The pre-show was what we usually get on the Red Carpet, interviews with various talents. I always enjoy it because it’s nice to see the talent out of character.
They then opened the show with a video roll introducing this year’s class. It’s a good one. The show opened with our host, Jerry The King Lawler. He got a big pop from the crowd.
Lawler welcomed us to the show and put over the class. We are opening up with Diamond Dallas Page. The showed video of HHH calling DDP and telling him that he is being inducted. DDP got emotional and said it’s been a great ride. They then turned it over to other people to talk about him, which they did via video.
After the video, which was great, Lawler brought out Eric Bischoff, who got an amazing reaction and a welcome back chant. He appreciated it. He talked about heart and he would get back to that in a minute. Then he got emotional and said he wished that he was in the crowd and someone else was inducting Page, “God Bless You Dusty Rhodes. May you rest in peace Brother”. He then said he is happy to be the distant second and being here to share this with DDP and the fans. He is amazed at the progress DDP made. He met him in 1988 when he was the manager of Badd Company. People told Bischoff that he towered over the guys he was managing. Then Bischoff said close your eyes and imagine Paul Heyman at 6’11 and 360 pounds of muscle managing Brock Lesnar.
He said that DDP kept at and he was talented and obnoxious. One night they got into a bar fight back in the AWA and when DDP went to WCW in 1991 he was not upset to see him go. He talked about all of the things that DDP did down in WCW and as AWA was dying, he needed a job. He failed an audition a year earlier so he was happy to get a call from WCW. He got to WCW and found out the guy who was there for his audition was the guy he got into the bar fight with, DDP. Instead of holding it against him, DDP worked with him and he ended up getting the gig. They became great friends, even though Page remained obnoxious. He clearly meant it in a good way.
Bischoff learned to respect Page’s commitment. That is what led him to go to work at the Power Plant to learn how to make himself more valuable, as he was a manager and commentator at the time. At 35 he was training to become an in-ring performer. Everyone around him said he was too old, but Page was relentless. Page would tape everything and corner people to watch it with him and give him their thoughts. He was relentless. He kept working hard as he became a wrestler. He tried every gimmick he could think of to get himself over and kept at it because he was committed. He said DDP went on to have career moments with all time greats like Savage, Flair, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Hogan and more.
Bischoff respects him and he is here because of his hard work and that is why he is here. He said that he is happy to be here because of Page’s heart. Page shares his heart with others in need. He spoke about people that Page has helped with his yoga system and how he wouldn’t let people accept limitations. He namechecked Scott Hall and Jake Roberts and said that they were there tonight because Page was there for them. They nodded in agreement. With that, he brought out DDP.
DDP came out with his daughters, to a huge pop. He said he used to have Diamond Dolls and now he has Diamond Daughters. He put them over and then said it’s time to go. He was funny. He talked about Mania 6 driving Rhythm and Blues to the ring in his pink Cadillac. He said he didn’t get that gig, his car did. And 33 years later, he is going into the Hall of Fame. He said he was truly humbled. The crowd gave him a “You Deserve It” and he got emotional. He said that Lee Marshall said he was an anomaly, he wasn’t supposed to be here. He talked about about Dusty Rhodes and how sad he wasn’t here. He talked about his first meeting with Dusty, doing a good Dusty impression. Dusty said he wanted to make him the Jesse Ventura and Gordon Solie would help him through it. He said didn’t start wrestling until he was 35 and a half and Michael Hayes fell down laughing. He talked about training under Jody Hamilton at the Power Plant. He said he can’t remember how many times he hit the mat and said this fake stuff hurts like hell. He asked if he really wanted to do this and he said Yes. The fans chanted Yes and DDP said Daniel Bryan is one of his favorites, he loved him. He said after three months he got over with Jody and it meant a lot to him. He thanks Buddy Lee Parker and Terry Taylor. He thanked Dusty’s wife Michelle. He said he knows that he wouldn’t get all of those callbacks without her. As Bischoff said, he was trying everything he could do back then to get over, all at the same time.
He said that he had to thank Eric Bischoff. It was Eric that made him lose all of those gimmicks and just be him. He thanked E for always watching his back. He said that he also wanted to thank his other mentor, Jake The Snake Roberts. Without the Snake there is no three time champion. Without him and Dusty he is not on the podium right now. He said that he filmed every match and people laughed at him, but everyone does it now. Jake watched all of the take with him and critiqued him. He said you don’t learn from winning, you learn from falling down. Jake was instrumental in helping him. He wanted to thank Johnny Ace for giving him a finish that would change his life. He had to make it his own so he wanted to thank William/Steven Regal for the cravat that made it work. He said that Ron Ries down in the Power Plant told him to do the Diamond Cutter first, before the move. When the fans did it back, they showed the booking committee that they cared and that helped him.
1996 he had his first competitive match with Sting. The next day PS Hayes calls him and he answered. Hayes wanted to get the machine. He said he saw his match with Sting and he has to be honest. I have never been so happy to eat crow. I’m proud of you boy. And Hayes hung up. In 1997 he got another call from Jake, “Congratulations!” For what? Reinventing the DDT. It meant the world to him.
He wants to thank Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Nash blew him a kiss. No one believed in his idea to turn on the nWo but they did. And they set it up perfect. The fans hated when he joined and they loved when he laid Hall and Nash out. They set the table for him to have the 1997 Feud Of The Year with Randy Savage. By the way, he is doing great impressions of everyone. He talked about calling Savage on Thanksgiving and leaving a message when it dawned on him that he wanted Savage to know how grateful he was to him. He hung up and thought that was it. He said at TV on Monday that Savage took him in a room and said he got his message and played it a few times. He said he called his dad and asked him if anyone ever did that for him and Angelo Poffo said no. He then hugged DDP harder than he has ever been hugged.
He thanked Hulk Hogan and said it won’t be this year or next year, but if you keep working on it you will make huge money with me down the road. He talked about the angle on The Tonight Show with Karl Malone when they went after Hogan and Dennis Rodman.
He thanked his support team for “putting him back together” when he came home off of the road. He also thanked his ex-wife Kimberly. Then he thanked his wife Brenda. He said that she is his strength. She is a breast cancer survivor and that they did it the holistic way. He then ran down a list of other people he had to thank before he left the stage, with the last one being “especially Chris Jericho”. Jericho smiled and the crowd chanted Y2J. He talked about Jericho blowing his back out about five years ago. He sent the video to Jericho and Y2J said he would do whatever he said and look at him now.
He said he wanted to thank his family, his friends, the fans for coming, the DDP Yoga people all over the world and the Accountability Crib. He wanted to thank Goldberg for a hell of a match. Lastly, he wanted to thank his Mom for always letting him believe that he could do anything. Dusty was mentor. He could be his big brother and even his dad. Dusty would let him vent all the time but one night he went to far and said he would never be World Champion. Dusty finally raked his eyes and say that is enough. He said then what the hell are doing this for? If you don’t believe that you have the ability to be the World Champion you need to get out of the business right now. He doesn’t remember what Dusty said after that, but he remembers what he did. He wrote down, “I will be the World Champion in five years”. He said it was less than 5 years when he did. He stepped in the ring with Flair, Hogan and Sting. He thanked Flair for changing his life that night. He will never forget it and he is truly thankful. When the guest ref Randy Savage handed him that Title, an inner peace came over him. The next day Dusty called. How’s it feel. He said Dream, it feels real. Dusty said That’s because it is.
He said that his buddy Jim Ross has called him one of the biggest overachievers ever and he takes that as a big compliment. He said to be an overachiever, you first have an over believer. Always believe in yourself. He thanked the fans and did the Diamond Cutter. Feel the Bang!
It was an awesome speech. Great start to the show.
They showed Roman Reigns and some fans booed. Come on man.
Rock and Roll Express are next. Lawler said he feels good having a hand in creating them. Video time. It was nice to see all time greats give them the credit that they deserve. Here comes Jim Cornette.
Please click to Page Two for more thoughts from tonight’s show!
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