Recap of the 2012 WWE hall of fame ceremony

– It was an emotional night for former WWE champion Edge as the Rated-R
Superstar was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his best friend
Christian. In his speech, Christian said that Edge is trying to look and
emulate him by cutting his hair and looking like “Justin Bieber just
hitting puberty.” He then asked what else he will do to be like him,
“maybe shrink 3 inches and lose 9 World titles.” Christian had to stop a
few times when recounting his strong friendship with Edge and his tough
times as a kid with a single parent. He then introduced Edge and the two
embraced in a long hug. Edge filmed his own entrance with his cell phone,
pretty funny considering he doesn’t use Twitter or Facebook. Edge said
that he was going to make fun a lot of people during his speech, which he
did, picking on his close friends Rhyno and Lance Storm who were also in
the audience. Edge thanked several people who contributed to his success
including Bret and Owen Hart, “Glen and Mark,” referring to Kane and the
Undertaker, Kurt Angle, the Hardy Boys, Dudley Boyz, Mick Foley, William
Regal, Michael PS Hayes and others. He also had a special thank you to
Vickie Guerrero and Lita – who was sitting in front row – for their help
in creating the Rated-R persona. He called his mom his greatest tag team
partner and Edge had to fight back tears while talking about her. He
thanked everyone for their support and decided to exit the stage with a
rock song rather than the usual boring HOF song.

– The 4 hand sign was up everywhere at the American Airlines Arena as the
legendary group the 4 Horsemen cemented their rightful place in the WWE
Hall of Fame. Dusty Rhodes was out first to introduce each of the five
members. Rhodes went on to explain the greatness of each person in the
Horsemen, calling Flair a “national treasure” and praising Arn Anderson in
particular. After Rhodes was done, Flair, Dillon, Blanchard, Windham, and
Anderson, all walked out to a big standing ovation and a lot of “woooos”
from the crowd. JJ Dillon took the mic first and was over in a few minutes
and was then followed by Ric Flair, who recounted a few stories including
the one drinking with John Cena and getting screamed at by his then-wife
for hanging with someone who’s 30 years younger than him. Flair was pretty
emotional and cried a bit during his speech. There was no mention of TNA
whatsoever. Barry Windham talked next, followed by Tully Blanchard.
Blanchard talked how he hit the lowest of lows with his father passing
away and hitting the highest of highs being in the Hall of Fame all in one
week. Arn Anderson was the last one to talk and got the only sole standing
ovation from the crowd and his peers. Double A was also pretty emotional
in his speech, talking about his family and mentoring the young WWE
Superstars.

– Shawn Michaels and Triple H took the funny routine when introducing
boxing legend Mike Tyson to the Hall of Fame. HHH recounted a story of a
few years back when there was a Tyson fight and the two had to rush to a
nearby sports bar after a live show. They were running late and by the
time Shawn parked the car, the fight was already over, with only HHH being
able to see it because he jumped out. Triple H knocked on his partner some
more then recounting the WrestleMania story when Tyson knocked out HBK
following his match against Stone Cold. The two laughed and HBK had to
turn around more than once to cover the fact that he was laughing in what
was supposed to be a “serious” banter between the two. Eventually Triple H
asked HBK to announce Tyson as apparently he’s better at him in
everything, which got a nice laugh from the crowd. Shawn ironically
fluffed his lines and needed three tries to do it. Tyson began speaking
and cracked some jokes of his own, saying he would have loved to be a pro
wrestler but he never had the opportunity because he got arrested! He said
that if he didn’t work WrestleMania XIV, he would have had no house and no
money. In closing, Tyson said he didn’t know that John Cena was black
since he does the gang signs and all that which got a huge laugh from the
crowd as Tyson imitated Cena. Tyson also said that Dusty Rhodes was black
too and made a remark that had the people go “ooooooooh” and he was
immediately cut, and he ran to the back laughing!

– Ron Simmons, Mil Mascaras and Yokozuna were the other three inducted
into the WWE Hall of Fame yesterday. Ron Simmons was inducted by John
Layfield, who gave him an exceptional speech to kick off the show.
Layfield recounted some funny stories of the two and even took a shot at
Vince Russo who said APA would never work. Simmons was thankful for being
inducted and toyed around with the fans before saying his trademarked
“Damn.” Alberto Del Rio inducted his uncle Mil Mascaras who came out in a
black mask. Mascaras talked about his two wives, and how he gets to travel
first class everywhere and stay in the nicest hotels! Meanwhile, the Usos
inducted their uncle Yokozuna into the Hall of Fame. One of them recounted
a story of when he was six years old and his mom told them to switch on
the TV because his uncle was on it. “But he’s Japanese,” he said, as the
crowd laughed. Rikishi – their father – accepted the honor on Yokozuna’s
behalf with Yoko’s mother present as well.

Colin Vassallo is the editor of Wrestling-Online