WWE Hall of Fame 2017

This is a gigantic presentation - so I'll be giving overall thoughts instead of play by play. DDP's speech by Eric was heart-felt, and they definitely planted the seeds for Eric to be back in the fold. They used his WWE theme, which is okay I guess. I liked the transition from the diamond dolls to the daughters and he got a huge ovation. I loved his "who'd he ever beat" line and thanking Johnny Ace for giving him the diamond cutter and Regal got some props with the cravate and Ron Reis gave him the idea for doing the cutter symbol before the move. Dusty got a lot of love as did Flair.

Cornette got a nice pop and it is pretty surreal to see him on WWE TV.  He stole the fucking show immediately by talking about how hopeful folks were for his speech and he'd try to keep it down to ending on Saturday night. Cornette really placed the RNR Express in history and made them seem like THE thing for their time and it was hilarious to hear him talk about Gibson's cock. Cornette truly got over how gifted Morton was as a babyface and talked about Ricky literally mouthing "HELP ME" and the fans would - so they'd just start a riot out of nowhere. He puts over the length of the RNRs vs. the Midnights being a feud that went on through 2011 and that in 2011, their hoverounds will have a double dropkick setting. Cornette talked about how the RNRs were considered such family that fans actually brought them their Christmas photos and on one side was Chris and on the other side was the RNRs - now that would've been a great photo to see. Ricky, as expected cut the better promo of the RNRs,  but Cornette was THE MAN.

Ricky Steamboat talks about Rick Rude and his work ethic and crazy workouts. He praised him...kinda for being a bit snug. Rick's son, daughter, and wife come down and his son is actually named Rick and he did his dad's intro promo perfectly. The central Florida sweathogs popped for that. Nattie introduces Beth, who talks about loving Owen's work and that making her want to be a wrestler. She thanks Nora/Molly Holly for helping pay her tuition to get trained and talks about how empowering she is - so I'm sure she'll go in soon enough. She puts over Candice Michelle as making her better and wow is it odd to see that as anything historic. She shows herself facing Mickie in her first match, and runs through Eve Torres's many accomplishments. She talks about Edge and he actually quoted JBL saying that he might smell like smoke, and she said well, that's because you speared Mick through a flaming table. Edge has de-aged a decade plus since retiring and has had a great life story since retiring. She puts over her kids and while she's a questionable entrant, this was definitely worth everything in the world for her, and why not do it? It's just a marketing hall of fame anyway.

Dana Warrior came out and God bless her, but her gigantic eyebrows are distracting. Eric LeGrand talked about how one day, maybe a spinal cord injury will be just like a torn ACL and puts over Christopher Reeve for being amazing and being an ultimate warrior...yeah wow, it's pretty shocking to see him dietied in every way. Eric wants to finish what Christopher Reeve started, and that is a noble goal.

Teddy actually gets the semi-main event slot and we see SHUCKY DUCKY QUACK QUACK BEING HIS THING. I had no idea he did that with Jindrak and no memory of him managing Jindrak. Teddy's tongue-twisted moments are put over and are amusing since they usually involve having to remember wacky WWE verbiage. The APA talks about how you couldn't do Ride Along with them and how Teddy was involved during the '60s and the civil rights issues. They talk about him being incredibly cheap - and bust out an invoice for all the money he owes them - $72,000! They talk about him being their driver with Godfather and being GOD-AWFUL and somehow managing to fail a sobriety test WHILE SOBER.

Teddy comes out in an amazing red suit and he tells the story of how he failed that sobriety test. Ron talks about how he was driving while black, and JBL had 82 beer cans and how he passed the test, got a ticket anyway and still found a way to get JBL and Ron to pay for the ticket. Teddy acted as a driver and that allowed him to be around the wrestlers. He ran errands, got jackets, and did anything he could to just look busy so he could stay in the back. He put up the ring for a while and debuted as a ref because the ref no-showed. His first match was a Texas death match and they bled, so he fled! He thanks the McMahons for giving him a chance as GM and he says he made it all work out before having fun with HOLLA HOLLA TAG MATCHES and GOIN' ONE ON ONE WITH DA UNDATAKA!

The Legacy inductees get a quick video. Kurt's video focuses on a lot of comedy. John gives a fine, but unspecactular speech about Kurt who comes out with his daughter. This is way too comedy-centric, with the tiny cowboy hat, the giant hair headgear, and then ending it in a milk bath. This wasn't really what it could have been - but it got him back in the fold. I don't really want to see Kurt wrestle in WWE and with this as their re-introduction of him, it's clear that they see him as either comedy or an authority figure once again. He was fine in that role in '04, but not amazing and I wonder how well that would work out for him.