Long since I’ve watched wrestling on TV, I’ve forgotten how much fun this phenomenon truly is to be witnessed. While I grew up watching wrestling in my teens and idolizing the early legends like The Macho Man Randy Savage, Jake the Snake Roberts, The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan (a.k.a. Thunderlips from Rocky 3), I’ve unfortunately gone soft in my body-slamming machismo. But as I have credited Arnold Schwarzenegger for introducing fitness into my lifestyle, I can also thank him for reigniting my long-lost admiration for this over-the-top entertainment. I admit my main reason for attending March 28’s gala event was to see Arnold’s speech, but what I really gained from this evening was a renewed love for wrestling, its production, the showmanship, the personalities and the passion from the fans. I’m back.
On the eve of WrestleMania 31, I’d bear witness to Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger’s induction into the WWE’s Hall of Fame ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose. As a wrestling fan from the ’80s, it was a thrilling surprise to learn that my press credential would land me a spot on the red carpet to interview so many of my early idols. Not only was I able to personally interview Jake the Snake (minus the boa), “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Hulk Hogan, I was also introduced to many of today’s wrestling icons like John Cena, The Miz, David Otunga, The Usos twins and many of the divas including Eva Marie and Maryse. While intimidating on our televisions, these male bodybuilders of the ring and fitness divas couldn’t have been more humble and genuine. Even some of these primetime villains had to break character when they heard I was there to represent the Arnold community. Mad respect was given to the world’s most famous bodybuilder who had earlier inspired them on their physiques and dreams.
Many of these wrestlers have worked in the ring with Arnold over the years including Triple H, Hulk Hogan and The Miz, and some of them received a little beating from the Terminator star. “He backhanded me once,” confessed The Miz. “I think that’s quite all right because he was a hero of mine as I was growing up, watching all of his movies, all the liners, from Predator to Kindergarten Cop. I mean, I still, to this day, go to all of my friends and do this [shows me the Dutch and Dillon bicep greeting], and I try to arm wrestle them and I say…What’s the matter…”
David Otunga, perhaps the biggest Arnold fan in the WWE, not only follows @Schwarzenegger and @TheArnoldFans on Twitter, he has also followed in Arnold’s footsteps and is honored to have his mentor take this grand induction into the WWE family. “This is awesome,” began Otunga. “I mean, Schwarzenegger is one of my icons and it’s cool because it’s kind of like my worlds are intersecting, because I grew up respecting guys with big physiques like Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, but also Arnold Schwarzenegger. I grew up watching him and looking at magazines with him on Muscle & Fitness and I got to be on the cover of that myself. That meant so much to me, because that magazine is what I grew up reading, and to see Arnold and follow in his footsteps. Now, it’s very cool to have him here to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. That’s just unbelievable.”
There was lots of Terminator talk throughout the night, kicked off by Jake the Snake telling me his favorite Arnold movie is 1984’s The Terminator. WWE’s Lillian Garcia admitted to me she would not want to take on the unstoppable T-800 in the ring. Instead, she went for an easier Terminator opponent. “Who’s the little kid on the dirt bike?” joked Garcia. “Yeah, that’s it, little John Connor! I think I can handle that.”
“I don’t want to deal with the Terminator,” confessed David Otunga when asked which Arnold film character he would like to wrestle. Instead, he opted for John Kimble.
There were a couple of wrestlers, however, who told me they would like to give it a go with Arnold’s iconic cyborg. “The Terminator,” began “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, “but I’d whack him with a 2'4"! He’d BE BACK. Of course he would, but the good thing about 2'4"s is they are easy to find and there are a lot of them!”
John Cena was also first up for the challenge to get into the ring with the Terminator but then quickly bargained with reason. “The original Terminator,” Cena began, “because that was the original true BAD GUY Arnold. I mean, that movie spawned a franchise that turned him into a great guy. But if you look at the original Terminator, he was the ultimate bad guy. So he would have been a great opponent for a WrestleMania. Aside from crushing him in some sort of hydraulic press or dropping him in molten lava, I would sort of hope I could just hang with the Terminator because I don’t think anything could stop the Terminator. Because if I do [stop him], he’ll probably just stand up then and say, ‘I’ll be back.’ ”
While Arnold is the greatest bodybuilder and action hero of all time, I’d soon find myself face-to-face with the world’s greatest wrestler, Hulk Hogan. Hulk didn’t want to fight the Terminator, but he did have other ideas for that character. “I don’t know if I’d want to wrestle any of his film characters, because Arnold is always unstoppable in his films,” said Hogan, “but I would have loved to have had The Terminator in the NWO for life!”
After our final interview and photo with Hulk Hogan on the red carpet, my friend Holzfeuer and I took to our seats for the inductions, but not before purchasing one hell of a fantastic, officially licensed Hall of Fame collector’s shirt!
This year’s Hall of Fame class was stacked with nine people being enshrined including Rikishi, Alundra Blayze/Madusa, Larry Zbyszko, Kevin Nash, Tastumi Fujinami, Connor Michalek, The Bushwhackers, Arnold Schwarzenegger and “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
Triple H, who credits his large nose to a Schwarzenegger beating in 1999, introduced his mentor after admitting Arnold could have been the top wrestler if he had chosen this profession over a film career. “But what if Arnold had a different hero in his life?” questioned Triple H. “What if Arnold’s hero hadn’t been Reg Park, a former Mr. Universe who went on and inspired Arnold to do the same? What if Arnold’s hero had been Bruno Sammartino? Arnold, undoubtedly, would have been the biggest WWE Superstar in history.”
Schwarzenegger followed Triple H’s introduction with a heartfelt acceptance, giving unlimited love to America, the land of opportunity, and its immigrants and hard workers. Arnold gave wrester Bruno Sammartino high honors as well, crediting his third Mr. Universe win to Bruno, who was the guest judge in Arnold’s bodybuilding days of competition.
Finally, Arnold thanked the fans. “I accept this award,” began the man receiving one badass Hall of Fame ring, “on behalf of all those people who have been my fans and the fans of WWE professional wrestling. Because without the fans, we would be nothing. We wouldn’t be the stars. We wouldn’t make the money. We wouldn’t have the opportunities. So thank you for believing in us. Thank you very much for your loyalty, for always being there and making my movies successful. Without you, I’d be nothing.”
While Arnold was thanking the fans, A-list wrestlers were telling me personally what big fans they are of Arnold’s and expressed their feelings toward the icon’s induction. “I feel very good about Arnold being here,” Hulk Hogan told me. “The only thing I’m a little upset about with Arnold is that he should have started wrestling when I did. I know he used to work out in the ring a lot back in the day when he used to train with the wrestlers and when he came to California and trained in the ring with a bunch of my friends. Now I know he was very successful and changed the whole world by how successful he was, but I wish we could have hooked him because he would have been the greatest wrestler ever.”
“I think it is great,” began “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. “It just shows you how mainstream WWE is all over the world, and having a man like Arnold Schwarzenegger here is exciting, not only for the fans but for wrestlers also.”
“He’s an icon,” John Cena told me. “He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I’m truly honored to have him here. I think he will bring a presence tonight that will rock this house!” Cena also told me he looked forward to the Arnold Schwarzenegger action hero by Mattel with the official Hall of Fame packaging. “As long as it is not bigger than the John Cena action figure,” he said with a laugh. “I kid. I kid. No, he deserves every amount of respect we can give him, and he should be immortalized in his own action figure that has to do with us at WWE.”
While the Hall of Fame ceremony had a few wrestling celebrities talking Terminator, the real Terminator Genisys surprise would follow the next evening at WrestleMania 31! There’s nothing better than the roar of the crowd, cheering for the latest Schwarzenegger movie. Congratulations on the fan reactions to July’s film, Governor. I thought I was going to be first in line to see Terminator Genisys, but these WrestleMania fans and athletic entertainers such as Hogan, Triple H, David Otunga and John Cena may give me some serious competition. Watch the video of Triple H's Terminator themed entrance below!
Now let’s see that beautiful Hall of Fame ring, Arnold. Stay ballsy! 