It’s been a whirlwind, and I can’t believe I was one of the fortunate ones in Houston for WrestleMania 25 weekend. I came to support one of my closest friends and one of my wrestling clients, Tammy Sytch, and was extremely excited to attend my first WrestleMania in person and see some friends across the way. I had a great time and it’s hard to really put in perspective without attending one of these events live just how big WrestleMania is. At my hotel, I met a group of ladies from England who came, and I polled them in the elevator – their favorites were Batista and Jeff Hardy. At breakfast each morning, it was clear WrestleMania is a tourism winner. It’s the one time that I’ve seen so many people in WrestleMania/WWE gear throughout the city and never once trying to hide that they love pro wrestling.
I spent half the weekend with Dakota Runnels and the Runnels family, catching up with them. Terri is one of my closest friends and wrestling clients, and she was booked for a Taylor, Michigan WrestleMania party so sadly I didn’t get to see her, but it was wonderful to finally meet Dakota and just hang out. Terri and Dakota this past weekend recorded some candid unscripted videos from their road trip adventure and you can check them out on Terri’s website later today, MySpace or YouTube.
The Hall of Fame itself was a amazing experience, there is nothing like honoring the legends of this business, who deserve the recognition and much more for the time, blood, sweat, tears and personal sacrifice they’ve made for this business. Tammy looked amazing in her classic and hot Hall of Fame gown, and the fans were camera happy at the sight of her…there are some photos of us walking down to be seated, and whoever took them, thank you!
Dory and Terry Funk gave a well-done acceptance speech, with the overall message of telling the next generation to get their education before getting in the ring. Great message, you really do need to at least have a strong business mind in this business to succeed, to know how to sell and package yourself.
I particularly loved Terry’s ‘there will be wrestling in Heaven, every seat is front row and BYOB’ part of the speech, Terry is such a great talker and storyteller and both him and Dory have given so much to the business, in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Koko B. Ware, who seems to be a extremely humble man, tried to give a great speech highlighting his career, but Frankie tried to get his attention and eat at his speech paper which garnered laughs from everyone.
I love Michael “P.S.” Hayes and was glad he was the one to induct the Von Erich family. Though there is a lot of tragedy in the legacy of the Von Erichs, they set Texas wrestling on fire and have heavily influenced tag team wrestling.
WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund inducted Howard Finkel which was a well-done and humorous speech. Fink is the longest employee for WWE and is credited with coming up with the term WrestleMania and is the only one to be at every WrestleMania event. Fink has always been considered a great guy by everyone, and what I love about Fink’s speech is he explained his role perfectly, how he as a announcer put the greats in this business over, and his duty to make their ascension to the throne a memorable one.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross inducted “Cowboy” Bill Watts and what I enjoyed from Bill’s entertaining and informative speech and legacy is his harsh commitment to excellence in booking. In many ways I wish that level of standard was for all the feds in wrestling. Just hearing him speak, makes me want to check out his book, so here’s a free plug for you sir!
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair inducted one of my childhood favorites, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (who tore the house down the next night at WrestleMania!!!) – what the camera maybe didn’t show is they did a quick lockup before Steamboat spoke, and I got chills. They gave us some of the greatest matches in the history of the business. Classic good guy versus classic bad guy. Steamboat is definitely one of the greatest good guys in the history of the business.
Steamboat said his career was not measured on wins and losses, but rather on the performance…and Steamboat is a career that should be a prerequisite study for everyone in the business. Steamboat said to Mickey Rourke who was in the audience, that this was his Oscar, and no one deserves it more than The Dragon. I hope that his son follows his footsteps and we get to see Flair vs. Steamboat once again with their children. On a personal note, I met Ric Flair earlier in the evening who introduced himself, and he is not only charming but a class act.
Vince McMahon inducted “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and this is where I want to note how annoying and disrespectful some fans can be. The ‘what?’ chant even though Vince handled it well, and talked about the origin of the ‘what?’ in his mind, is annoying when fans think they can pepper it throughout a serious and candid speech. They instructed the fans to not catcall and it would be nice if that could be respected.
“Stone Cold” gave a great speech, in a suit, and I wish he had been given longer to talk. The fans gave him the biggest pop of the night and did the ‘one more match’ chant though that’s not in the cards. I appreciate “Stone Cold” explaining how important it is to him to make his commitments and bookings and when he didn’t make the Atlanta appearance and apologized, that was a great touch. He talked about his upcoming movies and cracked open for some beer salutes at the end. Austin gave a great deal to this business, and the business was good to him, he made a great statement of ‘the business is what you make it,” and nothing could be more true.
Earlier in the evening I ran into one of my long-time friends, “Diamond” Dallas Page who looks absolutely amazing. He was in town for Booker T’s charity event and was there supporting his close friend Steve Austin and celebrating his birthday. Page and I have known each other for 14 years now and he’s one of the most positive, inspiring, fun, hardest working and coolest guys I’ve ever known. He has some GREAT things in the works that is going to impact the world, I’m so proud of him! Stay tuned!
The Hall of Fame seemed to happen so quickly but what a special night. The room was buzzed with excitement and what a honor to be in the room with all the major players in the WWE, past, present and future.
More to come on my WrestleMania weekend next week – I also want to announce my new business venture! I have partnered with the co-creator of Shoot Finish, one of my long-time best friends and business partners, Greg Ragland, to bring wrestling news and insightful (and respectful) commentary from different aspects inside the business.. I hope we will find ways to work with our friends at Pulse Wrestling in the future! Great things to come!
Thank you for reading and make your moment your breakthrough.
