Wrestlemania 32 Week Part III: WWE Hall of Fame + Jim Ross & Friends & more

Wrestlemania had finally come to Dallas. The 32nd installment of the annual spectacle, that has become a week-long celebration that includes community outreach events, a Fan Fest, a Hall of Fame induction ceremony & much more.
Orbiting that is the entire wrestling community – having the global wrestling audience literally all in one place, it’s the perfect destination for anyone currently or ever associated with wrestling to book appearances or their own events, creating a packed schedule that hemmorages the host city for fans to gorge on for almost an entire week.
Hell, the third day had to be broken up into two parts it was so full. We started Day 3 with the Wrestlecon Fan Convention & then the Women’s Wrestling Shimmer event, all detailed here in Part II.

WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – April 2nd – American Airlines Arena – Dallas, TX

As mentioned above, we already had experienced a full day of wrestling events & now on our way over to the 2016 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
My nephew having never really been Downtown Dallas before or taken public transportation such as a Light Rail in a major metropolitan city, it was exciting for him (& myself as well getting to show it to him as well as the Dealey Plaza & other landmarks along the way).

Once inside we could see the Red Carpet already in full swing hosted by the stunning (& legit wrestling fan) Maria Menounos along with Byron Saxton.

Red Carpet hosts along with Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin – 

The event gets bigger and bigger each other as they keep fine tuning to make it more akin to a major award show, worthy of a Red Carpet, press line & celebrity cameos. The Red Carpet arrivals at the Hall of Fame much like at the Oscars is one of the most fun parts of the evening seeing the WWE Superstars in a light that you don’t normally see & the acclaim from the fans that greets them.
Dressed in formal wear, with their families, with no attention to the characters they perform as on television, tonight it’s a brother & sisterhood as one big family here to honor the inductees.

Dana Warrior (wife of the Ultimate Warrior) & their two daughters –
Also here to present the Warrior Award later in the evening to Joan Lunden

Summer Rae (left)
& Sasha Banks (right)

Paige (& her Mom, wrestling veteran Saraya Knight)

Ceremony 

As in past years the ceremony portion was hosted by fellow Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler who always sincerely declares this his “favorite night of the year”.
This being my now fourth HOF ceremony I kinda knew what to expect but this being my nephew’s first I didn’t want him to miss a moment of it.
Him coming down was a recent development & I had bought my ticket weeks ago, but we were able to secure him a seat in the same row but just not seated together and I was hoping to change that once we got to our section. Thankfully their was no one else in our row (sans for a couple of goofs that kept treating the evening as a normal wrestling event….when they weren’t wrestling themselves that is). That is one thing that always been hard to navigate at events likes these (& others) is that you encounter wrestling fans that help you understand why wrestling fans have such a negative reputation.

After Lawler’s introduction, Ron Simmons and John “Bradshaw” Layfield opened the show as the APA to induct Charles Wright who performed as The Godfather – a character during (& made for) the Attitude Era. Doing their best Laurel and Hardy, feigning risque stories.of their riding partner before the man himself came out as conductor of the infamous “Ho Train.”

The APA – JBL & Ron Simmons

The Godfather

Wright recalled the Attitude Era as the time of his life and kept it very short – Never dull & stoic but he seemed to not really not what to say once he was out there.
Like being asked unexpectedly to give a toast at a party & just winging it. What could he really say (in character) as I was surprised they were inducting him under this infamous moniker given the PG & PC atmosphere of the current WWE product.

Next to be inducted was Stan Hansen – For those not familiar with Hansen, he was one of the most dangerous and revered professional wrestlers in American and Japanese history. One of my all-time favorites and one of the reasons we were here.
I also love it when I make it all the way to the induction without still knowing who’s gonna present the induction.
In this case I had no idea until it was announced as Big Van Vader.

I thought Vader did an an amazing job of inducting Hansen & talked at length about how much Hansen mentored him and befriended him. He shared the infamous story of Hansen breaking his nose swinging his bullrope before they hit the ring and taking his eye out of its socket in the match that followed. Vader popped on gag glasses with an eye on a spring to conclude his great presentation.

Stan Hansen

Hansen came out looking as gritty and tough as any black hat movie cowboy giving out extensive gratitude and warmth to opponents, mentors, and family alike.
According to the video package that aired before his speech,Hansen was banished from the company after breaking Bruno Sammartino’s neck (whom was in attendance). Stories from the Dallas Sportatorium all the way to Japan kept everyone smiling before he threw up the horns on his way out.
A class act & I was very proud & grateful to be here in person to see it.

Jaqueline

Next up was female competitor Jackie Moore who competed as Jaqueline (also primarily during the Attitude Era). A great trend that I hope continues every year as each class the last few years has included at least one female competitor.
The Dudley Boyz gave her a great presentation speech, namely Devon who was very passionate & deliberate to make his points known of her importance and impact.

She came out and did “The Dab” a couple times Cam Newton style. She kept it even shorter than the Godfather but still talked about how she started her career in Texas & said it was a dream come true to work for WWE and thanked her peers. I whispered to my nephew that I always thought Jacqueline had the same unique mannerisms & speaking cadences of his mom (my sister) to which after her speech he lit up in agreement.
Fun Fact: After the Post-Mania RAW broadcast in Seattle at Wrestlemania 19 in 2003, I took a red eye flight to Dallas seated in First Class across from Stone Cold Steve Austin (like most unaware that he had just wrestled his last match) and behind him & across the aisle from me was Jacqueline who thanked me for helping her with her bag and was lovely to speak to.

Big Boss Man (right)
& Slick (left)

A great touching moment, the family of The Big Bossman Ray Traylor accepted on his behalf after an entertaining introduction from Slick. His family reminded fans of his big heart as so many wrestlers had before after his passing. They even brought out the infamous nightstick and name-checked the infamous (but for much different reasons) Pepper in a lovely remembrance of the father, husband, and wrestler.

Up next was the main reason we (& I’m sure alot of local Texas fans) were here & one of my main purposes of this entire extended weekend, was to witness the Fabulous Freebirds finally take their rightful place in the Hall of Fame

And let me tell you something – it did NOT dissapoint – One of those perfect moments you hope for but know that the odds are against it & then it unfolds EXACTLY how you would have planned it.

The Fabulous FreebirdsMichael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin came out. Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts, who have both since passed away, were given the limelight via appearances of each of their sons, Ray Gordy and Buddy Jack Roberts, Jr.

To be clear, Jimmy Garvin (completely unrecognizable) though being inducted as an equal member of the Freebirds & certainly no disrespect was only an “honorary Freebird” on screen during their 1980’s run.Fans don’t have memories of Garvin as a Freebird only as an associate.
MY guess is that they thought it would flow better with Hayes having someone to be the straight man, also hard to have the Freebirds (plural) with one guy.
I would imagine also thanks to Hayes’ long-time tenure (& current employment) in the WWE offices, that he pulled to have them include Garvin as a gesture to his life-long friend (who behind the scenes really was a Freebird).

When the sons left, Hayes and Garvin told a couple more stories to the delight of the crowd. Hayes would tell a bigger story that stole the show.
He talked about how he got hit from behind at a bar by a guy in a biker gang and Gordy came over and beat up the guy but eventually, one of the gang members gets a gun and shoots at Hayes and Gordy to much hilarity. The crowd & all the WWE Superstars in attendance loved it.
This was their night man, & after (notoriously) been passed over in 2001 & in 2009 the other two times Wrestlemania was in Texas (Houston) no one was rushing them offstage.

But it wasn’t over. Hayes thanks the McMahon Family before doing (as I mentioned above) 1 of 2 things we’re all hoping for but thought not likely by bringing out Kevin Von Erich

It was perfect – the sole survivors of the most legendary feud in Texas all on the stage together  (& most certainly for the last time).
If you grew up in the 80’s as a wrestling fan in the South, you WORSHIPED the Von Erich brothers and though you booed the Freebirds, you enjoyed booing them & most often or not couldn’t help but cheer & love both teams. What they all gave to the sport of wrestling during that time & to young people in the South is forever etched in my memory and woven into the fabric of the culture here. You can’t have one without the other. It was an unbelievable moment.

My thinking of what’s took so long to induct the Freebirds is that their wasn’t a public HOF induction ceremony back in 2001 & in 2009 was when Hayes’ inducted the Von Erich Brothers, certainly the reasoning being that Von Erichs must go in first but now tonight was their time and I’m so happy they had Kevin Von Erich to share it with.

And then….it wasn’t over & the unthinkable happened – the SECOND thing you hoped for but knew their was NO WAY it would ever happen began to unfold.
Michael Hayes grabbed the microphone and led the entire arena (with full backing track) through Badstreet USA – the Freebirds’ entrance song that Hayes actually sang & one of the first pioneering examples of using music in a wrestler’s presentation.

I was singing & crying & cheering all at the same time – the moment was really happening & it was all ours. Hayes was in his element, in the town where he made the Freebirds famous – let the man sing and sing he did. Magical.

The next two presentations were for the Warrior Award that I mentioned above with Dana Warrior presenting to Joan Lunden who gave a very inspiring speech on her fight with breast cancer and the second for the Celebrity Wing.

Snoop Dogg

The injured John Cena made a surprise return to introduce celebrity inductee Snoop Dogg who came out much like the Godfather with an entourage of gorgeous ladies.

Snoop gave a very thoughtful speech about his experience with wrestling discussing seeing Andre the Giant as a kid and taking his cousin current WWE Superstar Sasha Banks,who might very well be the best women’s wrestler in the world right now to WrestleMania when she was 15 & made a lovely gesture to her on her accomplishments. He discussed growing up a wrestling fan and even ran down a list of his favorite wrestlers.

Sting

Every year at the Hall of Fame, they have what I guess they refer to as “the headliner” & this year it was WCW legend Sting.
Ric Flair, Sting’s greatest rival, was the obvious & perfect choice to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Before introducing Sting, Flair mentioned the two Hall of Famer lost over the last year, my man Rowdy Roddy Piper and Dusty Rhodes.
Since Snoop Dogg mentioned Sasha Banks in pure Flair fashion he calls out his daughter, the WWE Divas Champion, Charlotte (Banks’ opponent tomorrow at Wrestlemania) while motivated by pride & simultaneously embarassing the shit out of her.

Sting came out to great applause & acclaim and started his speech chronologically discussing his first-ever tag team partner, the Ultimate Warrior.

He talked about influencing the younger generation, Seth Rollins included. After Night of Champions last September, Sting left the arena in an ambulance with a neck brace on, and while Rollins was concerned the his well-being, he yelled, “I was you for Halloween as a kid!” as the ambulance pulled away. Great story.
He concluded with last year’s WrestleMania moment and thanked many of the people who helped him to that penultimate match,
However, as with the Sting we know, he left a little bit of mystery as he told fans that this wasn’t a goodbye, but “it’s see you later!” as he grabbed his bat and sunglasses to close the ceremony.

Nobody will ever know if having surgery for his neck injury that occurred at Night of Champions last September would’ve saved his career for one or two more matches. But Sting seemed happy enough with his career that he decided enough was enough.
I never saw a single second of WCW programming during it’s original run but I did see him tag with the Ultimate Warrior as the Blade Runners back in Mid-South all those summers ago.

I do wanna say this and no disrespect to anyone:
Someone’s gotta go on last but I really don’t think at events like this there should be a hiearchy. I think it’s tacky when at Wrestlemania the next day and the inductees are brought out to take a final bow & are introduced one at a time, “the headliner” from the previous night’s (tonight) induction ceremony doesn’t stand with them. They wait till all of the other inductees have been introduced and then that headliner’s music plays and they walk out last solo, like the lead singer in a band (with Lead Singer’s Disease).
Maybe the headliner’s themselves don’t like it either (me thinks some do – Kevin Nash I’m looking right at you) but I’m sure their not gonna fight city hall over it.

I also wanted to mention that I love the great addition to the Hall of Fame is now the Legacy Wing, wrestlers that have long passed on (& perhaps their families as well) so their couldn’t be much in the way of a proper acceptance portion but I’m proud to see them still be acknowledged and take their rightful place.
This year’s inagural Legacy HOF inductees included:

Pat O’Connor, George Hackenschmidt, Frank Gotch, Mildred Burke, “Sailor” Art Thomas, Ed “Strangler” Lewis, & perhaps one of the greatest ever Lou Thesz.

Thank you WWE and it’s roster past & present for another unforgettable evening.

Ringside w/ Jim Ross & Friends – April 2nd – House of Blues – Dallas, TX

….and as if a fan convention, two wrestling events & a Hall of Fame ceremony weren’t enough for one day, we ended this spectacular day with one more unique event: Ringside w/ Jim Ross – a spoken word performance & Q&A fan interaction that included surprise guests and lots of fun.

We only had General Admission standing-room-only tickets & this show was starting after we had been at it for over 12 hrs.
Thankfully the staff here are some of my oldest friends and when I went over to say hello to soundman Russ he very generously invited us to sit at the soundboard with him to keep him company (& us from standing) all night.

My nephew who is interested in a career in audio engineering couldn’t be more thrilled for the unexpected turn of events that we were now not only seated but at a state-of-the-art soundboard and getting a close-up look at it being run (Thanks Russell).

I had seen one of Jim Ross’s first shows of this nature in New Orleans during Wrestlemania 30 week.
That event (also at the House of Blues but a much smaller version of this one) was just getting it’s legs & a muted affair compared to the wild atmosphere of this show.
In town again obviously for Wrestlemania week, Ross scheduled three shows strategically: Two shows today: One before & after the Hall of Fame that we had just come from & another late night on Monday after RAW. I felt strategic as well & felt that the late show on Saturday, the night before the big show was probably our best bet (& from what I hear, I was right).
The show didn’t event start till after 11pm, the (mostly) out of town & largely European crowd high from the HOF & other events they had walked from and the anticipation of the big show tomorrow, created a party like atmosphere constantly seemingly on the verge of raging out of control, all to the benefit of the show.
If you haven’t seen it, Ross is unexpectedly very naturally funny and candid would be an understatement.

He weaved a few tales and got the crowd in the right mood before bringing out Rob Van Damm, still in his suit from the HOF. The place went batshit.
A few fratty drunk bro types, desperate to be part of the show somehow started bringing shots of Gawd-Knows-What to the stage.
While Ross obliged to do one of the shots, they kept coming and Damm drank them all.
When they stopped coming, Damm used their fanboy shit against them and kept signalling for more and more he got & more no fucks given he got but it somehow made the show and he was funny as hell.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ross brings out two more party animals in the way of Jeff Hardy & Hurricane Helms that just elevated the evening to a wild party now in full swing.

After a lengthy and informative Q&A with the audience, it then devolved into drunken debauchery when Van Damm started spilling drinks & getting extra sloppy.
A joyous occasion filled with inspired spontaneity ultimately made the event a success. On to Wrestlemania tomorrow!

Photos – 

Roy Turner
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