Inductee: The Ultimate Warrior
Presenter: Linda McMahon
Linda said she was honored to induct Warrior, and that the Hall of Fame was her favorite event of the year because it honored legends of the past, and inspired the Superstars who may one day become Hall of Famers. She says Warrior legally changed his name to “Warrior” because that is the lifestyle he believes in. Linda says that Warrior was a loner in the lockerroom, and he asked that she would personally handle all communication of his return for the Hall of Fame. She talks about Warrior calling her to get out his frustrations, and their mother-son relationship over the years.
Warrior takes the stage and says this is the most anticipated speech in sports entertainment, and there’s a lot of nervous wiggling in the front seats (The McMahons). He thanks his wife and tells his girls they weren’t alive when he was doing his thing, but Vince McMahon and the WWE do some awesome things, but the most awesome thing he will ever do is be their dad.
He talks about being backstage and saying he was excited…about finally getting some DDP Yoga! He takes a jab at DDP and says he thought for a minute he was watching a Yoga infomercial, but puts him over for helping people get back on track. He brings up the “Self-Destruction” DVD, and Triple H calling him an asshole. He said for only spending 5 minutes in the ring with this asshole, Hunter really learned a lot!
Warrior runs down a huge list of people he learned from over the years, even if it were lessons he didn’t want to learn. Sting, Ted DiBiase, Dr. Death Steve Williams, the guys in WCCW, the Von Erichs, Brusier Brody, and many, many more. Jose Estrada, the Brawler, etc.
He says people think he wasn’t welcome in the locker room, and that broke his heart. But he says he’s a good guy, and he was a good guy, and he put up with things like the Bulldogs pulling pranks on everyone. Warrior thanks everyone who has worked behind the scenes for 20-30 years, because they are the guys who make everything possible. He says we’re celebrating 30 years of WrestleMania, and puts over a guy named Jimmy Miranda, who used to drive the WWE trucks all around and set up the arenas, and sell t-shirts and make the whole ship run, and asks WWE to create a class of the Hall of Fame dedicated to the guys like him.
Warrior says people have told lies and tried to ruin a fun period of history with the Ultimate Warrior, but the fans fought back and he is here tonight because of them. The fans chant ‘Thank You Warrior” and he says “No, No” – so of course they start a “YES!” chant and Warrior says she’s been out of the business too long.
He says over the years there was one person who told him not to stop, and it was Vince McMahon. He tells a story about all the guys who went into Vince’s office to complain about their pay checks or working the road, and coming out with their head spinning. But when he got a meeting with Vince, he came with a list of things he wanted to do to succeed, and from that point on he got a meeting whenever he wanted it.
Warrior puts over John Cena for doing all the Make-a-Wish stuff, and says Cena is a big Warrior mark. He then talks about all the basketball and football players who get wrestling titles and cut wrestling promos and pretend to be wrestlers. But wrestlers don’t pretend to be football players or basketball players, because they are professional wrestlers.
Warrior says people worried about him coming up because they didn’t know if he could seperate reality from work. But everyone today is working their gimmick on social media, and he’s thankful that his gimmick was uniquely his. He claims to have been respectful to everyone he met in WWE, and the DVD they made about him was just wrong, and it hurt him. He says he’s honored to be included into the Hall of Fame this year, and to be an official ambassador to the company for several years to come.
He ends the speech by thanking Vince for supporting him, the fans for supporting him, but says he won’t ever have “one more match”. Warrior says the writing is on the wall for the young guys, and their time in the business will come and go, and they need to prepare themselves for life outside of wrestling. And when the old guys are ready to go, they need to help the young guys take over. They show shots of Ziggler, Ambrose and Reigns, the later of whom gets the biggest reaction. Warrior thanks everyone for coming, and tells us to enjoy WrestleMania.
KILLAM: Incredibly humble speech…at times. It’s impossible to tell what really happened with Warrior and the backstage drama of the day, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all water under the bridge. Long speech, we’re all tired, but Warrior knows how to bring it to the microphone.
Wonderful night overall. I wish I could have heard more from Scott Hall, a little less from Lita, but the highlights were obviously Warrior’s return and the crazy emotional speech from Jake Roberts. That is a speech I will never forget. Congrats to everyone involved. Great night, and enjoy WrestleMania XXX tomorrow everyone!
