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Jerry says he's especially proud of the next inductee because, along with his father, he had a hand in training him, and we go to a vidoe package of "Double J" Jeff Jarrett that takes us from his early, coutnry music days, his six Intercontinental Titles, the time he held both the IC and European Titles, the slapnuts days, and of course, "Ain't I Great?" Jerry brings out Road Dogg to induct Jeff, and he says it's been a long night, so he'll get right ot the nitty gritty. They met 25 years ago in Poughkeepsie, NY, and he wanted to be in this business so bad, and wanted a break, and he was told he would be Jeff's roadie. There's a lot of stories about their past that he can't tell because they're PG now, and most of them came in the 90s, which is a decade he doesn't remember. He feels obligated to tell everyone not to do drugs. He has a handful of really special relationships in his life, and one of them is with this man right here: "Double J" Jeff Jarrett!
Jeff comes out in a cowboy hat with a mic to do his intro, and Road Dogg tells him it's not 1995 anymore and to use that microphone right there, and to give him that damn hat. Jeff says wow and takes a minute to soak that in and says he'll never make it through this speech. He's here 32 years to the day since his first match to get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and the fans chant "you deserve it" at him. From 1986 to 1993, he went from the blond hair, blue eyes white meat babyface and became a smart ass country singer who wanted to rename this place the Double JF. People ask him what his best match was, and it always gets brought up: July of 1995, against the Michael Jordan of professional wrestling, Shawn Michaels. He thinks Shawn is the Michael Jordan, the Kobe Bryant, the Wayne Gretzky, and he can go on and on, because there's never been anyone close to him, and he thanks Shawn from the bottom of his heart for what he did for him personally and this industry. He had a series of matches during that era with he and Shawn against Razor Ramon and Diesel, and only in WWE could the most charismatic guy, the Roadie, be standing outside the ring during those matches. He says Miz is making the IC Title proud, and he's been both blessed and cursed throughout his career. He was a Four Horsemen, he was in the NWO, he was inducted into a certain club in Japan at one time, he lost his hair in MSG to X-Pac, and he says Shawn is 18 years late to the party but looks great, he figure foured Ben Stiller, took a superkick from Chuck Norris, and then there was that thing with David Arquette, and asks what the hell that was. He even got beat by Stephanie McMahon in her very first match, but she will be watching Sunday and thinks it'll be a different story, and he wishes Kurt and Ronda luck. Throughout his career and life, there have been two guys who have really affected him: the first is Brian James, who served in Desert Storm, and they've been in the trenches together for a long time, and he got in the foxhole with him, and he loves Brian more than words can say. The other is aguy who's no longer with us, and that's Owen Hart. The fans chant for Owen as Jeff says that Owen was a classic ribber, but he wants to talk about Owen the human being. He was a great father, son, husband, a man's man with a golden heart, and we lost him way too early, but he is going to tell a great Owen rib story. He talks about Owen calling Jim Duggan at a hotel at 2:30 in the morning and pretending to be a pizza man. Owen told Jim that if he didn't get down to the lobby right now, there was going to be as ass whipping, so Hacksaw went charging down there and it was just Owen. Another was Owen at a house show in San Jose, and a local guy was doing the music for the show, and Owen got to know the guy, so he set up a rib during an Ahmed Johnson where they did a double down and had the music guy play Ahmed's music three different times throughout the match. Owen's last rib was in Chicago at the height of the Attitude Era, and he showed up late and saw on the sheet that he and Owen were up against Edge and Christian. They shine Edge and Christian up real good, they do the ten punches, but Owen and Jeff had surreptitiously slipped clown noses on, so Edge and Christian slam them together and their noses go flying. Edge and Christian come out, Jeff turns around, and they put a clown nose on him. Edge says "here's your nose back" and Christian says "It looks better on you, slapnuts." Jeff says he just wants to get in a few thank yous, starting with Karen and the kids for being his rock, his dad (they've had their ups and downs, but he thanks the good lord they're on the up now and everything he did for him in this business), and finally, his grandmother Christine Jarrett, who took a second job selling wrestling programs in the 40s, and without her, there'd be no Jerry or Jeff Jarrett in this business, so he hopes he made her proud. In closing, he wants ends with a poem about success being failure inside out, and never to quit that he read during his first TV promo ever, and it's a legacy he wants to leave his kids and any other aspiring wrestler out there. Road Dogg comes back out and gives Jeff a hat and mic, and takes one himself, and they sing With My Baby Tonight.
Jerry Lawler comes out and says that they got a call from the Country Music Hall of Fame, and they said that Jeff Jarrett and Road Dogg are barred. Now it's time for the Warrior Award, and this year's inductee is Jarrius "JJ" Robertson, who was diagnosed with a chronic liver disease as a baby. He received a transplant and wound up in a coma for a year before he was taken off life support, but he started breathing on his own. He wound up with a lot of other problems because the liver issues caused a lot of other illnesses, and he ended up needing another liver transplant, and during that time, he became a big WWE fan. He got his second liver transplant and just started improving more and more, and he thanks his donor for being a hero, and he hopes he makes him proud. Jerry brings out Dana Warrior for the induction, and she talks about how this feels like a homecoming because this was where Warrior was inducted into the Hall of Fame, and it brought her and the girls full circle. She's had to be tough over these four years, and she felt like she wasn't tough enough sometimes, but walking through that airport imagining him holding hands with his two cupcakes, she thought of his ultimate time when Warrior was welcomed into the arms of her brothers and sisters in the WWE Universe, escorted by his cupcake daughters to take his place in then, now and forever as WWE Hall of Famer, the Ultimate Warrior. She was so proud for his hard earned celebration, and his best days accumulated right here, and she was glad he spent his last days here for his crowning before rocketing into the heavens to rumble among his gods. It's been four years, a blink of an eye and a lifetime rolled into one, and in four years, you learn a lifetime of lessons. You can heal, grow and bloom, and graduate from grieving to honor the integrity of a sacred past, and if she could travel back in time four years, she'd tell herself not to be afraid because she's home, and these people are her friends and family, and now she's here to deliver an honor bearing their family name. The Warrior Award is fore people who consider the word impossible to be profane. JJ makes quite an entrance, and he has the mark of a true warrior because he had to earn those vibes. She talks about the disease he conquered and how he battled back, and tells us to hold onto our hats for Jarrius Robertson.
He comes dancing out, but can't see over the table so he asks if anyone got the memo he was coming. A couple of dudes bring out a set of steps so he can stand at the podium and reach the mic. He still can't believe this is happening, and that he's in here with Connor the Crusher, Loan Lunden, and Eric LeGrande to honor the Warrior. This is the greatest honor of my life, and from the first time he met Stephanie McMahon, they accepted him like family, and he got to meet his heroes like Roman Reigns (he tells the fans to calm it down when they boo Roman), Randy Orton, and Zack Ryder (he even does a Woo Woo Woo), and even his least favorite superstar the Miz. They make him feel like a WWE superstarm and says that at this point, he probably has a better chance of getting a Wrestlemania match than John Cena. WWE has given him so many chances to promote his cause, and puts over how two donors saved his life, and when he was taken off the ventilator, he survived, and a year ago, he was in the ICU awaiting a second transplant, but now he's here with a new liver and a WWE Hall of Famer. He says we know the rest, and Jarrius out, PEACE.
Jerry Lawler says he faced the next inductee in his first match, and he got hit so hard he thinks he time traveled right here, and it's Mark Henry. We see a video package of his WWE career, and also his accomplishments in the weightlifting world. Jerry introduces Big Show to do the induction, and he says they've been up and down the road together for many years, and he calls Mark his brother from another mother. People become family when you travel with them that much, and he came to work one day and saw Mark looking sad, so he came and asked him if everything's all right, and Mark looks at him and says he's been trying to tear a quarter in half and he can only bend it. Mark is also one of WWE's best recruiters, because he's found many people and put them on the right path, and that includes several people in this room. Mark is also not the guy you want to test, and tells a story about one time in Spain there were signs everywhere that said no photos, and Mark is not the guy you want to stick a camera in his face without asking. Someone tries to take a sneak picture of him, and Mark jumped 15 feet in one step, grabbed this guy's camera, and crushed it with one hand. Show told Mark that if he ever grabbed him like that, he'd hit him with his car. It is now his honor to induct our next inductee, Mark Henry!
Mark comes out and gets kissed on the head by Big Show, and he starts by giving a thank you to God, because it'll take God to get him through this without crying. The fans start chanting "Sexual Chocolate" at him, and he thanks the fans for saving him. He thanks Paul (Big Show) for being like a brother to him, but he also wants to tell the boys and girls here and at home that he respects everyone who loves this business, and he knows how difficult it is to travel, wait at home, get back, and miss a lot of stuff, but today, he is humbled. He's also shocked he made it 20 years (fans chant "you deserve it"), and he talks about how he was 9 years old and his grandma took him to Beaumont, Texas, and it just so happened that his favorite wreslter was on the card. Mark is struggling to get through this without breaking down, and everyone gives him a standing ovation. He got to see Andre the Giant, and he watched the kids run to the barricades around 8000 times when he was wrestling, and that night, he was one of those kids. The other kids knocked him down, but Andre picked him up, and that's why he's here today. He wasn't the strongest man then, just the happiest kid. He's like a turtle on a fence, he did not get here on his own, and he thinks about everyone who inspired him and believed in him, and that's the most paramount thing. The backbone of his strength was his mother, she bought him his first set of weights when he was 10, and now he has his own kids, and he's sure he got on her last nerve like his get on him, and he knows she's looking down on him right not, smiling and proud, and they put that weight set on his front porch, and that's where all the kids in the neighborhood hung out. That weight set was her way of keeping an eye on all of them, and he was not the best kid in the family, and he hopes she knows how her sacrifice was put to great use, and it changed the course of his life. He wants to thank the ocahces and trainers who gave him the foundation to be what he became, and he wants to thank them all from the bottom of his heart because he couldn't have done it without them. He loved pro wrestling and loved the Junk Yard Dog, the Iron Sheik, and of course, Andre the Giant, and he was a wrasslin' fan. One day he got a call and on the other hand was Vince McMahon, and he paused a little bit and hung hte phone up because he knew it was one of his friends messing with him. Turns out it was really Vince McMahon, and luckily he did call back and probably thought he was the biggest mark in the history of wrestling, and a lot of people hate that word, but that's what he is, both literally and figuratively. Like half the conversation was asking if he could meet Yokozuna and wrestle the Undertaker. The business gave him a lot, and he was fixated on meeting guys he met on TV and played in video games, so he signed with WWE in March of 1996 and never looked back. He knew right away that this was going to be something like he never saw before, and his first coach was Dr. Tom Prichard, who saw he was a great athlete, but still a young kid who wasn't focused, and didn't train or study like he should have. He didn't have the success he should have because he wasn't focused, and he should have been because you have other people's lives in your hands. Around that time, "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd said to him to come sit under the learning tree, and told him that the man never did for anyone what he did for him, and he better not mess it up for peopel who look like him, and Mark says Ernie put the future of the black race on his back, but he did his best to carry that ball. One of his biggest influences came from his brothers in Canada, where he got banished for threatening Shawn Michaels, but he spent a year getting mentored by the Hart family, and he learned a great deal from them, and most importantly, how to babysit the Hart kids. It helped him ,because now he can take care of his own. That's where he first met Owen Hart, but he doesn't have time to cover everything, but Owen brought so much joy to his life, and he wishes Owen could be here with them. He asks the camera to zoom in, and says to Martha that please, this is not from the company or the other wrestlers, it's from his other brother: he needs to be here, and he hates that he hasn't kept up like he should have. He'd love to be able to look down one day and see Oje able to be among them since it's his birthright. He would be remiss in not mentioning his other alter ego, Sexual Chocolate, and he hasn't seen him in a while, but he hopes he's doing all right. The Sexual Chocolate music hits, and someone comes out with a cape he puts on. He asks how everyone's doing, then asks Stephanie if she remembers that time they danced, and what she's doing and if she's married or anything, even though that doesn't matter to Sexual Chocolate. He points at his wife and asks her to stand up and turn around for him, then says that was fun, but not to get any ideas because he is NOT coming back. When he told D-Lo Brown about Sexual Chocolate, he almost fell out of the car laughing because he never thought they'd let him do that on TV. Sexual Chocolate was a huge success and a real blast, and she has to thank Mae Young and Chyna for making Sexual Chocolate. He also can't forget the Nation of Domination, and D-Lo was his first tag team partner, and they always stayed close, and he thanks him for being there for him. He can't tell any Godfather stories with all the kids watching, but he thanks him for the teaching, stories, and watching out for him over the years. As for Ron Simmons, if you look up "man" in the dictionary, you see a picture of Ron Simmons. He was a pioneer in this company, the first black man to win a World Title, and he's been a positive role model for him and his kids. Of course he can't forget the Rock, and when they met in 1995, Rock was just starting out like he was, and he didn't have enough money for an apartment or a bed, he was the offspring of wrestling, and was bred to be that. He told Rock to move in with him and not worry about the money, when he gets his money he can pay him back. Now here it is 2018, and he hears rumors that he's doing pretty good, so if Rock hears this, he's retired now and can use that money back, and possibly the 20 years of compound interest. He's been ECW Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, and being the fifth African American to hold that title was a highlight. He had the pleasure of being in the locker room with some great men and some great wrestlers, and he hopes he didn't forget anyone and apologizes if he did, but he's been living a dream and participated in nearly 8,000 matches, and there's no way he can thank everyone. He thanks his family for their years of unwavering support, and he says this planet is a melting pot, and the future relies on everyone living as one. Before he goes, there's just one more thing he needs to do: He puts on his pink blazer and says he's a small town boy, and they might think this is easy and that he has a lot left in the tank, and they're right, and he doesn't know why John Cena is grabbing his collar, but he should have gotten a shot at that WWE Title. He tells AJ Styles that he has a title he can take, and Roman Reigns doesn't have the title yet, but he can get his title took. He's just playing, and he takes off his jacket and says he's an incredibly lucky man who gets to occupy the same space with the greatest of all time. He proudly accepts his place in the WWE Hall of Fame, because THAT'S WHAT I DO.
Coverage wraps up on Page 5!
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