Paul Heyman Gave An Incredible WWE Hall of Fame Speech Last Night Where He Told The Haters To "Suck [His] Fucking Dick"
Paul Heyman was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last night in Philly - the birthplace of Extreme Championship Wrestling - and he gave a (predictably) amazing acceptance speech that's going to be talked about and referenced for years to come.
Roman Reigns inducted Heyman because Brock Lesnar was uh, busy....
….though Heyman did reference Brock a couple times to the surprise of many! They were pretty much just quick namedrops as he recapped everything he's done in his career, from managing talent in WCW, to doing commentary with Jim Ross, to starting/running ECW, to making the jump to WWE, eventually pairing up with "The Tribal Chief" Roman Reigns, and more - but there was definitely a weird reaction from the crowd every time he dropped a "BRRRRROCK LESNAR" on 'em.
It was never as awkward as The Rock namedropping Vince McMahon during the induction speech for his grandmother, Lia Maivia (one of the first female wrestling promoters ever), however….
Heyman never brought up Vince himself, but gave Triple H MASSIVE props for how he's handled taking over the company which was pretty cool to see….
Hysterical that the crowd started chanting "Paul Levesque" (Triple H's real name) for the very first time there. He also gave lots of love to Stephanie McMahon, who was rocking an awesome ECW throwback beret to the ceremony….
Heyman also, as my headline references, dropped the iconic quote, “If you think that the spirit of ECW died in a bankruptcy court in 2001, you can suck my fucking dick.”
I've watched that clip 100 times already, just to focus in on a different wrestler's reaction every time. Randy Orton has a great one, Bayley and Drew McIntyre crack up, Jimmy Uso puts his head down and covers Naomi's ears, and Cody stares right at Triple H. It's hilarious.
That wasn't the only moment they had to bleep for television, either. When Heyman took the podium, the audience hit him with some "YOU DESERVE IT!" chants - to which he responded: "You’re damn fucking right I deserve it"
A few other moments from the speech worth bringing up:
-Heyman hugged ECW originals Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, and Bubba Ray Dudley on his way out….
What a long way Heyman and Dreamer have come.
-This impression of Rob Van Dam that turned into a meme instantly….
-Heyman bringing it back to ECW with the hat/trench coat and roasting WCW….
-Paul Heyman paying respect to the Rhodes family….
It didn't feel like this was the most talked about Hall of Fame class of all time, but honestly - despite being super long, I thought the ceremony itself was pretty good. Heyman should've headlined though, with all due respect to The Rock and Lia Maivia. Nobody could follow that.
P.S. WrestleMania Night 1 starts in just a matter of hours and I'll be in the 2k suite with Brandon Walker and the Nate Dawg! First time ever in a suite for WrestleMania! Insanity! Can't wait tho. This card is STACKED….