KELLER’S WWE HALL OF FAME SEGMENT REPORT 4/6: Brutus Beefcake with Hulk Hogan induction speech, Hogan opens with “Let me tell ya’ something, Mean Gene.”

WWE HALL OF FAME REPORT – BRUTUS BEEFCAKE (segment 2)
APRIL 6 2019
BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT BARCLAY’S CENTER
STREAMED LIVE ON WWE NETWORK

BRUTUS BEEFCAKE – Inducted by Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan made his ring entrance to his intro song. He was dressed in a tuxedo. He stopped to give the Too Sweet hand tap to Kevin Nash in the crowd.

Hulk opened with a tribute to Gene. “I gotta do this just once… Let me tell ya’ something, Mean Gene!”

Hogan then went into a story about Brutus Beefcake, referring to him as his best friend. He said they got into wrestling together, then went their separate ways, then came back together.

Hogan said Brutus had a thousand different names, such as Dizzy Hogan, a Boulder Brother, the Zodiac, the Booty Man. He said “when we came to New York, Brutus Beefcake was born.” He said they weren’t like the Hart Foundation or The Road Warriors – “We didn’t have our act together” – but when gave him the hot-tag, it made the comeback really easy.

He said every year Brutus got better at his trade and started getting a good rumble from the crowd whenever he’d come out. Hogan kept the introduction quite short, under five minutes.

Brutus Beefcake then came out with a pair of clippers. He was moving a bit gingerly to the ring, then gave Hogan a light hug and smiled. He thanked WWE for helping him put food on the table for him and his family, and he’s honored to receive the award. He thanked everyone for the good times and the good times still to come. He told Hogan he is his friend to the end.

He talked about getting a big break when the WWF called. He said they first wanted a butler type of character named Baron Beefcake. He said he wasn’t digging the name baron so much, “No offense, Baton Corbin.” They cut to Corbin looking offended and Shinsuke Nakamura laughing next to him and No Way Jose smiling behind him.

He said Hulk came up with the idea of calling himself Brutus “like Popeye and Brutus.” He said they ran back to Tampa and shaved his head short, dyed it black, dropped a few times, and added all the costuming. He said all he heard was, “How can this not make money?” He said it was the best feeling in his life and the gimmick took off.

He said after WrestleMania 3 assigned him the barber gimmick. He said he didn’t like it. “What’s a barber supposed to do in the wrestling ring?” He said he hated changing his gimmick, but Hulk showed up and told him to calm down. He said Hogan acme up with the idea of cutting off his opponent’s hair after putting them to sleep. He said he felt that just might work. He then thanked Patterson after all.

He sent out thanks to his wife and the rest of his family. He said his wife saved him a few times. He briefly thanked Greg Valentine, his book coauthor, and even Wade Boggs.

He said his favorite match is hard to pick, but he chose the Summerslam ’89 match teaming with Hulk Hogan against Macho Man & Zeus. He talked about a 1985 match against Hogan in Oakland. He said there were 25 or 30 Hell’s Angels outside the ring and they wanted to chop him up and feed him to the fishes.

He told the story of Adrian Adonis and Roddy Piper in the hair match, and his shears didn’t work as he tried to shave Adrian’s hair. He said Adrian’s hair was all nasty and sweaty and slimy, and the little battery powered clippers didn’t work, so he had to call for scissors.

He talked about breaking Curt Hennig’s Perfect Streak. Then he turned to “The Genius” Lanny Poffo, but Genius ran out of the ring. He said he had to chase him down and pull him back into the ring and start cutting his hair. He said he was kicking and screaming, and he found out later Lanny had no idea he was supposed to get a haircut. “So, he was a little upset,” he said. He said when he got to the back, Pat Patterson had to explain the situation to “Macho Man” Randy Savage who thought he was picking on his little brother.

He thanked God for sparing his life in that terrible boating accident. He said it gave him a second chance to stand there tonight.

He said he recently renewed his barber’s license. He gave a shoutout to Shawn Michaels, but not for putting Marty Jannetty through the Barber Shop window, but for letting him to tune up his skills by shaving his head. He said it’ll grow back… some day.

He then held up his clippers and played to the crowd and strutted.

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