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WWE HALL OF FAME REPORT – DEGENERATION X (final segment)
APRIL 6 2019
BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT BARCLAY’S CENTER
STREAMED LIVE ON WWE NETWORK
DEGENERATION X
After a video package on DX with soundbites of wrestlers talking about them, DX rode out on a tank – Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac (Sean Waltman), Road Dogg, Billy Gunn. The camera was rocking all over and the DX graphics flashed nonstop on the screen. Waltman did the DX chop excitedly with New Day in the front row. Dogg said, “I challenge one of your crazy sons of bitches to hit the ring on DX!”
Dogg said he’s blown up so he needs five minutes. Then he began to talk. X-Pac tried to get into the frame. Triple H said things have changed. He said he’s an executive now, so he can’t go back to breaking the rules. He listed his titles and said he doesn’t know what it means, but it’s long and important. “Apparently if you put Executive Vice President in front of anybody’s name, it makes them feel important.” (A reference, of course, to Cody, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.)
Triple H listed rules. Michaels asked if their rules or just guidelines. He told them they can’t say “Vince McMahon.” Waltman said, “You just said it.” Road Dogg said, “Don’t say Vince McMahon?” Waltman said, “I can’t understand why we can’t say Vince McMahon.” They kept finding ways to say Vince’s name over and over. Road Dogg asked, “What if they [the fans] say Vince McMahon.” Fans briefly chanted “Vince McMahon” but it was clumsy and then faded quickly.
Triple H said if they break the rules, he will authorize him to hire them, then he’ll fire them. Billy Gunn said Vince can’t fire him. Triple H said, “Billy, let’s be honest. He will buy that pissant company just to fire you again.” (An AEW reference, for which Billy Gunn has been hired as a producer.)
Michaels said: “It is time for us to recognize one of the biggest, most important members of Degeneration X that is not out here this evening.” Fans loudly chanted, “Thank you, Chyna!” Waltman barely was holding it together. Then her picture appeared on the big screen and they turned and applauded. Michaels called her a trailblazer. Fans chanted “She deserves it!” Michaels said they said it best, so he won’t go on about it. He said they wouldn’t be where they are today without the contributions of the Ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna.
Dogg it was time for his speech. He pulled out a giant stack of paper, maybe 100 sheets. He said Hillbilly Jim helped him with it. (Corey Graves took a dig at the length of Hillbilly Jim’s speech last year at the start of the show, saying they had to change the set because Jim was still talking on the old one.) They all put on their reading glasses. Hunter put on googley eyes. Hunter said, “I think I got yours, Shawn.” Shawn put on glasses with a big nose. Shawn said they got each others. Michaels said, “No wonder I went cross-eyed.” Hunter asked if the big nose on his face was redundant. People laughed. Dogg explained the joke, saying it was because Triple H has a big nose. Then he “realized” everyone understood it already.
Brian James got serious and thanked God for his sobriety. He said he doesn’t have a ton of friends, but most of them are flanking him right now and he thanked God for them. He thanked his wife, Tracy James, sitting at ringside. He said he put her through hell “and through hell she stood beside me.” He said he’ll spend the rest of his days doing what he can to pay her back. They showed her and she nodded and welled up with emotion. He said he has trouble talking to guys that way, so he put something together to show his friendship. He pointed at the big screen. A video aired of DX footage with a cheesy song about friendship. Then a clip aired of a dog humping a leg. He said that wasn’t suppose to be in there.
Billy stepped up and said, “So this is the part where they actually let me talk.” Triple H said, “Don’t make us regret this.” He thanked Ron & Don Harris. He said without them, he wouldn’t have a clue what sports entertainment is. He thanked Bill Demott, too. He thanked his sons, his mom, and his sister. He said his mom is her number one fan. Gunn began to break down a little, and Hunter said something off-mic to him. Billy thanked him and said that helped. He thanked his wife and said he loves her with everything and he wouldn’t be there without her.
He said DX did a lot together, and some things they remember, and some they don’t. He turned around and said, “Excuse me while I whip this out.” Hunter looked and said “that’s huge.” He asked Billy why he’s rubbing it like that. He then pulled out a squirt gun and a little water came out. Hunter consoled him and said, “It’s okay, Billy. At our age, it happens. It’s nothing to embarrassed about it. Sometimes no matter how many times you pump it, it just dribbles off the tip.” Michaels said you can always count on Billy to overpromise and underdeliver. “We appreciate you being here and, you know, being all in.” A big gasp from the crowd followed. Hunter then said, “It’s funny ’cause…” Then he said “never mind,” teasing explaining what AEW and All In are to the crowd.
Waltman asked, “Is it my turn now?” Hunter said it is his turn. Hunter said he feels compelled to say, “Please don’t make us regret this.” Fans chanted “1-2-3! 1-2-3!” Hunter said, “We were going to have him come out as 1-2-3 Kid and shave his eyebrows first, but it was a bad look.”
Waltman said he didn’t think he’d be up there and alive to be part of it, whether it was as the 1-2-3 Kid, NWO, DX, or The Kliq. He said he’s so grateful to be there. He listed his family members who were present, including his kids Kaitlyn and Jesse. He said he’s so nervous and apologized for stumbling over his words. “I’ve just got to be so honest with you,” he said, acknowledging how nervous he was. He said he has so many notes and they’ve been making fun of him for the last half hour for them. Fans chanted “You deserve it!” He said he wanted to thank a lot of people, because if you want to know what he did, you can look it up on the Network. He said it’s still $9.99. He asked if it was still $9.99. He thanked Ric Flair first and then Dusty Rhodes. He cracked up as he said the first “sports entertainment” event he went to featured Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes. He said then he knew what he wanted to do the rest of his life. He thanked his trainer The Great Malenko and his two sons Joe and Dean. He said they took a skinny 15 year old kid with no money and taught him to wrestle. He thanked Jerry Lynn. He said if not for him, he wouldn’t be there. He said some may not know who he is, but he is one of the greatest wrestlers ever.
He thanked Razor Ramon next. They cut to a shot of Scott Hall smiling. Fans chanted “Razor” briefly. Waltman said he’s one of the best friends he’s ever had. He thanked the rest of the Kliq. He said DX and the NWO came from it. They showed Big Kev in the crowd. Waltman said he loves him. Waltman said he doesn’t want to stand because his knee is killing him. Nash stood up quickly. “I was going to make a quad joke, but I don’t think I will.” He thanked Bret “The Hitman” Hart. He said he gave him the best singles match of his career and one of the best matches ever on Raw. He said he’s trying to get through this in the spirit of brevity. “Quit making fun of me, you guys!” he said. He said the fans want to go home. Some fans chanted, “No we don’t!” He also thanked Eric Bischoff. Mixed response. He said he hired him to be part of the NWO and then fired him just in time to join DX “and win the Monday Night Wars.”
He thanked his fellow DX members. He said he had the time of his life with them. He thanked Billy for not beating him up when he super glued his hat to his head. He said he thought it was Gunn, but it was actually Curt Hennig. He thanked Maria Menousnos and Kevin Underg for giving him his podcast and being there for him in recent years. He then said Chyna was the magic ingredient in the DX recipe. He said the women’s battle royal should be renamed the Chyna Memorial Battle Royal. He said he thinks it has a nice ring to it. Fans cheered.
He said one of his favorite parts back in the day was asking women a certain question. Waltman asked if they can say “boobs.” Triple H asked for a check on whether they can say “boobs.” They all found many ways to say it over and over. Waltman said he used to love it when they flashed their boobs at him. He said he still keeps in touch with some of them. They showed one of the first women to do it. They showed a an older woman with sagging boobs. Waltman said, “We all get older. Gravity is a bitch.” They showed several more women with saggy boobs. Their faces were blurred out. Hunter said, “I’m sorry, but you need to be done.”
Michaels took the podium. Fans chanted “HBK! HBK!” He said he’d like to take time to thank his loving family, but they didn’t come. He said he’s all alone. He said some of that is on them because his wife and children are embarrassed by them. Billy and Dogg led him away from the mic. Hunter said Michaels wore a hat and ass-less chaps, “and even Bret Hart knows better than that.”
As Hunter stood at the podium, fans chanted “NXT!” He thanked Killer Kowalski for taking a young kid with a dream and made him Terra Rizing. He thanked the wrestlers who have stood at that podium or wrestled in the ring before. He said the truth is, you’re nothing without the person opposite of them in the ring. He said he’d be nothing without them. He teared up a bit. He said Waltman already said it, but the Kliq was DX before DX was, and the NWO before the NWO was. They cut to Nash and Hall again. Fans chanted “Whoop whoop, too sweet! Whoop whoop, too sweet!” Hunter said he hates that, they never did it. “Out stuff was cool, that ain’t. Sorry.” Mixed response
Hunter said they were mostly just trying to make each other laugh, and it was usually pretty good. Hunter thanked them. Waltman looked Hunter in the eye and said, “Thank you.” Hunter then said, “Let me bring up Chyna.” He said he wouldn’t be where he is without her. He said it’s fitting women will headline WrestleMania for the first time in history this weekend.
Hunter thanked Vince, his family including his kids, his wife Stephanie, and other family members including his mom and dad who were shown in the crowd. He said he’d be nothing without them and he loves them. Hunter said they did a lot of juvenile stuff, but he’d like to finally give credit where credit is due: “My mom wrote most of it. She is the master of the penis joke. Blame her. It’s on my mom.” They showed her laughing.
Shawn said the world is a mess because they corrupted a whole generation. Hunter asked how many got suspended or in trouble at school because of them. James quipped, “There’s the mayor of Knox County!” Michaels then said they owe the world a heartfelt apology. A DX podium was brought into the ring. Shawn stepped up to it, then pretended to be too emotional to speak. Hunter said Waltman was the only one who had any sense most of the time. Waltman stepped up to the podium and yelled, “Your ass is grass and I’m gonna smoke it!” He then yelled for Brooklyn, New York to raise a little hell and make some noise. Hunter said that wasn’t it. Road Dogg then stepped up to the podium and did his signature “tag team champions of the world” introduction. James then said, “I apologize. That happens more times than you can imagine.”
Hunter stepped to the podium. They lined up behind Hunter and hugged playfully. Hunter then said before he sincerely apologizes, he needs to know what thing. He softly said: “Are you ready?” Fans shouted “Yeah!” He then yelled, “Are you ready!” They lined up and did “Let’s get ready to suck it!” one last time as a group. Billy Gunn then did it again as only he can. Then they began squiring water out of squirt guns in the ring and then at VIPs in the crowd. They cleared nearly an entire section. The HOF show then ended, clocking in at three hours and thirty-nine minutes.
HHH taking a shot at AEW. How classy. Face palm.
It’s DX – they have been taking shots at anybody before Cody Rhodes even put on a diaper. That’s what they do.
The whole segment was really stupid. You can tell they are afraid. WWE runs a pretty shitty product. These old farts are the past. They are jealous of actual wrestlers, not actors pretending to be wrestlers. The WWE product is mega stale. I doubt the WWE goes anywhere any time soon, there are tons of “Sports entertainment” fans. Not the same as wrestling fans though. These poor saps are learning that the hard way. Has been city.
Honestly Triple H taking a “shot” at aew struck me as two friends busting each other’s chops.
Triple @ss still showing what a truly classless act he is. At least AEW gives their wrestlers medical insurance. What about you cheap motherf*ckers? So who’s REALLY the pissant company?