Wrestlemania season is upon us, as is always evident in the leadup to the Royal Rumble (which is coming up this Sunday – Ari and I will be around later this week to give a recap of last night’s Raw, and a preview/predictions in regard to this Sunday’s event).
One of the best features of Wrestlemania Weekend (and yes, it is a full weekend of festivities), is the Hall of Fame induction ceremony the night before – we’ve said, this is actually a brilliant idea of Vince McMahon’s, to give the wrestlers something fun and enjoyable to do, that doesn’t necessarily involve mad amounts of alcohol or … any other kind of partying, shall we say, less than 24 hours before the biggest event of the year. But it’s also – and really, more importantly – an opportunity to honour our deserving stars of the past. Last week on Raw, as we discussed, it was already announced that Mick Foley would be this year’s #1 entrant into the Hall of Fame. Last night, they announced the second inductee …
2-time WWF/E champion Bob Backlund. This clean scrubbed wrestler with a sparkling amateur background was the anti-Ric Flair of his day; in his first WWE title run, Backlund would never cheat, took care of himself, was happy in a longstanding marriage, and was taken with sportsmanship, often shaking his opponent’s hands before locking up with them, and/or after their match. This good ole boy managed to cobble together a 5-year title run before losing his belt to the Iron Shiek, who ultimately went on to lose it to Hulk Hogan, in his first title win, launching the Hulkamania phenomenon.
But when Bob Backlund made his return, he quickly turned ‘heel’, bitter at having lost the title due to his manager ‘throwing in the towel’, and managed to eke out a short, 8 day title reign between Bret Hart’s second and Kevin Nash’s first, before retirement.
A very worthy inductee into the HOF – congratulatoins Mr. Backlund! 🙂
In This Very Ring 