The first inductee of the evening is Rikishi, inducted by his two sons, former WWE Tag Team champions The Usos.
The Usos say that they and all their family are from the Bay Area which gets a cheap pop from the crowd. They said they remember all their dad’s gimmicks but one of them they certainly cannot forget. A picture of Rikishi’s ass is shown and the sons say that that ass put them through college, bought them Christmas presents, birthday presents, and put food on the table for them.
Rikishi then comes out and tells his kids they’re gonna have a little talk after this! He tells the cameraman to zoom in on his ring, but it was being covered by the mic, which was lowered automatically as the crowd laughed. He said it’s every wrestler’s dream to be here and it’s now a reality for him. He said he comes from a prolific, hardworking, and humble wrestling family, the Anoa’i family.
He mentions the names of the wrestlers who come from his family with fans in the arena starting a Umaga chant. He thanks his parents, and said he wished his mother was there to witness it. He sends a shout-out to Rusev and wishes him good luck for WrestleMania. He said he remembers mostly everything about his wrestling career but this is the one he will remember the most. He is honored and humbled to be inducted in the Bay Area where he was born and raised. He then dances with his kids to wrap his induction up.
The next inductee is Larry Zbysko and Bruno Sammartino is introduced as his inductor. He said he met Larry when Larry was just 17 years old and he kept pestering him about wrestling and how he wants him to learn how to wrestle. Sammartino said he told him to go to college and if he graduates he will help him and that’s what Larry did. Larry went to college, got the degree and then Sammartino said he called him before he even told his parents and told him now he has to hold his end of the bargain.
Larry Zbysko then came out and said at 16 years old he drove his parents nuts. He was always a fan and wanted to become a wrestler. He went to school with Sammartino’s kids and that’s where he got his address. He used to drive by his house and one day he managed to see him by the pool and made the deal.
Zbysko said he had an indescribable career and has a reputation of being a big mouth but he’s lost for words now. The speech started to get repeated and kept thanking Bruno before the music cut him off. The speech went on for a long time.
Former WWE Women’s champion Madusa is up next and Natalya will be inducting her. Natalya said that Madusa didn’t need to wrestle in bra and panties to be popular although she looked damn good in a bikini. She mentioned how the courageous act of trashing the Women’s title on Nitro has been etched in time and was one of the early shots of the Monday Night war. She recounts a story of Madusa recording promos and Arn Anderson was next in line but she took forever to finish and Anderson was complaining. Medusa ran after Arn with her shoes in her hands and said that Madusa is the only woman that Arn is afraid of.
Madusa, or Alundra Blayze in this case, came out looking stunning. “I bet you didn’t see this one coming,” she said as the crowd laughed. “Neither did I!” She jokingly asked why it took 21 years to get here. Madusa thanked Sherri Martel and Fabulous Moolah, who she inducted in the Hall of Fame two decades ago. She thanked Verne Gagne, Mr Perfect, Diamond Dallas Page, her Japan family, the monster truck family, all the Madusa fans and a special thanks went out to Paul Heyman who looked emotional during her speech. She said she had the biggest crush on Steve Austin when they were in the Dangerous Alliance and told Arn Anderson not to make a move or she’ll whoop his ass right on stage. She also thanked Rick Rude and Randy Savage, getting very emotional when mentioning her time in Team Madness and said she’s honored she’s getting inducted on the same night Savage is. She points out her husband in the audience, who is a Sergeant Major for the U.S. Army and noted how she hasn’t seen him in a year because he’s been deployed overseas and the Army arranged to have him there just for this occasion.
She then addressed the “elephant in the room,” the story of the title. She said when Eric Bischoff called and pitched the idea she said no but then did it because of job security. It’s a defining moment in her career and she’ll forever be known as the bitch who threw the title in the trash can. She said she owns the moment and lived it for the past 20 years and she’s at peace with it, and “so should you.”
Natalya then brought a trash can out and Madusa started popping things out, including bra and panties, a JR BBQ sauce, Eric Bischoff’s book, and then the Women’s title to a big pop. She said the title is now back home and called being inducted in the Hall of Fame the highest honor of her career.
The Warrior Award is next and Dana Warrior came out for the speech, saying it’s a terrifying honor to be there and said that last year she was front row seeing her husband getting inducted. She thanked WWE and the people who helped her and said she’ll never forget what they did to her family and all the Superstars and Divas who make her kids smile.
She said Connor Michalek is a testament to Warrior’s spirit, and he has left an impact and legacy behind him. She called Connor a little warrior with a giant heart and then challenged the WWE fans to raise a million dollars in one month for Connor’s Cure and if they do she’ll do something Warrior crazy, like body slamming somebody, brother! That raised a few “Oooohs!” from the crowd but said she was just joking.
Daniel Bryan comes out and explains his relationship with Connor and how he saw him for the first time on YouTube. He said he stole his heart and the little man was kind, compassionate, funny, quick-witted and full of life. He then introduced Connor’s father Steve to accept the award.
Steve thanked Dana and commends her for raising the kids the way she does after a tough loss. He thanked Daniel Bryan who was a hero to his son and said Connor would be happy to know he presented him with the award. He also thanked Triple H and Stephanie for starting Connor’s Cure and then Connor’s little brother Jackson came out on stage and said, “I love you Connor” to finish it off.
Johnny Ace came out then to introduce the Bushwhackers. He said he got his start with them and was proud to call them his mentors and that they shaped his career.
Luke and Butch marched out and did their usual shtick. They recounted some Killer Kowalski and Peter Maivia stories with Butch cracking everybody up. Butch said he was mad that at the Royal Rumble, he worked for 25 minutes, his cousin Luke did 8 seconds, and at the end of the day they got paid the same! The funny duo then called out Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiase, and Bret Hart, who all did the Bushwhacker march to the bottom of the stage much to the enjoyment of the crowd.
Two time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair was out next to induct Tatsumi Fujinami. He said he’s been going to Japan since 1972 and wrestled everyone but Fujinami was the best of them all even though he has love for Muta. He said Japanese promoters push their wrestlers so they fail but Fujinami proved why he’s the best in the history of Japan.
Fujinami came out and said he was so proud to be there. He thanked WWE for this great honor and said he started wrestling when he was a boy and how he’s 61 and his mission was always to be a wrestler. He thanked his wife and family for their support.
The Macho Man induction was next and Hulk Hogan came out and did the “Ooooh yeah!” He said Macho was also intense and called him crazy and a big friend and it was an honor and privilege to induct him. He said he loved Savage and was a great competitor but an even better friend. He was Macho Man 24/7 and said that there would be no Hulkamania without Macho madness. He put him over for his WrestleMania III match against Steamboat and said he might have slammed Andre but that match stole the show.
Macho’s brother Lanny came out and gave a big hug to the Hulkster. Poffo reads a poem, mentioning Slim Jim, Spider Man, WrestleMania 3, the Mega Powers, and other wrestling references. He said live’s too short to hold a grudge and it’s time for us to heal. He thanked Randy’s widow for making him the happiest man on earth and while Randy has no biological kids, he was a great uncle to his daughter. He said Savage loved the kids of the Special Olympics like Mr T loves his mother and said that he always found time for them and WWE made Savage like Santa Claus by giving him free merchandise to give out to the kids.
The celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame got its next inductee, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Triple H said his nose wasn’t always that big and it’s still swollen from that time Schwarzenegger knocked him out on Smackdown. He said that a lot of guys went to the gym cause of Arnold and while he slaughtered millions of people in movies, no one ever got hurt. He said he’d be the perfect WWE Superstar as he came with catch phrases, and said if things were different, fans might be chanting “Get to the chopper,” instead of “Yes!” He puts over Schwarzenegger’s outreach programs and called him the greatest bodybuilder and box office star and now a Hall of Famer.
Schwarzenegger comes out and immediately screams, “Get to the chopper.” He thanked Triple H for the wonderful introduction and said he never thought he’d be in the WWE Hall of Fame. He always loved wrestling and met Bruno Sammartino for the first time when Bruno was a head judge for Mr Universe. He thanked Bruno for being a friend and said he accepts this award on behalf of all his fans, who he thanked for their loyalty and because without them there would be no Arnold Schwarzenegger. He thanked America for giving him the opportunity to do everything he did in his career.
The last one of the night was Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels was out to do the honors. He gets out two pieces of paper, but then tears them apart for a big pop from the crowd. “This one is a pro wrestler inducting another pro wrestler, and one of them is going to get in trouble in the back,” he said.
He mentions how he saw Vinny Vegas on WCW one night and told Rick Steiner to see if he can reach him. Steiner called Nash, and Nash lied his way out of a WCW contract, faxed his release to WWE from the WCW building and the rest is history. When Nash arrived in New York, Shawn told him that he needed a bodyguard on screen and probably off screen too cause no one likes him. He talked about McMahon falling in love with Nash and giving him the title leaving HBK in disbelief! He picked up Nash for being so business minded and making a lot of money but thanked him for paving the way in terms of contract negotiations and guaranteed money.
Kevin Nash comes out to the nWo music and calls HBK the Michael Jordan of wrestling. He said no one knew under what name he was getting inducted but he would have been fine with Diesel as without Diesel there would be none of this. He said he’s been blessed to perform with the best workers as he’s not the best dancer, but he can follow a dance.
He admitted he went for the money and then went over his early WCW stint when Dusty Rhodes pitched the idea of Oz. He said when he came to WWE and on his first night helped HBK get the Intercontinental title from Marty Jannetty, he did more for his career in that match than in three years with Turner. He thanked the fans for “keeping the light on,” and said that WWE gets bigger every time he gets back here. He said he lives next to Cape Canaveral and sees all the lift offs and one day that lift off will be WWE holding WrestleMania on the moon! He thanked his wife of 27 years and said that there are two things real in this business: the day you win your first title, and the day you get inducted in the Hall of Fame.
To end the segment, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and Scott Hall came out to pose with Nash on stage as the Kliq reunites again at the Hall of Fame.