WWE Hall of Fame 2018

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Goldberg and humility is like a mule and a spinning wheel. He tries so hard to be humble, but he just comes off as super obnoxious, gets all self-conscious and reverts back into doing his Jack McFarland messy drama impersonation mostly at guys who aren't in the room. 

It's awkward to watch.

[(BP)]

I passed out before Goldberg's induction, but Henry gave a straight-up headliner speech and he easily could've closed out the show. 

Jim's speech was fine, but I think the inductees skewing younger in general and the increasing amount of bits in the middle or end of the speeches really draws a sharp comparison to the older inductees. The audience politely listening to an older person quietly reflecting on their career and talking at length about people half the attendees haven't heard of or who've passed on is being replaced more and more by an "interactive experience." It makes good television, but some inductees are left being the dry part of the evening by default. 

Kid Rock's speech was respectful to the business and had no dismissiveness or pretense. He addressed some of the criticism leveled at his induction well too. However, if those hair extensions come out the rest of that ensemble immediately lands him on a sex offender registry. 

 

[Josh Mann]

These two need a sitcom yesterday: 

 

[KidNatural]

3 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

My God Jeff barely made it through that.

For all the reasons the Hall of Fame is ridiculous, the Mitchell rule, "because Vince" etc... It's amazing how much it means to some of these guys.

It's because of the ceremony. All of the HoFs have glaring weaknesses, but the WWE's is the one that has a public induction in front of thousands of fans. It's a nice reward for your career.

[Surprisingly Sincere Man]

This might be blasphemous to admit around here but I can't be the only one to find the whole thing boring as hell? I try to watch it every year but end up tapping out every time.

[offspring515]

15 minutes ago, Surprisingly Sincere Man said:

This might be blasphemous to admit around here but I can't be the only one to find the whole thing boring as hell? I try to watch it every year but end up tapping out every time.

No I’m with you. Mark and JJ and Jarrius were very good everyone else ranged from boring to meh. 

I don’t want the wwe writers doing the speeches for the guys but I do wish they had writers help them polish them up. They are all too long, they ramble on and on, they jump all over the place. Just helping them have a clear, concise narrative would help a lot.

i enjoy the show but it can be a slog to get through. 

[RIPPA]

 

[odessasteps]

Admittedly I don't watch it, but I think rambling and long is better than inducting the Funks and giving them a minute to speak. 

[(BP)]

I like the access to the whole show, but a middle ground edited version that came in shorter but wasn't completely chopped to nothing like the USA versions would be nice. 

[The Great ML]

I love Hillbilly Jim as he is a nice, humble, company lifer that was a big name during the expansion era, but good grief...he came across as trying way too hard to be poignant. 40 minutes was way too long.

[Brian Fowler]

There was one year where the speeches felt really scripted and WWE-ized 

That's the only year I thought it was boring. Different strokes and all that, but this is probably my single favorite annual show.

The Miz looking legitimately shocked and honored when Jarrett praised him was great. The Dudley's Comedy Revue was fantastic. 

But Mark Henry... God damn. He was already legit in my top ten all-time favorites, but if he wasn't, that speech might have gotten him there.

[CSC]

The producing on this show was really weird - it's like after a few speeches went long, they just gave up on getting wrestlers reactions shots, even when the inductee would mention guys that you had seen in the audience on the wide shots previously.  It was like the anti-Kevin Dunn HOF production.  

[Brian Fowler]

Also, you gotta love Goldberg promising his speech would be short like his matches then speaking for 35 minutes.

[odessasteps]

 

[(BP)]

40 minutes ago, CSC said:

The producing on this show was really weird - it's like after a few speeches went long, they just gave up on getting wrestlers reactions shots, even when the inductee would mention guys that you had seen in the audience on the wide shots previously.  It was like the anti-Kevin Dunn HOF production.  

Based on pictures floating around on Twitter, it looked like more than half the people that had floor seats left before Henry's speech, so they had to shoot around it. You'd think that WWE would insist they sit through the whole show, but I guess not. 

[Wyld Samurai]

On another note - 

I want an alternate WWE Universe where Ivory and Ric Flair did get married. 

[John from Cincinnati]

10 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

On another note - 

I want an alternate WWE Universe where Ivory and Ric Flair did get married. 

What horrible sin did Ivory commit to deserve such a thing? 

[Pete]

4 hours ago, The Great ML said:

I love Hillbilly Jim as he is a nice, humble, company lifer that was a big name during the expansion era, but good grief...he came across as trying way too hard to be poignant. 40 minutes was way too long.

The bit about his first royalty check from Patterson. Egads.

[RIPPA]

This is what happens when the show goes 4042 hours long and everyone has to go do the walkthroughs of their entrances

[HumanChessgame]

The Dudleys' segment was great though it could have used some Joel Gertner.

HBJ's speech was interesting if you were looking at it like a shoot interview.  It was kind of like listening to an old relative tell a long and meandering story that may or may not have a point.

Ivory's was a bit wtf in parts but she came off like she was legit enjoying herself, so more power to her.

I went out for the night about partway through Kid Rock's segment and didn't bother watching what I missed.  He seemed to keep it safe and non-controversial.

I normally don't pay much attention to the Warrior awards and Dana's intros are so never-ending, but this kid was really endearing.

Henry was tremendous, definitely the best part of the night.  Side note: The bar I went to last night had a beer from a local brewery on tap called Sexual Chocolate and it's amazing.  I also exchanged contact info with two women

When Michael Hayes did the Badstreet USA singalong it was really entertaining.  JJ's attempt at karaoke just feel flat, probably because it was so lame and because most of the crowd just wanted to go home.

Heyman's intro came off as basically being in kayfabe and made me agree with the assessment of a lot of the speeches being overly safe and scripted.  Goldberg has never interested me in the slightest so I think I only watched about half his bit.

[Brian Fowler]

Goldberg couldn't seem to find a balance between humbly accepting an honor and being GOLDBERG.

It's funny because of how easily and seemlessly Henry switched from himself to Sexual Chocolate back to himself to Hall Of Pain and back. 

[BrianS81177]

The way Henry kept talking about how much Andre meant to him, I was hoping he was going to say he'd be in the Andre battle royal tomorrow. 

How come Hillbilly Jim didn't come out to "Don't Go Messin' With A Country Boy"?

[Victator]

WWE doesn't have the rights for some reason. 

[PetrolCB]

Mark was awesome. I knew he seemed like a solid guy. About 2 years ago, he was on Jericho’s podcast and confirmed it for me. Loved the Martha bit. I’m glad JJ mentioned him too. 

[The Natural]

Yes!