ORLANDO - I'm just about to head out for the WrestleMania brunch, but I wanted to drop in with a few notes from last night's Hall of Fame. I'll be back with a more detailed report.
It was an awesome, emotional and very long night. Ric Flair's speech alone took more than an hour, and Fair was still talking about half way through when USA started airing its pre-taped edited version of the show. Toward the end, Triple H kept coming up to him and whispering into Flair's ear to rap it up, but Flair didn't pay much attention. It's too bad he was a bit rushed, because the fans were enjoying every minute of him and could have listened for another few hours. The hurried pace also forced Ric Flair's historic induction speech to sort of peter out, rather than end with a bang. After receiving his standing ovation, Flair's final words were a brief thanks to WWE office worker Ann Russo.
Some notable people in attendance: Andrew "Test" Martin arrived late and sat with the wrestlers. Billy Kidman was way, way in the back - third to last row in fact - behind a lot of developmental talent.
Flair and Triple H both seemed to take digs at the Rock, including Flair noting that Cena would never leave wrestling for Hollywood. Flair also put over Steve Austin huge, saying he was tired of claiming that Hogan was the biggest star of the business, adding, "It end tonight." He said that distinction belongs to Austin. Several wrestlers in attendance, including Edge, Rick Steamboat and the Big Show, openly wept as they were acknowledged by Flair. Arn Anderson seemed a bit upset - not even smiling as Flair acknowledged him. I wonder if he might have felt, like many fans did, that there was someone more appropriate than Triple H to induct Flair into the Hall of Fame.
The Rock was over huge with the fans, and was on stage for close to two hours. When the crowd started chanting "One More Match" with him and Austin, he looked at Austin and said, "We'll have to work on that." He said the three guys in attendance that he wished he had wrestled were Cena, Rey Mysterio and Shawn Michaels. By the end of his speech, fans were chanting, "Three more matches!."
The other inductions were much shorter, and generally very classy and sometimes moving, such as Mike Graham's memories of his father, Eddie, Mae Young's vow to wrestle a match on her 100th birthday, and Gordon Solie's son giving one last "So long from the Sunshine State" to the fans.
Anyhow, at nearly five hours, I could write all day about everything I observed, and at my embarassment at running late and having to attend the event in an Ivan Drago T-shirt and shorts. I hope to be back soon with more details.
A few other notes: I stopped by TNA's iMPACT! taping last night and was able to talk to some of the talent. Kevin Nash told me that, despite all the drama surrounding Rory McCallister, he was openly hanging out with some of his old WWE friends over the last several days. He said Dixie Carter had no problems with TNA talent fraternizing with WWE talent. He said he was happy for Ric Flair being inducted, but questioned the legitimacy of the Hall of Fame, saying that "the business is a work" and something to the effect of "it's not like you have to hit 500 home runs" to get in. I'll have some video of my interview up soon.
Comments (9)
What was the vibe when the fans cheered Flair's mention of Chris Benoit? It sounds like a creepy wrestling version of the standing ovation for Roman Polanski's Oscar win 6 years ago.
I'm curious as to what it seemed like reasoning for most fans cheering was. Were they fans who thought Nancy really killed Daniel so Chris snapped and killed her? Did they think Kevin Sullivan did it and framed him? Were they the types that think it shouldn't matter because he was a great wrestler? At any rate, it makes me really embarrassed to be a wrestling fan.
What was the vibe when the fans cheered Flair's mention of Chris Benoit? It sounds like a creepy wrestling version of the standing ovation for Roman Polanski's Oscar win 6 years ago.
I'm curious as to what it seemed like reasoning for most fans cheering was. Were they fans who thought Nancy really killed Daniel so Chris snapped and killed her? Did they think Kevin Sullivan did it and framed him? Were they the types that think it shouldn't matter because he was a great wrestler? At any rate, it makes me really embarrassed to be a wrestling fan.
Maybe, like I said in another post, they were remembering the good about him instead of the bad. Maybe you should try that, too.
I won't, because he killed his wife before killing his son with his pro wrestling finishing hold.
The same person that had all those great matches killed his family. He killed one of those family members, his 7 year old son, with his pro wrestling finishing hold. That intertwines the murders and his career more than they would have been otherwise. Plus, *they cheered the mention of a double murderer*. How do you think Nancy's family feels about that? It even happened about an hour from where they live as a fun bonus.
Tell me, would you feel the same way if a wrestler who wasn't so talented did the same things? If Snitsky or whoever killed his wife and children before committing suicide, would you be saying that we should still celebrate the good things he did?
Really, why should I remember the good? As Paul Heyman put it in a blog post:
"There's the young girl who got caught up in the wrestling business as a teenager, ended up leaving the business to become a full time mother, whose professional legacy and even worse, whose brutal murder has been eclipsed by the remembrances of what a 'good guy' and a 'great wrestler' and a 'wonderful family man' and a 'respected co-worker' her killer was.
And there's a seven-year-old boy, whose room was filled with posters and action figures of his revered father, who has been wrongfully labelled across the world as being a dwarf, or retarded, or a sufferer of Fragile-X, whose wrongly-reported disabilities have been speculated as the cause of the marital strife that many say drove the little boy's beloved father, the murderer, over the edge."
I'm guessing they just cheered because you aren't allowed to say that name anymore, and Flair said it.
Simple as that.
Yeah, the "anti-establishment" aspect crossed my mind later on. It's possible, though they're easing him back into 24/7 and DVDs anyway.
The man's brain was that of an 80 year old man with Alzheimer's. He had that brain, in that muscled body, because of the wrestling business. It doesn't absolve him of blame, but I have a hard time hating him, despite the awfulness of what he did.
find the time
For those of you who haven't read Paul Heyman's piece quoted above by Bix, I'd encourage you to seek it out.
It's the most intelligent, honest, and moving account I've read on the Benoit tragedy - and it's by someone who knew him and his family.
It's important that we as fans get perspective on the matter - and it's obvious from some online forums that many don't. The worst thing that could happen in this upside-down industry is that Benoit somehow becomes an anti-hero. A savage murderer somehow elevated to near-messiah status, because some people just can't comprehend the scale of his crime, but just want to remember the "good times",