Shock Name Joins WWE Hall Of Fame | WrestleTalk News

Shock Name Joins WWE Hall Of Fame | WrestleTalk News

He’s baaa-aaack and he’s better than ever. And it’s only a few months since he was on AEW.

Because yes, the WWF’s fiercest ever rival and reject from the cast of Knight Rider if his induction image is anything to go by: Eric Bischoff is to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in the class of 2021.

On the latest episode of After The Bell, host Corey Graves had the honour of breaking the news to Bisch that he would be joining Molly Holly in the hallowed halls.

It certainly sounded like a shock to Eric who for a moment could only utter a profound “wow”, but then went on to say that:

“I’m not going to lie to you, every year around this time of course emails and social media hits and all asking [when I’m going to get inducted],” Bischoff said. “I’ve always been pretty good at just keeping it out of my mind, I don’t think about it, I never have to any real degree but you look at some of the names, all of the names, associated with the WWE Hall of Fame.”

“The names that are a part of the WWE Hall of Fame, just to be associated with those names is just overwhelming. I can’t say thank you enough cool ways for people to know how much I mean it, but I really really do mean it.”

Bischoff has more than earned his spot in WWE history, having been responsible for WCW beating the WWF for 83 straight weeks during the Monday Night Wars – innovating the cruiserweight division, Goldberg’s crazy undefeated streak which a PFK video today talks about in more detail, and the show-stealing nWo – which got so big it eventually consumed everything else. Like Cecil Who Was A Caterpillar.

Including Bischoff who it turns out was also an amazing on screen presence with just the most smug punchable face.

Most recently Biscoff was the executive director of Smackdown from June to October 2019, but left when Fox said that “significant promises were made that we don’t feel were upheld”.

But that’s new history and it’s old history that’s gonna get you into the Hall of Fame, and plenty of names came out of the woodwork with the ‘well-deserveds’’ and ‘congratulationses’.

Including Lex Luger, Al Snow, Jeff Jarrett, Jim Ross, JBL and Triple H who said that:

“.@EBischoff has done so much for this industry both in front of and behind the camera, creating some of its biggest characters and events. Now, it’s time to take his place in the #WWEHOF!” Bahnhof

But now obviously talk turns to whomst should do the honours of inducting Bischoff into the HOF.

And YES the obvious name came up.

Appearing on After 83 Weeks With Christy Olson, Eric said that he was certainly considering his bro Hulk Hogan, brother.

“I don’t know that there’s an obvious answer to me, Clearly Hulk [Hogan] is one of my best friends, and the history that we have together in the industry and the friendship that we’ve maintained…Certainly, if I have to sit down and think about that, that’s [Hogan] probably where I’m going to go to first.”

I can see it now, Bisch asks Hogan to induct him, Hogan says “I hear ya brother, but what about if I go in again”.

WrestleMania Covid Protocols Released

WrestleMania is very soon y’all. Obviously though it pales in comparison to Fastlane, the biggest show of the year.

And as the first WWE show with fans in over a year, you would expect that quite stringent health and safety guidelines would need to be in place.

Well now we know a little of what they are as WWE has released their health and safety protocol and their liability waiver.

Probably don’t have time or the attention spans to go through the whole thing but it touts increased sanitisation stations, says guests will be seated in pods that hold 1-6 people, very futuristic, and says guest will have their temperatures checked on entry.

On the subject of masks it says:

Guests 5 years or older will be required to wear a mask that covers their mouth and nose. Masks must be worn once the guests enter the security screening area until they leave the stadium unless actively eating or drinking.

All guests will receive a free KN95 mask upon entry. And WWE branded masks will be available for purchase at the event.

Get you some of that misery business Vince.

Real Reason For Mania Ticket Delay

Fans are now finally able to buy tickets to WrestleMania like three weeks before the show and they were originally intended to go on sale on March 16th – Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio that a lot had to be rearranged for the tickets because the seating plans had to be changed.

There was some talk of WWE wanting to pack 45,000 fans into the Raymond James Stadium, but it seems like they’ve settled for 25,000.

Bryan Alvarez discussed it with Meltz saying: 

“It was always going to be 25,000. They wanted 45,000, they had the discussion about 45,000, but it was gonna be 25,000 until they had those discussions to raise it. So at the end of the day, it’s still the same number that they were gonna put on when they were first talking about this months ago.”

And Meltzer added “They had to rearrange the seating and things like that. It was different from what the plans were, so they had to redo everything. So that’s what happened.”

Another New Rule For WWE Talent

Now, after leg-slapping got slapped with a ban – basically taking the music out of sweet chin music – people were wondering whatever will they think of next?

Well now we know – as according to Ringside News, who have been quite on it with backstage news recently, wrestlers have been told that they have to continue wrestling during the commercials.

If you cast your mind back to the early days of the pandy and the no fans shows it was revealed that when we were watching the ads the performers were having a little break.

WWE reportedly sent this statement though:

Effective now, you will need to work through the commercial breaks at TV. It keeps you warmed up, it continues the in-ring story, it is practice before we go live with fans and is a better experience for the virtual audience.”

I meeeeaaan, it feels like this memo if it’s true should have gone out months and months ago – if the Thunderdome audience are just watching people NOT wrestle during the commercials then what’s the point? Surely this should have been fixed when they realised that some regions don’t get commercials at the same time as the US?

Big Name Not Backstage At Recent Shows

Earlier this week, reports emerged that there was a new Covid outbreak at the WWE Performance Center, marking the third time a major outbreak had occurred at that venue. This reportedly forced NXT to change their plans for that week’s episode, with Leon Ruff vs Swerve Scott being pulled from the show and not mentioned entirely, as well as Tomasso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher vs Imperium being changed to a singles match between Ciampa and Marcel Barthel after an angle where both Thatcher and Alexander Wolfe were both attacked. 

But it wasn’t just the on screen talent that weren’t at the show, as according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the man in charge of NXT, Triple H, wasn’t at the show either.

“Paul Levesque (Triple H) was wasn’t there (at last night’s NXT), and he wasn’t at Raw either on Monday. Not everyone tested positive but it would also be people who were in contact with people who tested positive.”

It hasn’t been confirmed whether his absences are linked with the outbreak at the Performance Center, however the timelines certainly match up.

With NXT TakeOver Stand & Deliver coming soon, the first ever two night TakeOver event, some fans may be concerned this new outbreak may affect that show, but Meltzer on Observer Radio mentioned that it shouldn’t be impacted very much, if at all:

“In theory, they’ll be all cleared in 10-14 days, so as far as TakeOver, I don’t think it’s really… unless somebody has a really bad case and gets sick, I don’t think TakeOver is affected at all. And I don’t know if next week’s TV’s affected. If they started testing guys on Friday and Saturday, that means there’s a good chance they’d be cleared to come back for next Wednesday’s show. So, in theory, the people should be back by Wednesday, so it was just the one week.”

Jim Ross on Andrade in AEW

Someone else we could be seeing on Wednesday nights before long is Andrade, who was reportedly denied his release from WWE this past week. Andrade confirmed the reports on his Twitter, saying he didn’t know what the future holds. Many fans expect a man of the in-ring caliber of Andrade to find a home in AEW or New Japan once he eventually gets to leave WWE, and AEW commentator Jim Ross has commented on the situation on his Grilling JR Podcast, saying that WWE denying Andrade’s release shows that they’re “keenly aware of AEW”, and that they’re not “that ‘piss ant’ company that Triple H said we were going to be at the beginning”.

In the same episode of the podcast, JR also commented saying he doesn’t watch WWE anymore, and he especially wouldn’t watch a 3-hour Raw. Which is a shame as he’s missing out on some great Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman slime action. And speaking of Shane McMahon, Simon Longden has some thoughts on him…

What are your thoughts on the above story? Let us know in the comments on Twitter or Facebook.

3 years ago by El Fakidor Laurie Blake

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