Sean Waltman On Who Should Induct DX Into WWE Hall Of Fame, Why Rick Rude Didn't Belong
Being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame is something that Sean Waltman dreamed of, but he wasn't sure it would ever happen with him still alive. Waltman is going in as a member of Degeneration X and he joined our WINCLY podcast to discuss how it feels to be going in.
"It's an amazing feeling obviously?I didn't know if I was ever gonna make it to see this day," admitted Waltman. "With DX, NWO, singles ? probably at some point it would be recognized. But man, I wasn't doing too good at some point so you never know.
Apart from himself going in, Waltman also said he's even happier that Chyna is being inducted as well. He also said being with that group in DX was the time of his life.
"We all did that together and it was the greatest time of my life," stated Waltman. "Any day of the week I'd choose to go in with them instead of by myself. Plus I'm scared of talking in public in front of 20,000 people up there by myself anyway."
There was some speculation that maybe WWE would choose just Shawn Michaels and Triple H for the induction, but Waltman says it's only right that all of the main members of the group are going in.
"That they're doing DX I'm not surprised – they wouldn't do it any other way," said Waltman. "That would be just ridiculous, wouldn't it?"
While the main members of DX are being inducted in, not all of the members of DX are going in. Rick Rude was part of the first incarnation of the group and Waltman explains why Rude wasn't chosen to be inducted in.
"Rick Rude, he walked out and left the company and it wasn't on good terms," revealed Waltman. "I don't get anyone trying to make the connection there. No disrespect to Rick, but there was that segment on TV the following week when Shawn pushed the little guy over. That was an easy role to replace. He was just there and wasn't the spirit of DX."
Rude came up in a previous era of wrestling and didn't seem to fit in with the crudeness of DX, but Waltman still thinks he could have connected in the Attitude Era just because of who he was.
"He would still connect," Waltman said of Rude. "Someone like that will always connect."
Waltman also diminished Hornswoggle's role in the group which lasted about one month. But Waltman was complimentary of Tori's contributions and said she will be mentioned during the induction speech.
"She was great. She was always right where she was supposed to be and a total professional. There were so many great things about her. Definitely she's gonna be thanked," said Waltman.
Now that we know who will be going in for DX, the one question remains on who will be inducting DX. Waltman threw out a name who, coincidentally, happens to already be in the Hall of Fame and was inducted into it by Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
"If there's gonna be an inductor?maybe Mike Tyson," said Waltman. "He was a such a huge part of the early success of DX in the Attitude Era."
When WWE brought in Tyson, Waltman was with WCW at the time but was injured and recovering at home. He says that the Montreal Screwjob followed by Tyson being on Raw grabbed his attention.
He talked about what he was thinking while seeing all of this going on in WWE.
"It wasn't like I was on the phone with [Triple H and Shawn Michaels], but I was thinking to myself, 'Hmm. Things are looking interesting here,'" admitted Waltman.
"We never got to see Raw while we were doing Nitro, so I was getting to see the product a lot while I was sitting at home. I'm going, 'Oh. There's momentum here,' and I saw it.
You can hear Sean's full WINCLY interview in the embedded player below. In it he also discusses how it feels to finally be going into the WWE Hall of Fame, why WWE decided to induct DX this year, whether his son has plans to become a pro wrestler, Honky Tonk Man being inducted alongside DX and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here.
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