and reserved. He left out talking about so much of his career because he likes to try to act like his WCW run with the NWO never happened. He wants people to forget that he is a major reason WCW died. He wants people to forget he is the one who booked himself to beat GOLDBERG. Smh, pathetic. It just wasn't good. plus the fact that he and Shawn gloated they Nash was a big reason for guaranteed contracts. You know, the thing that definitely killed WCW. Yea, I hate him.
Ric Flair's time was cut entirely too short while inducting Tatsumi Fujinami and he was obviously put on a short leash. I get it. Flair tends to ramble and say whatever is on his mind, which has been a problem in the past, ask JR about that. As for Fujinami, I'm glad they kept it short. Great worker though.
Pathetic
Larry Zbyszko was simply terrible. The guy came out with no notes and thought he was going to able to just wing it, and rely on his previously great gift for gab. Well he was so wrong. He got out there in front of all those people and he choked. All the trash he has talked over the years, all the cockiness, and he simply choked. It was like watching a an animal trapped and dying. It was pathetic. All he did was talk about Bruno Sammartino, who is the man who trained him and gave him his big break. If you didn't know that, you definitely knew by the end of that long terrible speech. Pathetic.
Arnold Schw..... Who cares.
Overall, a very entertaining show and I highly recommend you watching the replay on the network. I love that the WWE network broadcast the entire ceremony and the time constraints are minimal. In years past, the show was so rushed because of the TV constraints of USA. Now they let the show play out then edit it as they want for TV broadcast later. Makes for better authenticity.
Overall I enjoyed it and hope the Free Bird's finally get their due next year in Dallas.