Magic, Memories & Mania - Hall of Fame Log
By Shawn Valentino, PWTorch specialost

I attended the Hall of Fame live Saturday night, and it was a great experience despite being at least one hour too long. Here are some of my thoughts on the show. By the way, as I am sitting here at the wrestlers's hotel, The Undertaker just walked by. He looks really good so expect to see him looking legendary tonight at WrestleMania.

(1) My favorite part of the night was Lanny Poffo's speech. He had recited the entire speech to me at the hotel earlier in the day so it was cool to see if he would change anything. It was essentially the exact speech I heard in the morning, Mr. T joke and all. I am probably the only person that knows this, but the plan was for Poffo to jump into the crowd and raise Steamboat's hand at the end of the speech. I am not sure how it came across on television, but after his speech, Poffo was asking "Where is Steamboat?" to give the fans a memorable feel-good moment and a nod to that WrestleMania 3 match.

Unfortunately, he could not find him so it did happen, but I was talking to Poffo when he asked Dragon for permission to include him in the finish of his acceptance. Savage was my favorite wrestler as a child, and his match with Steamboat is what made me a fan so this was a very special moment for me.

(2) It was great to see Hulk Hogan give credit to Savage for making him a better performer. I believe that Macho Man was Hulkster's best opponent so it was nice that Hogan acknowledge how important Macho Madness was to Hulkamania. Hogan received a loud ovation, but most of the fans were clearly there for Savage so on this occasion, he was not upstaged by Hulk.

(3) Alundra Blayze gave the surprise speech of the night. I never saw her during her career, but everyone was impressed by her charisma and promo skills as she showcased more attitude than the past ten years of Divas in WWE combined.

(4) This was a much more respectful crowd than in past years, and we did not get as many random inappropriate chants and screams. Even when Larry Zbyszko lost his train of thought, the audience was supportive.

(5) Arnold Schwarzenegger was much more popular than past celebrity inductions, and it was obvious that his public speaking ability was strong due to his political experience, but every time his governorship was mentioned, it was booed.

(6) My friend and I had a bet going whether Savage or Kevin Nash would finish the show, and I think they made a great decision ending with Nash and giving a couple feel-good moments after the emotion of the Macho Man induction.

(7) I thought that it was a nice gesture to induct Conner into the Hall, but I thought some of it came off as heavy-handed and self-congratulatory. I hated Daniel Bryan's remark about what he does as being fiction. I understood what he was trying to say, but I thought it was a bad choice of word and the crowd did not like that. I thought this entire segment of numerous speeches should have been closer to ten minutes instead of 30.

(8) It looked like many of the talent seats were empty by Nash's speech so it is possible that many of the wrestlers left early due to the length of the show. They really need to cut the show to three hours maximum and probably keep it to six inductees a year.

(9) The most popular shirt of the weekend is easily the classic retro Macho Man tee, and it was all over the audience at the Hall of Fame.




Overall, it was a good show, but it was marred by the length. I got to meet Dana Warrior and her daughters after the show, and I must say that the children were very sweet, intelligent girls that have handled a tragic situation really well. Whatever issues Warrior may have had with his questionable views and public comments, it is obvious that he did a great job raising his kids.




As I speak, the wrestlers are getting ready to go to the stadium for WrestleMania. I will have a live report of the show later in the week.

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