Dot Net reader Dylan Maharrey attended the WWE Hall of Fame 2017 event on Friday in Orlando, Florida and sent the following notes.
-I had great seats for the ceremony, being on the floor, on the left hand side behind the superstars.
-Strange note about the pre-show red carpet: it’s not broadcast at all in the arena itself. Everything is live to web, apparently. Fans only reacted when they saw people they did or did not like.
-Random note about attire: there was a huge mix of people, from three piece suits to t-shirts and shorts, and everything in between.
-Another random note: it looked like they were broadcasting the Network feed on the large screen above the center of the arena.
-They had the normal sections blocked off for Raw and Smackdown. There were some empty seats here and there, but it was legitimately full.
-There were some volume issues when Jerry Lawler first opened the show, complete with “we can’t hear you” chants.
-When Eric Bischoff mentioned Goldberg, there were a decent amount of boos from the crowd. When DDP mentioned Goldberg, not as many boos, and a weak Goldberg chant.
-Great speech from DDP. A really fun speech to start the show.
-Roman Reigns got monster heat just by being on the damn screen. If he ever turns heel, he’d be the top guy.
-Great reaction for Jim Cornette. When Cornette was talking about Robert Gibson’s brother, and said “yeah, you remember him”, that was literally one guy. There was a weak Rock n’ Roll chant when Cornette tried to get the crowd going, but it caught on better when the Express came out. Someone needs to tell Ricky Morton that the mullet hasn’t been in style for 20 something years. There was a weird “one more match” chant during the Express’ speech. Clearly they missed that they’re still wrestling on the indies.
-Decent reaction for Ricky Steamboat. When Rick Rude Jr. did his dad’s bit, he got a decent standing ovation. It kind of felt like a lot of people weren’t as excited for Rick Rude as they were for others. Near the end of his speech, his sister laughed because there was a brief “thank you sister” chant.
-A great reaction for Natalya and TwoPaws. Natalya is much more charismatic and charming when she’s not reading something someone else wrote for her. There was a massive pop for Owen Hart, and a huge “Owen” chant. WWE fans will always pop for Eddie Guerrero.
-While a cool moment, it seemed strange to interrupt Beth’s induction speech to put the spotlight on Edge.
-I don’t know how it came across on the Network, but we couldn’t hear Eric very well for his entire speech. It didn’t look like his mic was in the right place on his head. Even so, it was still well received, but I think this is when some fans were starting to get antsy.
-Kudos to JBL for making it out to the podium without tripping. It’s always great seeing the APA together. A really great speech by the APA. Nice touch by JBL mentioning Teddy’s history in the civil rights movement. Teddy got a legit pop for saying he wasn’t going to go too long. The award for most fun speech would have gone to Teddy Long, if not for Kurt Angle.
-Singing “John Cena sucks” is good fun, even though I’m a John Cena fan. So is singing “You suck” at Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle was clearly just having fun, while still being sincere. A great moment.
-Anything pro wrestling is always fun, and the HOF is no exception. A great night. If you haven’t been before, you should go. It’s true. It’s damn true.
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