WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Induction Ceremony

This one’s gonna be light on content, heavy on the pictures for two reasons. 1) To get it done before I leave for the show of shows, and 2) The Hall of Fame is the type of thing you can’t really convey beyond just generalities, you have to be there to experience it. Like how batshit insane Bob Backlund ended up being, or how much they booed Maria Menounos until it looked like she was ready to cry, that’s all not gonna make it on TV. So sit back and take a look at the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2013, and maybe you’ll even see a Spinarooni or two.

I don’t think there was a single bad seat in the house, and the stage was set to really pop. About a half hour before the show was to start, Michael Cole came out to remind everyone that this was supposed to be a solemn experience about the Superstars, and that we should treat them with respect, and catcalls would not be tolerated. As we’ll soon see, that didn’t happen at all.

During that half hour leadup time, they showed a few video packages, but also you get to see all the Superstar guests as they come in with their families. I managed to get a picture of just about everyone, except for some sly people who were too fast for my camera to focus on. There were some surprises, like the fact they even allowed the Iron Shiek into the building, but he was there. The biggest pop of the night was when CM Punk showed up as one of the last few Superstars with his girlfriend, Lita, who looked stunning in red. John Cena was pretty much booed anytime he was shown or even mentioned.

Right before the show was about to start, CM Punk got his hands on an “Applause” sign from a PA, and the place went wild. Shortly after that, the show started with our host for the evening, Jerry “The King” Lawyer. After a brief introduction, he brought up the fist inductor of the evening, the Hardcore Legend, Terry Funk.

Terry talked for a few minutes about how long he’s known Mick Foley and all his greatness, and about how the chokeslam he received during the Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring 1998 was so powerful it knocked his shoes clean off his body.

Mick Foley then talked for a full 40 minutes about the greatness of his career, from his days practicing flying elbows in his dorm room, which is apparently now a legendary room, which coincidentally, his son now attends the same college and is a RA in that very same room. Tying back in with Terry Funk’s speech, Mick said that his first thoughts after regaining consciousness after falling through the cage at Hell in a Cell were “Where did those shoes come from?”. His one complaint about his career was that he never got to beat Chris Jericho in a match, and that he always dreamed of dropping the elbow on him for the 1-2-3. Jericho jumped up on stage, Mick nailed him with the elbow, while CM Punk counted the pin. All and all, it was a very heartfelt speech, and ended when Mick was ushered off stage by Santa Clause.

Out next was Stephanie McMahon to induct seven time Womans’ Champion Trish Stratus. Steph kept kayfabe, talking about all the destruction Trish put Stephanie and the entire McMahon family though, from making out with her husband, to having an affair with her father. The Attitude era was a crazy time.

Trish came out in a billowing dress, and had nothing but nice things to say about everyone she’d been involved with in the WWE. She joked that if she had to thank them all individually, it would take forever, and unrolled a scroll with all their names. She thanked all the ladies of the Attitude era whose ass she kicked, with a special thanks to her great rival, Lita, then wondered if she could still say ass. She tried to have a nice moment thanking her husband, her high school sweetheart, for always being there for her, and everyone started booing when she said she was married. They all changed their minds however when Trish dropped a bombshell, that she was pregnant and expecting a baby in September. Good for her!

Out next was Stevie Ray, out to induct his younger brother, five time five time five time five time five time! World Champion Booker T. He spoke to how Booker used to always follow him around everywhere, until one time when he was a teenager when he ran off to a party. Booker tried to keep up for about 200 yards, then just sat down in the middle of the street crying. When Stevie Ray came back later, Booker was still in the exact same spot still crying. He also said that while Booker was incarcerated for his robbery charge, whenever they spoke, it was always about pro wrestling.

Now, I was never a big fan of WCW, so I don’t really know or remember most of the names Booker mentioned. He did tell the story about how the reason he got his first World Television Title was because the person who was supposed to get it forgot to bring their boots and tights. He said that while it may have been their intention just to make him a transitional champ, he did everything in his power to make that as hard as possible for them, and it worked. He was able to climb from the bottom to the top, in both WCW and WWE. The best part of his induction was when his speach was over, Stevie Ray convinced him to do a Spinaroonie. We can certainly dig that!

Up next: A total trainwreck. Now I’ll tend to agree, Maria Menounos might not be a popular choice to induct Bob Backlund. She does have mainstream appeal, and was in a match at last year’s WrestleMania. She has also been a close personal friend of Mr. Backlund for years. But none of that mattered. She was booed mercilessly. You would think wearing a sheer dress and being an attractive woman would help, but no. She tried to tell personal stories about herself and her connection to Bob Backlund, and a bunch of cool personal tidbits about him, but the crowd was not having it. She had to stop several times, and looked to be totally frazzled, and close to tears. Eventual she pushed through it and brought out the man himself, for one of the most insane things I have ever personally witnessed.

Now, Bob Backlund has some legit accomplishments. He’s a two sport all american, and a NCAA wrestling champ. He’s also insane. Or maybe he just didn’t know he didn’t need to stay in character, that this was a real Hall of Fame and an honor. Instead he started his speech by just standing there with his hands on his hips, then just started yelling about how you shouldn’t listen to other people who put you down, and how you need to believe in yourself, and you can accomplish anything. The crowd was just simply stunned, no reaction at all, it was hard to watch. It seemed as if he was drunk, he was just rambling on incoherently, worse than an Ultimate Warrior promo. He kept pointing out HHH and John Cena for no reason, then had NCAA wrestler, Andrew Cabana, (this caused a false start reaction in the crowd, thinking he was mentioning indie darling Colt Cabana), stand up like he was recruiting for him. It got so bad, that Vince McMahon actually came out and gave him the wrap up signal. He closed by shouting that he knew Andrew Cabana would get better every day, and not regress, and he challenged HHH to do his fitness test, but HHH didn’t want to rip his pants, so instead he escorted Mr. Backlund promptly offstage. It was . . . surreal is the best way to put it. Fortunately it only lasted 15 minutes, but it was a very painful 15 minutes.

Up next was Vince McMahon to induct Donald Trump into the celebrity wing. The celebrity wing itself causes a lot of ire in the fans, and tonight was no different. Vince gave just a very light speech about the similarities between to two, (both have big egos, are successful businessmen, etc.) and really most of his speech was clips from their “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23, which had just been show as part of the video package about Donald Trump. McMahon quickly got off stage, and welcomed Mr. Trump, to a chorus of boos.

This was the shortest bit of the night, barely making it to 5 minutes. The crowd absolutely hated Trump, and booed him almost non stop. He tried to play to the crowd, saying he has Emmys and a top rated show, a PPV buy rate record, but this is his biggest accomplishment. The crowd refused to give in. The only pop he got is when he introduced his family. His son and wife were both booed, but his hot daughter, Ivanka, got some cheers.

Finally, it was time for the big get of the night: Bruno Sammartino. His good friend of over 50 years, Arnold Schwarzenegger inducted him. He said that the first time he met him as a judge for Mr. Olympia, he was like “I am from Europe. What is wrong with America? Over here the judges are bigger than the contestants!” (read that in your best Schwarzenegger voice in your head) because Bruno was so built.

The Man of the Hour, and the Living Legend himself, Mr. Bruno Sammartino was out to close up the night. He spoke about being a sickly child in Italy, having rheumtetic fever when he was a child hiding from the Nazis, and spoke of the great character his mother had, sneaking back to town to get supplies for the children, being captured and shot on occasion. He had great words for the doctors who sponsor the current WWE Wellness program, as they have personally stitched him up several times, which allow him to be a fit 77 year old man who still manages to work out 6 times a week. I have trouble carrying my groceries in from the car, and he still lifts in excess of 400+ pounds, which is pretty much insane. He spoke of his past history at Madison Square Garden, and the crowd just simply loved him.

The final act of the night was the all the members of the Class of 2013 and their inductors all coming out on stage together to take a bow, which got a riveting standing overation from the sold out crowd.

So there you have it, the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2013. Be sure to check out the Induction Ceremony special on USA Network Tuesday night. It will be interesting to see how they cut it, as almost all of Backlund and Trump my be unairable, but turn in to see.

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook