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Wrestlers Break Down as They Receive Hall of Fame Honour

Posted: Apr 1st 2007 By: CMBurnham

Man tears replaced body slams at Detroit's Fox Theatre Saturday night, as World Wrestling Entertainment left the in-ring theatrics behind and inducted nine professional wrestling luminaries into its Hall of Fame.

On a night that featured more standing ovations than the last 10 Academy Awards ceremonies combined, among those answering the call to the Hall were Dusty Rhodes, the late Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, Michigan's own Ed "The Original Sheik" Farhat and "Raw's" announcing team of Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross.

Wrestlers came clad in their Saturday night best to listen to and share stories, while fans came to pay their respects to the superstars of yesterday, who paved the way for their heroes of today.

"Tonight is all about honoring the legends," said Marc Izard, 24, who came from Cambridge, England to be a part of this weekend's WrestleMania festivities. "It's cool for the fans, and it's cool to see the wrestlers themselves paying homage to the legends."

Still, the randy fans showed their respects in odd ways, yelling out oftentimes inappropriate comments throughout the evening. It was proof that you can take wrestling fans out of the arena, but you can't always take the arena out of wrestling fans.

"Sometimes they don't know when to keep it down a little," said Chris Mordetsky, who wrestles as Chris Masters, after the ceremony. "But that's how we train our wrestling fans: To be vocal."

Detroit wrestling legend Farhat, who operated famed Detroit wrestling promotion Big Time Wrestling, was inducted byhis nephew, Sabu, and one of his students, Rob Van Dam, both of whom rose to fame in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Farhat-- who was known for tossing fireballs in the ring -- was celebrated as being a forefather to the hardcore wrestling movement, and Van Dam said the Sheik taught him the importance of being original.

"The value of being one of a kind is overlooked by most, and appreciated by few," Van Dam said. "I can only hope that the Sheik would be proud to see his principles carried on by myself and his nephew."

Farhat's widow, Joyce Farhat, teared up while accepting the Hall of Fame honor for her husband, who died in 2003 at age 78. "I've only lost him four years ago, and I thought I was over this crying thing. But it does get to you at times, you know, because we loved him," she said.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin inducted Jim Ross, who has acted as Austin's mentor. Austin called Ross "one of the greatest announcers of all time... whether its Major League Baseball, professional football, (or) college football." He later referred to him as "the John Madden of the WWE."

"There is nothing in the world that I would rather do than to sit at ringside on Monday nights and yell out 'slobberknocker' every now and then," said Ross, referring to one of his signature "Raw" catchphrases. "Thank you for being here and thank you for celebrating a wrestling fan being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame."

Jerry "The King" Lawler was sworn in by William Shatner, who read his speech from his script like anelementary school student giving a book report in front of his classroom. Lawler followed with a mock standup comedy routine straight out of the Catskills, complete with Viagra and pubic hair jokes.

Baseball legend Wade Boggs inducted his friend Hennig, who died of a drug overdose in 2003, by spitting his gum out and swatting it with his hand, one of Hennig's signature moves as he approached the ring. Fans responded by chanting "Mr. Per-fect!" time and again.

The highlight of the night for many was the induction of Dusty Rhodes. His son, Cody, called him as "the greatest talker in the history of this business."

Rhodes proved it with a fun, heartwarming speech that name checked many of his contemporaries, including Dick Murdoch, Arn Anderson and Ric Flair, who welled up with tears from his seat.

"They saved the best performer, the best speaker for last (with) Dusty Rhodes," said WWE star Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson, after the ceremony. "He had everyone, including us Superstars, eating out of the palm of his hand. It just proves that he's still got that intangible that none of us can touch."

Antonio Banks, who wrestles as MVP, says Rhodes wrestled in the first pro-wrestling match he ever went to, and now acts as a mentor to him today.

"He's helped me out quite a bit," he said. "Whenever I do my interviews and vignettes, he's always right there for me to bounce ideas off of."

Also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on Saturday were Nick Bockwinkel, tag team greats Afa and Sika Anoai, better known as the Wild Samoans, and Harry "Mr. Fuji" Fujiwara.