The Rock is the greatest person ever. Haters need to step off. I couldn't decide if making fun of Jericho's hair was my favorite part, or "I made Doom" was my favorite part, but then I realized my favorite part was the whole entire thing.
They did about the best job they could've making a case for Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia are in the HOF.
Ric Flair's speech suffered from early for Flair reading it straight off his notes. It wasn't the speech I was expecting, but it got great by about a third thru (or whenever it was where he explained he was reading it off his notes as to avoid breaking down.) David Flair is still a black hole of charisma and they showed Reid in closeups so many times, it felt like he was debuting tomorrow.
He and HBK are so good that they'll have us convinced so many times throughout the match that it's over when it's not. Whatever the outcome, it's sure to be a classic.
Just watched this on YouTube and The Rock made me laugh more in his first ten minutes than anyone in the WWE has in years. He is in a class of his own.
This year's HOF represented absolutely BIGGEST thing I HATE about professional wrestling: low-class, smarky "fans."
I don't mean to be melodramatic, but I was incredibly disgusted by how utterly annoying some of the fans in attendance were during speeches. I don't care what anyone says, just because you bought a ticket DOES NOT give you the complete right to act that obnoxious -- ESPECIALLY if you can't even follow the rules that come with that ticket...and I'm talking specifically about the dress code. Seriously, if you can buy a ticket for the event, you can buy a cheap freaking suit, or at least a dress shirt/tie. Furthermore, the first time you hear someone yell "Shut up!" towards you, that should be enough to make you realize that the HOF isn't meant to be another wrestling show, it's not meant to be a place for you to voice your opinion or chant lines (whether they be positive or negative), but it's MEANT to be a time for you to BE QUIET AND RESPECTFUL OF THOSE BEING INDUCTED!
Maybe I come from a different background, but if I am attending an event I know will have lots of speeches from people I respect, who sacrificed for YEARS for MY ENJOYMENT (or in the case of these idiots, allegedly respect) and it's meant to be formal in atmosphere, I am going to cross every T and dot every I necessary as to not take away from the ceremony and THEIR MOMENT. You can say whatever you want about the HOF being for the fans, but if it was just for and all about them, you wouldn't see the type of emotion you do from the wrestlers.
I can't even begin to express how sad I felt for Mike Graham during his speech. You could see the frustration in his face between the random "Woooo!'s" and "HOOOGGGGANNN!" calls.
There's a lot more I could say, but you guys get my point. And I'm sorry for ranting, but I am honestly so sick of the classlessness of wrestling "fans." I am so sick of chants like, "You sold out!" or "You fucked up!" Would any reasonable, self-respecting play -goer yell that if an actor fudged their lines? No, of course not...and they'd be kicked out for doing so.
No wonder The Rock doesn't want anything to do with WRESTLING (not necessarily the business) anymore; he's there to add to the night...for ONE NIGHT, as ADVERTISED...and people are chanting "Make him wrestle!" What the hell? The guy gave the world seven years of entertainment...he even popularized/added the word "SmackDown" to the lexicon! What more do you want? For him to have one more match, it be bad, so they can make their asinine little chants and then feel good about crapping on it on forums or give it a [nerdy voice]"Noooo, I give it *2/3's!" when most, even some prominent wrestling "journalists," don't have the slightest clue what makes a match (x)-stars?
I'm done, thanks for reading. I'm sorry, but this was one of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen in wrestling.
I agree 100% with Whattaburger. I was there and the majority of the people sitting around us was dressed appropriately, but really how hard is it to put on a pair of khaki pants and a button up shirt? The chants really bugged me, too. In the section next to us one guy was particularly obnoxious, but some other fan got into his face about and he shut up the rest of the night.
When the chants started I told my friend that this was obviously an Orlando crowd and he sadly agreed. When we were leaving he saw a whole lot of folks that attended the Impact tapings when he used to go.
But yeah, when people asked me what I was doing this weekend, stuff like this is what made me say, "I don't really have any plans."
I'm amazed now, in hindsight, how really well-behaved everyone was at the Terry Funk dinner the night before the first ECW pay-per-view.
If anything, the fans then had a right to some griping, given that we were kept waiting for over an hour in the foyer of the hall and then, IIRC, there was no "one worker at each table" during the dinner.
I still remember how humorous I found the gentlemanliness of Taz and the Eliminators, always pulling out the chairs for their wives/gfs at the dias.
Couldn't agree more about how the fans should act better at these things, but WWE sort of brought it on themselves by putting the event in a large arena. A more intimate theatre setting with a controlled guest list would create a more dignified atmosphere.
There's apparently some heat on the Rock for his performance at the ceremonies. I dunno what happened backstage, but in regards to the speech, come on. WWE inducts Rocky and Maivia into the Hall more or less for the express purpose of having Rock show up for the induction, and then they get upset at him for making a Rock-esque speech?
“How is it that I am a good actor? What I do is I... pretend to be the person I’m portraying. You’re confused. Case in point: in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson comes to me and says ‘I would like you to be Gandalf the Wizard,’ and I said ‘You are aware that I am not really a wizard?’ and Peter Jackson said ‘I would like you to use your acting skills to portray a wizard for the duration of the show.’ So I said ‘Okay’ and then I said to myself ‘Mmm.. How do I do that?’ And this is what I did: I imagined that I was a wizard, and then I pretended, and acted, in that way on the stage. How did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me where to stand." -- Sir Ian McKellen, Extras
Originally posted by Big BadThere's apparently some heat on the Rock for his performance at the ceremonies. I dunno what happened backstage, but in regards to the speech, come on. WWE inducts Rocky and Maivia into the Hall more or less for the express purpose of having Rock show up for the induction, and then they get upset at him for making a Rock-esque speech?
>"This wasn't a roast," one wrestler said. "This was supposed to be a tribute to his dad and grandfather. Instead, he did an hour plus of comedy, running way long, then did a short tribute to his dad and grandfather, then left. It was rude of him."<
Wow, he went over an hour throwing comedic digs at the WWE roster. I would really really really love to have the whole transcript of that speech and see who else he went after and what he said about them.
(edited by Kevintripod on 1.4.08 0718) The best part of waking up, is not Folgers in your cup, but knowing that Chuck Norris didn't kill you in your sleep.
Originally posted by Big BadCouldn't agree more about how the fans should act better at these things, but WWE sort of brought it on themselves by putting the event in a large arena. A more intimate theatre setting with a controlled guest list would create a more dignified atmosphere.
There's apparently some heat on the Rock for his performance at the ceremonies. I dunno what happened backstage, but in regards to the speech, come on. WWE inducts Rocky and Maivia into the Hall more or less for the express purpose of having Rock show up for the induction, and then they get upset at him for making a Rock-esque speech?
I'd say right about now would be time for the old DJ Frosty Freeze "Haterade" graphic. Because seriously, does anyone think Dwayne gives a crap if HHH is upset at him? All this sort of sniping does is make it less likely that the biggest star in the company's history will want anything more to do with them and their petty little complaints.
"This wasn't a roast," one wrestler said. "This was supposed to be a tribute to his dad and grandfather. Instead, he did an hour plus of comedy, running way long, then did a short tribute to his dad and grandfather, then left. It was rude of him."
Was this wrestler not around for all the Bobby Heenan speeches of years past? Of COURSE it's a roast.
I figured Rock had his speech written for him - now I'm thinking it was done by actual *successful* writers... as opposed to the frustrated ones who had to settle for working at WWE, haw haw haw.
It was, at most, 30 minutes of comedy. I was there and we walked in a half hour late and Rocky Johnson was walking onto the stage as we got to our seats. So combine that with whatever intro they had, Rocky Johnson's tribute video, and the expected audience reaction for the Rock and I'm guessing it was more like 15-20 minutes of the Rock having fun.
I will say that Rocky Johnson's speech may have run long. It felt like he was up there forever talking. I never saw the man in his prime, but if that night was any indication, the Rock didn't get his charisma from him.
Also, Flair most certainly went over the time limit. HHH told him four times to wrap it up and Flair still had to skip over a few pages of his prepared speech to do it. I was shocked when I saw the replay at home that they were able to edit his 90+ minute speech into what they showed on tv.
Originally posted by Big BadThere's apparently some heat on the Rock for his performance at the ceremonies.
The disturbing part of this is that Wade Keller mentions how Steve Austin felt about Rock, and Wade's sources have dried up so badly that it's fairly obvious who some of the remaining ones are. And aside from Wade basically admitting a few years ago that Austin was a source, you can set your watch by the fact that Wade will have no details of note on anything for weeks and months at a time, but if Austin shows up for a few shows, suddenly Wade will have news from backstage
So some of this story must have come from Austin. I'm hoping it's just to plant the seeds for the big AUSTIN/ROCK MANIA ASTRODOME REMATCH next year.
Originally posted by Big Bad There's apparently some heat on the Rock for his performance at the ceremonies. I dunno what happened backstage, but in regards to the speech, come on. WWE inducts Rocky and Maivia into the Hall more or less for the express purpose of having Rock show up for the induction, and then they get upset at him for making a Rock-esque speech?
After clicking the link it was Powell's POV that really was the gem of the whole story. There's a guy that should really invest in one of those "Jump To Conclusions" mats that was featured on the epic movie 'Office Space'
Originally posted by Big BadThere's apparently some heat on the Rock for his performance at the ceremonies. I dunno what happened backstage, but in regards to the speech, come on. WWE inducts Rocky and Maivia into the Hall more or less for the express purpose of having Rock show up for the induction, and then they get upset at him for making a Rock-esque speech?
JR's latest blog implies that this story (or at least the backstage snubbing part) is B.S.; I'm inclined to agree just because of how much this story has felt like "smark bait" to me. I really can't see anyone being pissed off that the Rock showed up and acted like The Rock (you don't advertise The Rock to try and drag in the casual fan and not have him do the schtick, and do we really think Foley just happened to have a tuxedo wearing Socko on hand?), and I'm actually kind of surprised people have been so eager to believe it.
On The Rock: The Rock arrived in Orlando late Friday night after working during the day in LA and then came to the Amway Arena late Saturday afternoon after preparing to do two speeches at the HOF Ceremony. I spoke to Rock at length back stage, as did my wife, and he was his usual happy, friendly self and thanked us for all the J.R.'s products he has received and he said he loves our sauces and thanks that our peanuts are a great idea, which was nice to hear. He also is the owner of an "I've Got Big Nuts" T-shirt from our place. The Rock may have gone long on his speech to many, as he had lots of ground to cover and our fans can be the judge of that when they watch the unedited DVD. I enjoyed our visit and his presentation. I can also see sitting in the audience for several hours without a break, being a challenge,nature does call occasionally . The Rock stayed as long as he could after his presentation and then had to fly back to work where he was back on the set Sunday. Word going around the Internet is that Rock was aloof to many, is hard for me to buy into. I did not personally see that.
Originally posted by CxMorgadoand thanked us for all the J.R.'s products he has received and he said he loves our sauces and thinks that our peanuts are a great idea, which was nice to hear. He also is the owner of an "I've Got Big Nuts" T-shirt from our place.
Ah haaaa, so now we know the creator of the "Vince loves cock" jokes.
The best part of waking up, is not Folgers in your cup, but knowing that Chuck Norris didn't kill you in your sleep.
Originally posted by Caliban Also, Flair most certainly went over the time limit. HHH told him four times to wrap it up and Flair still had to skip over a few pages of his prepared speech to do it. I was shocked when I saw the replay at home that they were able to edit his 90+ minute speech into what they showed on tv.
That sobbing and slow reading went on for 90+ minutes? Please tell me you are exaggerating. A lot.
I don't mind the shades of grey a bit in the Angle/Joe matchup, especially since Joe's been more or less a tweener ever since he stopped wearing a bloody towel. That said, however, the pairings for next week's tag match were completely incomprehensible.