With the 'Showstopper' leading the way, WWE honors its 2011 Hall of Fame class

Written by Ken Borsuk, Staff Reporter
Tuesday, 05 April 2011 08:16

Throughout his career, Shawn Michaels has gone by many nicknames.

The Showstopper. The Icon. The Main Event. Mr. Wrestlemania.

Well now, his best friend Triple H said that Michaels can have another nickname... Mr. Hall of Fame.

The legendary Shawn Michaels, known to one and all as The Heartbreak Kid, led the 2011 class of inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame at a ceremony last Saturday at the Philips Arena in Atlanta the night before Wrestlemania 27. In an emotional night for him, his family and friends and particularly his fans, Michaels was inducted along with the WWE’s immortals one year after he retired after wrestling in the main event of Wrestlemania 26.

After a long standing ovation from the crowd, Michaels took to the stage to accept the honor without notes or a prepared speech, saying he wanted to speak from the heart.

“When I was 19-years-old, I didn’t want to be a sports entertainer,” Michaels said. “I didn’t know it at the time. I told my mom and dad that I wanted to do what those guys do on TV. I wanted to go out in San Antonio, Texas and wrestle in front of 25 people. Now fast forward 26 years later and I’m a 45-year-old man that’s had a heck of a road and I get to stand here in front of all of you and say thank you.”

A debilitating back injury and personal issues forced Michaels out of the ring in 1998 only for him to triumphantly return in 2002 to feud with Triple H at Summerslam and begin a second half of his career that many consider greater than the first half. Michaels put on several legendary performances after returning and in his speech he referred to the storyline going into this year’s Wrestlemania where The Undertaker, who defeated him in the last match of Michaels’ career last year, said he would be going into the Hall of Fame “with a ton of regrets.”

Thanks to his wife and children and the fact that he had this renaissance in sports entertainment and walked away on his own terms, Michaels said that wasn’t the case at all.

“If this had happened in 1998, when some people said I’d already had a Hall of Fame career, that might have been true,” Michaels said. “At that time I was still good at my job but there’s no way I could have stood here before you with no regrets. And though my family would have loved me unconditionally, there would have been a little current of disappointment running through them. I know there would have been disappointment for a guy backstage whose name I’m not allowed to mention [WWE owner Vince McMahon]. I was given a second chance. I came back in 2002 for one more match and, as we like to joke, that was nine years ago. Now I can stand before you today and say I am going into the Hall of Fame with absolutely no regrets.”

While he said that he didn’t want to get overly emotional and turn his speech into a “cry-fest”, Michaels ultimately couldn’t help it.

“There are no words to express to each and every one of you how much I lived and breathed to do this every night of my life for so many years,” Michaels said.

Triple H’s induction speech of his friend was quite mocking at times as he teased Michaels for his small stature, the clothes he used to wear, his lazy eye, the fact that he posed for Playgirl and thought only women would be buying the issue and that he’s a member of the “Hulk Hogan Hairclub for Men.” Michaels shot back when he got out that he had no idea his induction was going to be a comedy roast.

But Triple H also got emotional in speaking about his friend, noting their “unbelievable chemistry” together, whether as opponents or as tag team partners and saying they have spent more of their adult lives together than anyone else in the planet, including their wives.

“He’s my brother and I mean that,” Triple H said. “I want to come out here and talk directly to Shawn and I say I love you man. You were the greatest performer I have ever seen in my life. You were the greatest I was ever in the ring with. You were the greatest period.”

When the ceremony ended the two posed together and did a few of their DX tag team moves before they welcomed to the stage two other members of their infamous “clique” as Kevin Nash, better known as Diesel, and Sean Waltman, who was both The 1-2-3 Kid and X-Pac in WWE, joined them for celebratory hugs and cheers.

The Road Warriors

In addition to Michaels the class was made up of the legendary tag team The Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal, and their manager Paul Ellering, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Sunny, Abdullah The Butcher, Bullet Bob Armstrong and comedian and television host and comedian Drew Carey.

After Michaels, the biggest cheers of the night were for The Road Warriors as the tag team and their notorious manager were enshrined. Joseph Laurinatis, better known as Animal and Ellering were on hand to accept the honor and not only talk about their storied careers but also pay tribute to the memory of Michael Hegstrand, better known as Hawk. Hegstrand died in 2003 and in an emotional speech, both men talked about what he meant to them and how much they missed him.

“There is not a day that goes by where I don’t think about that man,” Animal said. “Hawk was a man’s man. If he saw a man who needed money and he didn’t have it on him, he’d say ‘Paul or Animal, lend me 50 bucks so I can give it to this guy. I’ll pay you back later.’ That was Hawk. Hawk was rough around the edges but Hawk loved everybody every second he came into contact with them. I knew Hawk better than anyone and if I could explain the connection we had I would, but I can’t... We had a connection that was unparalleled in this industry. We were one team, one mind, one body. I will forever miss him and be indebted to him.”

“Hawk was a husband, a son, a brother, a warrior and a friend,” Ellering said. “Even today we are dancing to the music Hawk was playing. I’d say that Hawk was our friend, but really that is being selfish. Hawk was a friend to all he knew.”

Ellering even brought out a Hawk action figure during the speech, getting loud cheers from the crowd as he did, to make sure his presence was felt on this special night.

“This is what Hawk would have wanted,” Ellering said, looking out at the packed house and hearing the chants for the team. “It’s a celebration of life and what a life we live.”

As he often did when he accompanied them to ringside, Ellering brought a rolled up copy of the Wall Street Journal and held it in his hand through their induction. He spoke about his role as their manager and how the three of them formed a complete unit together.

“When we first started, it was the perfect storm,” Ellering said. “Animal and Hawk were like adults with no adult supervision and I was the adult.”

Calling their induction into the Hall of Fame “the last laugh of wicked mirth”, Ellering said it touched them both to be honored like this and thanked everyone for making them a symbol of excellence.

The Road Warriors were inducted by a man who had both fought against them and teamed with them in the notoriously brutal War Games matches in the old NWA and WCW, the “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. Giving a speech like only he could, Rhodes called them “the greatest tag team in the history of this business.”

“The Road Warriors come in and electrified a match,” Rhodes said. “They electrified a state. They electrified the world with their power.”

And the facts back that assessment up. The Road Warriors spent time in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling and, of course, WWE while also competing internationally. They won the tag team championships in each and every promotion they were in, a feat no other team can lay claim to.

“This is the biggest award in sports entertainment history and I would give all those titles up for this night here tonight with the WWE Universe,” Animal said.

Sunny

Referred to as “the original WWE Diva”, Sunny (otherwise known as Tammy Lynn Sytch) was inducted by all the current Divas on the WWE roster. Michelle McCool and Layla El praised Sunny as “someone who represents everything we stand for.”

“She’s beautiful. She’s stunning. She’s charismatic. She’s charming. She’s intelligent. She’s gifted. And she’s inspirational,” McCool and El said, trading off compliment by compliment before both agreeing that Sunny is also “groundbreaking.”

Admitting that her life has at times resembled a roller coaster, Sunny said she grew up in New Jersey as a huge wrestling fan, always going to shows and finding out where the wrestlers were staying to try and get autographs. But when she got older she became a cheerleader and thought she had left wrestling behind. It was only when she moved out to Tennessee so her boyfriend, the late Chris Candido, could pursue a career with Smokey Mountain Wrestling that she got back into it and found herself in the business she grew up wrestling.

When she and Candido had dinner one night with Smokey Mountain’s legendary promoter and booker Jim Cornette her plans to attend medical school and become a plastic surgeon changed.

“I thought he was going to talk to us about Chris’ career, but JC looked at me and said ‘I need a girl,’” Sunny recalled. “I said no way at first and wondered what this crazy man was thinking. I told him that I was a college student and being a doctor was my goal and he said it would only be six months and then I could focus back on school. Six months didn’t sound too bad and I felt I could do it instead of mooching off my dad for my tuition and room and board, I could make some money on the weekends and then in six months I would be gone. Well six months turned into two and a half years and I was still working for Smoky Mountain Wrestling and pretty soon Jim Cornette was telling me that he was going to fire me if I kept getting more heat than he was getting.”

Sunny recalled how she initially thought she had done a terrible tryout for WWE back in 1996 but that she ended up getting hired and became one of the best known manager’s in the company’s history, leading numerous tag team champions to the ring and scheming and conniving to always get what she wanted. Her time in WWE made her a star and she was even once the most downloaded woman in America Online history, beating out women like Pamela Anderson for the honors.

Sunny thanked WWE luminaries like Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Howard Finkel for always being there for her and helping her. She thanked her boyfriend John for “getting me back into Sunny shape” after a rough patch and her fans for supporting her. Sunny also thanked the current WWE Divas for welcoming her into their locker room and hinted that as the youngest inductee ever in the Hall of Fame, you might not be seeing the last of her.

“I’m still not too old for one more run,” Sunny said to the sound of loud cheers from the fans. “And like I’ve always said, whatever Sunny wants, Sunny gets.”

‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan

Duggan, best known for his love of the United States of America as well as his use of an always handy 2x4 to stop his evil, devious opponents, was praised by his inductor “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase as someone who “exemplifies hard work, dedication, passion and a willingness to make all sacrifices necessary to achieve all the goals of his life.” DiBiase, who went into the Hall of Fame last year, called Duggan “a very close and dear friend for a long time” dating back to their time together in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1981.

“Jim Duggan has always been 110%,” DiBiase said. “He has fought long and hard and I think the passion that Jim has exhibited throughout his career was especially exhibited when he defeated the greatest opponent he ever had. In 1994 Jim was diagnosed with kidney cancer and Jim beat cancer.”

To loud chants of “USA!” and “Ho!” from his fans, Duggan took the stage with his trusty 2x4 in hand and thanked the fans for their support throughout his career, mentioning his long history in Georgia, particularly a stint playing professional football for the Atlanta Falcons. He talked about his humble beginnings “in the strange and wonderful world of professional wrestling” before he became a star in Mid South Wrestling and WWF and WWE, where he was just starting out in the business and had a very different persona from the flag waving 2x4 swinging one that made him a Hall of Famer. Under the ring name of Big Jim Duggan he used to come out with short hair and a clean shaven face to go along with red and black wrestling trunks and a gold ring robe.

“I thought it was catchy, but it didn’t seem to work too well,” Duggan admitted, saying it was advice from WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Skaaland and legendary brawler Bruiser Brody that changed things for him. It was Skaaland that told him to ditch the gold robe and get a name better than “Big Jim” and after gimmicks of wearing a mask in Hawaii as a “convict” and a bushy beard and fur with chains on it as “Wild Man Duggan” in Florida didn’t work out any better, he said it was Brody that advised him while working in Texas how to get on the right path.

“He told me ‘Kid if you’re going to carry something to the ring, carry something you can use,’” Duggan recalled. “He said, ‘Forget the feathered boas and sequined robes.’ So the 2x4 was born. It worked out beautifully. It was like parting the Red Sea after that.”

Thanks to his time in WWE, Duggan said he has been able to wrestle in every state and every province in Canada along with 23 different countries. During that time, Duggan said one of the highlights of his career was headlining a sold out show at Madison Square Garden where he wrestled Andre The Giant.

“No matter what business you’re in, whether you’re a dancer or an artist or whatever, if you sell out the Garden, you sell out the Garden,” Duggan said. “That’s something that I always hang my hat on.”

Duggan thanked his wife and best friend, Deborah, and children, Celia and Rebecca, and offered a big thank you to everyone in the American armed forces serving throughout the world.

“If there’s one thing the terrorists don’t understand and that’s that this is not just the land of the free, it’s the home of the brave,” Duggan declared. “And as long as there’s air in Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s lungs and as long as there’s blood pumping through my heart, I will carry the flag of the United States of America.”

‘Bullet’ Bob Armstrong

Bullet Bob Armstrong, a noted competitor for years in southern wrestling territories, was inducted to the Hall of Fame by three of his sons, Scott, Brad and Brian, all of whom became professional wrestlers too. Scott today is a WWE referee and Brian had a long run and multiple tag team title reigns as The Road Dogg in WWE. Brian even launched into his old Road Dogg catchphrases during his induction speech, getting loud cheers from the fans. But he quickly turned the focus to his father, saying that as he and his brothers watched the tribute video to him, they realized where all their moves in the ring came from.

“All through my career and probably through my brothers’ as well, we all thought we were uniquely gifted,” Brian said. “We thought we had something special. But when I watched that video, I saw that we stole every bit of it from our old man. I’ve never been prouder to say I’m my daddy’s son than I am right now.”

In his speech, Armstrong talked about being a child and begging his father to take him to see Gorgeous George perform in Marietta, Ga. and the reaction of the crowd to the hated villain. He talked about how when Gorgeous George threw one of his gold hair pins into the crowd it created a near riot of people diving to grab it and when the police finally broke it up, an old woman with blood streaming down her face was triumphantly holding up the pin.

“From that time I was hooked,” Armstrong said. “All I wanted to be was a pro wrestler. I think somebody up there likes me because I got to live my dream.”

Calling himself “an old war horse”, Armstrong thanked his wife Gail for raising five boys, including himself in that list along with his four sons.

“She picked us up when we were down and set us back down when we got too big for our britches,” Armstrong said.

Remembering one time he had to make a decision about whether to continue on as a professional wrestler or pursue a new career, Armstrong said looking out at the packed house at the Hall of Fame made him sure he had made the right choice.

“It’s the WWE Hall of Fame and Wrestlemania and it don’t get no better than this” Armstrong said. “If it did, I don’t think my heart could take it.”

Abdullah The Butcher

When the notorious Abdullah The Butcher was inducted what was notable wasn’t the content of his speech, but that he spoke at all. While other wrestlers made their livings based on how well they could talk on the microphone to make you want to buy a ticket, Abdullah always let his brutal actions do the talking for him. The notorious Abdullah, who more than lived up to his nickname of “the butcher” by attacking opponents with a fork and dishing out punishment so severe and bloody it has terrified audiences for years, spoke only briefly but gave a rare glimpse behind the character that has made such a huge impact on sports entertainment.

Abdullah said that when he first got the call that he was going into the Hall of Fame he didn’t believe it and had to go splash cold water on his face and then punch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He said he just wished his parents and siblings were alive to see it, but his 90-year-old Aunt Edna had been able to make the trip to see his induction.

“I’ve been around a long time and the man upstairs takes care of me,” Abdullah said.

The majority of the talking was done by Abdullah’s inductor, the hardcore legend and WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk.. Funk, who has had his share of bloody battles with the Butcher through the years, said he looked like a man who had played in the NFL for 20 years without a helmet.

“Man he’s got an ugly head on him,” Funk laughed. “But there’s not many tougher than this guy. My brother Dory and I had a hate/love relationship with him. We hated to wrestle him because he is so dad gum tough. But we loved to go to the bank afterwards. This guy could put a fanny every 18 inches. You know what was so wonderful about that? He could put that fanny every 18 inches and he never, never, never said a word on the microphone.”

Saying that his friend was no maniac, but rather a genius, Funk joked about how much he truly cared for him and the shows they were able to put on with each other in the ring.

“This man made brutality beautiful,” Funk said. “I made so much money with him that I would marry him if I could.”

Drew Carey

Drew Carey was the first to admit he was an unlikely entrant into the Hall of Fame as he was inducted into the celebrity wing along with Pete Rose, William “The Refrigerator” Perry and Bob Uecker. He made only one appearance with WWE when he appeared in the 2001 Royal Rumble, memorably tangling with Kane and eliminating himself before he could get hurt, but Carey said he was too much of a fan of wrestling to say no. And while fans booed Carey for an unknown reason, he took it all in stride and even cracked a joke about it.

“Hey, I’m skinny. I’m good looking. I’m rich,” Carey said. “Boo all you want.”

Carey, who hosts The Price Is Right and the new GSN show Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza, said he was having a great time being part of Wrestlemania and the Hall of Fame, saying there “were so many big guys in tuxedos backstage that it’s like March of the Really Giant Penguins backstage.” He said many people in Hollywood love WWE as much as he does, but he’s one of the few that does it openly.

“These guys are out there putting their bodies on the line every single night for your entertainment,” Carey said. “They’re sweating for you. The heart is there. The desire is there. The passion is there. It’s one of the greatest sports in the history of mankind. It’s all over the world and I’m very proud to be associated with it. I am truly very, very humbled to be a very small part of the WWE Universe.”

A truncated version of the ceremony aired Monday night on the USA Network. The full WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will only be available on the DVD for Wrestlemania 27, which is scheduled to be released on May 10.

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