March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657068 Where can you find the 94-96 shows? Under the Hall of Fame show folder. Down at the end, sorted by years, even though Gene Okerlund and Renee Young portions were probably done last week! They aren't on on my end. I use a Sony Blu-ray player to watch.
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657070 Checking on my phone, there's nothing in the "sort by" option for prior to 2004, but if you have it set to list everything in the category they show up when you scroll to the bottom.
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657073 After not getting the $25 coupon despite being signed up since the beginning, I received an e-mail (kick in the balls) the other day saying my account was about to be unsubscribed. Sure enough, without any action on my part (credit card remains valid and healthy), they unsubscribed me.
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657101 ...an apology on screen saying this is all that's left due to technical problems with the original video. Amazingly sloppy by WWE's normally very high standards. Usually they've always been top-notch about preserving their footage...even dating back to the '70s and '80s. I wonder what the hell happened here. Pretty sure they weren't preserved since I don't think they were meant to be seen outside of a few clips on Raw or Superstars at the time. They were done in hotel ballrooms, and as far as I could tell it they didn't have a paying audience. This was right before the nostalgia bloom took off, so while they were still putting the older matches on tapes, they probably didn't see any profit being made from making the ceremonies commercially available, or treated as something beyond "this is what happened last week at this public appearance/movie premiere/etc" sort of clipped footage inserted into their programming.
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657105 Plus they're 100% kayfabe-free. Even after Montreal it took awhile for them to get comfortable with that "let's talk about match layouts and spot calling" mode. I'm a bit surprised they taped as much as they did.
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657111 Did James Dudley give an acceptance speech? Poor guy looks like he barely knows where he is. And holy shit, Wikipedia says he lived another 10 years!
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657114 Did James Dudley give an acceptance speech? Poor guy looks like he barely knows where he is. X Pac told a story a while back on one of his shoots where Dudley had pissed himself backstage and it was a heartbreaking thing to see, and that Vince went to great lengths to protect him. But you're right, seeing him flicking through a magazine during the speeches he didn't look with it. In the same above shoot, Pac tells a story of Bret Hart giving a great speech and him getting ribbed to lead a standing ovation - but he was the only one standing and just sat down. I really wish they included that.
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657115 The early HOF ceremonies did indeed have a paying audience. They certainly were better controlled then they've been since moving the shows to arenas!
March 5, 201510 yr comment_5657127 Plus they're 100% kayfabe-free. Even after Montreal it took awhile for them to get comfortable with that "let's talk about match layouts and spot calling" mode. I'm a bit surprised they taped as much as they did. Yeah it would have been something to see George Steele giving a normal speech on 1994 WWF TV. It was still kind of jarring when I saw it on WWE 24/7 a couple of years ago.
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657144 Plus they're 100% kayfabe-free. Even after Montreal it took awhile for them to get comfortable with that "let's talk about match layouts and spot calling" mode. I'm a bit surprised they taped as much as they did. Yeah it would have been something to see George Steele giving a normal speech on 1994 WWF TV. It was still kind of jarring when I saw it on WWE 24/7 a couple of years ago. They showed him speaking on all of the TV highlights in 1994. I remember the magazine and the TV pushing "the animal finally speaks!" at the time.
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657153 I watched the 2004 HoF last night. I still love watching Heenan, Race (and Flair introducing him) and Ventura's induction speeches. I still wish they did them in those environments more conducive to more thoughtful speeches. It's not to say there hasn't been more like that since then, but the WWE can't help being the WWE sometimes.
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657190 I got a kick out of Ventura needling Harley a bit for forgetting to mention his family and asking Jesse to do it for him. And, then, Jesse forgot to mention his own.
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657269 I still wish they did them in those environments more conducive to more thoughtful speeches. It's not to say there hasn't been more like that since then, but the WWE can't help being the WWE sometimes. Yep. They couldn't even limit themselves to theaters. It's not surprising that anyone wouldn't skip on a huge gate like that, but it sure has become a less interesting, more embarrassing-to-be-a-fan night of television.
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657308 I still wish they did them in those environments more conducive to more thoughtful speeches. It's not to say there hasn't been more like that since then, but the WWE can't help being the WWE sometimes.Yep. They couldn't even limit themselves to theaters. It's not surprising that anyone wouldn't skip on a huge gate like that, but it sure has become a less interesting, more embarrassing-to-be-a-fan night of television. Watching the 2005 one. You know, Canton has the same setup, essentailly an outdoor stadium, probably college sized, yet why are fans much more civil during speeches at the Pro Football HOF ceremonies?
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657346 Why do they have the section of stuff from YouTube? If you've got access to WWE Network, you've inherently got access to stuff from YouTube where it's available for free, and every view earns money for WWE.
March 6, 201510 yr comment_5657349 Why do they have the section of stuff from YouTube? If you've got access to WWE Network, you've inherently got access to stuff from YouTube where it's available for free, and every view earns money for WWE. Probably to gauge interest in moving their ongoing YouTube series, like JBL & Cole, Cole's weekly kayfabed interviews, Top Ten, and Inbox onto the Network. I've seen suggestions that they should move that content over.
March 7, 201510 yr comment_5657372 Because the Super Bowl isn't held the day after. Speaking of which, watching 2006 right now from Chicago and Cena's induction of The Fridge...MY GOD! I want to retroactively go and explain to those fans that if everyone on the stage is breaking kayfabe all over the place, YOU CAN TO!
March 7, 201510 yr comment_5657378 I am more upset that they promised every Hall of Fame show and yet no 1994, 1995, and 1996 full show which has never been seen in full. They just put up all the HoF shows from 2004 to 2013. Full? With the Sherri speech? In all its rambling glory!
March 7, 201510 yr comment_5657392 The most awkward thing I saw from '94 aside James Dudley was seeing Arnold Skaaland talk about Shane like it was already pre-determined and decided that he would take over.
March 7, 201510 yr comment_5657405 The most awkward thing I saw from '94 aside James Dudley was seeing Arnold Skaaland talk about Shane like it was already pre-determined and decided that he would take over. You can almost see Shane rolling his eyes and biting his lip.
March 8, 201510 yr comment_5657571 I just looked at the tickets for this year's HOF since it's about 90 minutes away from me. The only seats available are nosebleeds for $90 and the floor seats are as high as $485(!) Is this because of Arnold or are the tickets usually this pricey? I decided against buying a ticket since I'm not paying $90 for this lineup.
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