WWE Hall of Fame Liveblogging!
OK, we've got the HOF already lined up in its streaming window, ready to start at 5:30. The desktop computer is ready to go. The laptop is sitting nearby. The festivities begin in about 10 minutes.
5:35 ... Well, things haven't started yet. I guess the WWE means business when they say "Approximately 7:30 ET."
5:45 ... still waiting ...
5:55 ... Are we having fun yet? ...
5:57 ... Apparently, the delay is due to the WWE taping the inductions of Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia by the Rock for TV first. Then when that's done, the webcast will begin.
6:06 ... At this rate, I'm worried that Mae Young won't live long enough to see her own induction ...
6:17 ... For the last 5 minutes or so, the HOF graphic showing up in Windows Media Player has simply said "Coming Soon." Oh joy.
6:22 ... Still no stream from WWE.com. Now I feel bad for making fun of TNA on Thursday night.
OK, not really.
6:28 ... If there's any good news here, it's that this delay is doing wonders for my hits and page views, as frustrated WWE fans try to find out what's going on with the HOF stream.
6:32 ... YAY! IT'S STARTED!
6:37 ... Jack and Jerry Brisco kick off the webcast portion. Virtually everyone has commented on the ridiculousness of putting the Briscos in together as a tag team, when Jack Brisco is more than worthy of being inducted as a singles wrestler due to being one of the great wrestlers of the 1970s and a former two-time NWA World champion. Jerry Brisco ... not so much. Yes, the tag team was the high point of his career, and he's an entertaining loyal McMahonite, but HOF material? Not quite.
JBL kicks off the Briscos induction by slamming the Rock for talking so long that Ric Flair had sobered up. It was meant to be funny, but came across as mean-spirited. Plus, none of us saw it.
Why, when it comes to tag-team wrestling, does JBL have this weird obsession with the Simpsons? I mean, I've been a big wrestling fan for most of my life, and I barely remember those geeks from Texas.
6:46 ... OK, I've pretty much turned around on JBL's induction speech. He won me over by the sheer force of his charisma, even if there were too many off-color jokes.
6:57 ... Jack gave a nice, understated speech largely thanking other people for his great career. Jerry makes some insider comment to Jericho about having 2 minutes for his match on Sunday night and works in an insider gay joke about Jim Barnett. After that, Jerry also gave a nice - if slightly overly long - speech recapping his career and talking about the importance of giving back to the community. Nicely done, gentlemen.
Miz can take off that goofy hat, please.
7:01 ... While I watch the induction video for Gordon Solie, it reminds me why I love the WWE Hall of Fame show so much: it's because for years the WWE completely erased the history of wrestling unless it was done under the WWWF/WWF/WWE banner. But now that Vince has a virtual monopoly on the industry and owns most of the tape libraries, the HOF serves as the WWE's acknowledgment of the REAL history of wrestling - that there was wrestling - successful wrestling - done outside of the control of Vince McMahon. And that's really cool.
That said, I always thought Solie was over-rated as an announcer.
7:15 ... Jim Ross gave the expected great induction speech for Solie. It is going to be a sad say when Ross is no longer with the WWE. Jim Barnett made another appearance tonight, having been referenced in both induction speeches tonight, despite being dead and not being inducted. Nice of Jim to mention Gary Hart. Maybe the WWE will induct Gary Hart next year, considering Mania is in Texas.
The acceptance speech by Solie's family was quickly interrupted by a moron who yelled "speak up!" about 5 seconds into the speech. And the heckling continued from there. Brutal. OK, the son who accepted wasn't the most charismatic person on the planet but have some class and let him give his speech.
7:20 ... OK, the second son made a terrible US election/wrestling joke that deserved to get booed.
7:21 ... Mae Young. I have such low expectations for this induction. Having Pat Patterson induct her was a MUCH better choice than the rumored original choice, Stephanie McMahon.
7:23 ... I'm sorry, but the highlight of this induction so far was the crowd shot of Victoria.
7:27 ... The most polite thing I can say about Patterson's induction speech is that he reminds me of a terrible lounge act in Vegas - the guy who thinks he's funny but really isn't.
And no sooner did I post that, then Pat broke out into song, and he has a halfway decent singing voice.
7:29 ... Mae Young is either extremely senile or extremely drunk.
7:32 ... I'm a bit worried about this speech going long because Mae is only up to the Bronze Age.
7:34 ... Candice Michelle is decked out in a fashionable shoulder bandage.
7:35 ... OK, Mae Young had her moment. She had her fun. Let's move on.
7:37 ... Eddie Graham is up next. This one could be interesting, as I actually don't know a lot about Eddie, and, of course, growing up in Winnipeg, it wasn't that easy to get Championship Wrestling from Florida on the local cable ...
7:41 ... I can't wait for the unedited DVD of this, as Dusty Rhodes also commented on how long the Rock talked. That must have been either the best speech in history, or a trainwreck of monumental proportions. Given that it was THE ROCK giving the speech, I'd venture on the side of awesomeness.
7:45 ... This is a compliment, albeit in a backhanded way ... but Dusty Rhodes is such a great talker, that you actually have to concentrate closely on what he's saying to realize that his induction speech on Eddie Graham is actually more about how great Dusty Rhodes is.
7:50 ... Mike Graham is trying to honour his dad, and these stupid wrestling fans keep yelling random things at him. Unbelievable.
7:52 ... Mike's donation of the photo of the first NWA meeting was a nice touch.
7:54 ... And that's it for now. Assuming The Score shows the TV portion of the show, I'll be back liveblogging that later. If not, thanks for reading.
5:35 ... Well, things haven't started yet. I guess the WWE means business when they say "Approximately 7:30 ET."
5:45 ... still waiting ...
5:55 ... Are we having fun yet? ...
5:57 ... Apparently, the delay is due to the WWE taping the inductions of Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia by the Rock for TV first. Then when that's done, the webcast will begin.
6:06 ... At this rate, I'm worried that Mae Young won't live long enough to see her own induction ...
6:17 ... For the last 5 minutes or so, the HOF graphic showing up in Windows Media Player has simply said "Coming Soon." Oh joy.
6:22 ... Still no stream from WWE.com. Now I feel bad for making fun of TNA on Thursday night.
OK, not really.
6:28 ... If there's any good news here, it's that this delay is doing wonders for my hits and page views, as frustrated WWE fans try to find out what's going on with the HOF stream.
6:32 ... YAY! IT'S STARTED!
6:37 ... Jack and Jerry Brisco kick off the webcast portion. Virtually everyone has commented on the ridiculousness of putting the Briscos in together as a tag team, when Jack Brisco is more than worthy of being inducted as a singles wrestler due to being one of the great wrestlers of the 1970s and a former two-time NWA World champion. Jerry Brisco ... not so much. Yes, the tag team was the high point of his career, and he's an entertaining loyal McMahonite, but HOF material? Not quite.
JBL kicks off the Briscos induction by slamming the Rock for talking so long that Ric Flair had sobered up. It was meant to be funny, but came across as mean-spirited. Plus, none of us saw it.
Why, when it comes to tag-team wrestling, does JBL have this weird obsession with the Simpsons? I mean, I've been a big wrestling fan for most of my life, and I barely remember those geeks from Texas.
6:46 ... OK, I've pretty much turned around on JBL's induction speech. He won me over by the sheer force of his charisma, even if there were too many off-color jokes.
6:57 ... Jack gave a nice, understated speech largely thanking other people for his great career. Jerry makes some insider comment to Jericho about having 2 minutes for his match on Sunday night and works in an insider gay joke about Jim Barnett. After that, Jerry also gave a nice - if slightly overly long - speech recapping his career and talking about the importance of giving back to the community. Nicely done, gentlemen.
Miz can take off that goofy hat, please.
7:01 ... While I watch the induction video for Gordon Solie, it reminds me why I love the WWE Hall of Fame show so much: it's because for years the WWE completely erased the history of wrestling unless it was done under the WWWF/WWF/WWE banner. But now that Vince has a virtual monopoly on the industry and owns most of the tape libraries, the HOF serves as the WWE's acknowledgment of the REAL history of wrestling - that there was wrestling - successful wrestling - done outside of the control of Vince McMahon. And that's really cool.
That said, I always thought Solie was over-rated as an announcer.
7:15 ... Jim Ross gave the expected great induction speech for Solie. It is going to be a sad say when Ross is no longer with the WWE. Jim Barnett made another appearance tonight, having been referenced in both induction speeches tonight, despite being dead and not being inducted. Nice of Jim to mention Gary Hart. Maybe the WWE will induct Gary Hart next year, considering Mania is in Texas.
The acceptance speech by Solie's family was quickly interrupted by a moron who yelled "speak up!" about 5 seconds into the speech. And the heckling continued from there. Brutal. OK, the son who accepted wasn't the most charismatic person on the planet but have some class and let him give his speech.
7:20 ... OK, the second son made a terrible US election/wrestling joke that deserved to get booed.
7:21 ... Mae Young. I have such low expectations for this induction. Having Pat Patterson induct her was a MUCH better choice than the rumored original choice, Stephanie McMahon.
7:23 ... I'm sorry, but the highlight of this induction so far was the crowd shot of Victoria.
7:27 ... The most polite thing I can say about Patterson's induction speech is that he reminds me of a terrible lounge act in Vegas - the guy who thinks he's funny but really isn't.
And no sooner did I post that, then Pat broke out into song, and he has a halfway decent singing voice.
7:29 ... Mae Young is either extremely senile or extremely drunk.
7:32 ... I'm a bit worried about this speech going long because Mae is only up to the Bronze Age.
7:34 ... Candice Michelle is decked out in a fashionable shoulder bandage.
7:35 ... OK, Mae Young had her moment. She had her fun. Let's move on.
7:37 ... Eddie Graham is up next. This one could be interesting, as I actually don't know a lot about Eddie, and, of course, growing up in Winnipeg, it wasn't that easy to get Championship Wrestling from Florida on the local cable ...
7:41 ... I can't wait for the unedited DVD of this, as Dusty Rhodes also commented on how long the Rock talked. That must have been either the best speech in history, or a trainwreck of monumental proportions. Given that it was THE ROCK giving the speech, I'd venture on the side of awesomeness.
7:45 ... This is a compliment, albeit in a backhanded way ... but Dusty Rhodes is such a great talker, that you actually have to concentrate closely on what he's saying to realize that his induction speech on Eddie Graham is actually more about how great Dusty Rhodes is.
7:50 ... Mike Graham is trying to honour his dad, and these stupid wrestling fans keep yelling random things at him. Unbelievable.
7:52 ... Mike's donation of the photo of the first NWA meeting was a nice touch.
7:54 ... And that's it for now. Assuming The Score shows the TV portion of the show, I'll be back liveblogging that later. If not, thanks for reading.
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