Raven was inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame by his longtime rival, and friend, Tommy Dreamer, on Friday, October 7th at IMPACT’s Bound for Glory Pay Per View.
** On the latest episode of The Raven Effect podcast, Raven dove into his induction into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame. He shared that he wrote his speech the day of and it was Tommy Dreamer’s idea for Raven to snub him when Dreamer extended his hand out.
So the [IMPACT Wrestling] Hall of Fame, there I was, the Hall of Fame. What do you wanna know about it?
They gave me a plaque of sorts. It was one of those CableACE Award plaques.
So I got there Friday night, I run into Jimmy Jacobs. He goes, ‘You know, you got about eight minutes for this thing. Eight, nine minutes, 13 for the whole segment.’ I go, ‘What!? I expected a minute.’ He goes, ‘Nah. You got like eight, nine minutes. If you need less, you can do less.’ ‘All right.’ So I didn’t think about it that night because I didn’t want to be up all night thinking of spots to write in so I waited until I got to the show and double checked, plus I wanted to double check and so I got there and they go, ‘Yeah, you got eight, nine minutes.’ I was like, ‘All right,’ so I just started writing it and I wrote it out in one draft. One draft which a bunch of — well luckily my pen was erasable…
I never had time to memorize it but I feel like I memorized a good deal of it, more than I thought I could… So anyway, I haven’t watched it back yet. I’m terrified of watching it back because I’m like, I love what I wrote but… I’m extremely critical of my work.
That’s the worst DDT [that I did on Tommy Dreamer] but the best ending to a Hall of Fame. But you know what I like about it though? Is I brought up all my issues, and I feel like it was funny without Raven being Scott Levy, you know what I mean? And one of my favorite parts though was aye, I loved Dreamer’s speech. It was amazing. I think it’s one of the best things he’s ever done which I told him and he started laughing going, ‘That’s only because it’s about you.’ I go, ‘No.’ I really thought it was one of the best things he’s ever done, great promo and it was his idea for me to snub him when he walks over to shake my hand and I snubbed him. I didn’t want to at first because I was afraid it would give away the finish, but it didn’t at all.
One of the best parts of that day for Raven was receiving praise from the likes of Bully Ray and IMPACT Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore. He explained why their words meant so much to him.
You know what was the best part? Besides doing the whole [IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame] speech and winning the Hall of Fame contest? Was the fact that a bunch of people that normally wouldn’t put me over, gave me — you know, like [Scott] D’Amore and Bubba [Ray], they gave me heartfelt — they came over and you know, we always hug and hi and say what’s up. But they said, ‘Thanks for really helping me,’ blah, blah, blah and it really meant a lot, you know? Because those are two guys that I love and they love me but they’re never gonna put me over in public, you know what I mean? I put myself over enough for my whole career, for my lifetime. I put myself over. They didn’t wanna put me over as well. So that was cool.
Tommy Dreamer talks about how he was asked to be the one to induct Raven into the Hall of Fame by IMPACT Wrestling EVP Scott D’Amore, and how Raven reinvented himself many times over and really breathed new life into TNA at a time when it needed it.
Tommy mentions how Raven believed in people and helped them along the way. Notably, claims without Raven there is no CM Punk, Mickie James, or Dudley Boys. Tommy mentions how big his moments with Raven were and says he wishes they could have one more.
Full Hall of Fame Speech here:
H/t Post Wrestling’s Andrew Thompson. Original article here
Follow Gerard at @BearDown316 on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
Be sure to check out Bodyslam.Net for all of your pro wrestling and MMA news!