0 of 7 Credit: WWE.com As the men and women of WWE get set to step into the ring for WrestleMania 35 on Sunday, the organization honored the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame inductees. This is always a special night because it's one of the few times when everyone drops their characters and we get to see the people behind the gimmicks. Still, the main attraction is hearing legends talk about their careers. This year's Hall of Fame class included DX, The Hart Foundation, Harlem Heat, Torrie Wilson, The Honky Tonk Man, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and veteran WWE employee Sue Aitchison as the recipient of the Warrior Award. Let's take a look at some of the highlights from Saturday's inductions ceremony.<doc-sep>On the eve of WrestleMania 35 in New York, WWE will pay tribute to some of its biggest stars as the Class of 2019 is inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Legendary faction D-Generation X headlines the class, which also includes iconic tag teams Harlem Heat and The Hart Foundation. The 2019 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will begin at 7:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network. A red carpet kickoff show will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET. Here is the full class of 2019: Group: D-Generation X Group: Harlem Heat Group: The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) Torrie Wilson The Honky Tonk Man Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake (to be inducted by Hulk Hogan) Warrior Award: Sue Aitchison Legacy: Bruiser Brody Legacy: Wahoo McDaniel Legacy: Luna Vachon Legacy: SD Jones Legacy: Professor Toru Tanaka Legacy: Primo Carnera Legacy: Joseph Cohen Legacy: Hisashi Shinma Legacy: Buddy Rose Legacy: Jim Barnett<doc-sep>Welcome to our WrestlingINC.com Live WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Viewing Party. Tonight’s show comes from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. – The 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet pre-show opens live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. Byron Saxton and co-host Maria Menounos welcome us. They hype the show and send us to Charly Caruso, who is with Shinsuke Nakamura. He talks about loving the city and says he’s looking forward to seeing Triple H get inducted with DX. Charly sends us to Kayla Braxton, who is with WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior and her daughters. They talk about being proud of their mom before we go to Saxton and Maria. He’s with The Hardy Boys and their families. Jeff Hardy says he needs to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal tonight after Matt Hardy won last week. Jeff says he’s looking forward to seeing the inductions of Harlem Heat, DX and The Hart Foundation. Matt agrees it’s cool that tag teams are being inducted tonight. Charly is with The IIconics, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. They talk about being excited to see Torrie Wilson’s inducted. They’re also excited for the title shot at WrestleMania 35 tomorrow, saying it’s been 15 years in the making and their destiny. Back from a break and Kayla is with WWE Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley and his family. Lashley’s oldest son says his dad will win tomorrow at WrestleMania. We go back to Byron and Maria, who are with Baron Corbin. Corbin acknowledges people want to see John Cena or another Legend facing WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle tomorrow at WrestleMania, but he’s here to make his mark also. Corbin talks more about WrestleMania and says he’s most looking forward to DX’s induction. Charly is with Drake Maverick and his wife. Drake is also most looking forward to seeing DX get inducted. Drake also talked up Tony Nese vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy. Kayla is with Ali and his wife. Ali says he’s feeling good about the Andre Battle Royal and he’s looking forward to The Hart Foundation’s induction. Maria and Byron are with WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss. They talk about Michael Che and Colin Jost in the Battle Royal with Braun Strowman. She’s also excited to see the women headline the show. Charly is with Titus O’Neil and his sons now. Titus goes on and talks up the female Superstars for being in the main event. They also mention seeing “Uncle” Dave Batista defeat Triple H. Kayla with Mandy Rose and her mother now. We come back and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos and Naomi are with Maria and Saxton. They’re excited to see Harlem Heat, Sue Aitchison and Torrie Wilson get inducted. Kayla is with WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy next. He’s not nervous about his title match tomorrow but he’s worried about wearing this white suit. His friend Adam is with him. They joke with each other about being dressed up. Murphy is excited about watching the DX induction and talks about being a big fan of Billy Gunn growing up and inspired by him now. Charly is with Kalisto, his masked wife and his cousin. Kalisto is focused on the Hall of Fame tonight but tomorrow will be go-time. Gran Metalik appears and joins them. Kalisto teases a surprise move for the Battle Royal tomorrow. Byron and Maria are with Paige now. Paige talks “Fighting with My Family” and predicts Becky Lynch will win the main event tomorrow. Back from a break and Rey Mysterio and his son Dominic are with Kayla. Dominic says his career is coming together. Rey talks about proud of his son he is, saying he’s learning the ropes and has more to learn but Rey is very comfortable with where he’s at now. Rey says he’s been icing his ankle since got into town and he’s been using new technology to keep the swelling down, and the pain is almost gone. He’s around 90% good and will be ready for WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe tomorrow. Charly is with Tony Nese and his wife. Nese talks about his big title shot tomorrow. Bobby Roode and his wife are with Kayla. He talks about having Chad Gable’s back in the Battle Royal but there can only be one winner and he hopes it’s glorious. Byron and Maria are with Braun Strowman as fans start a “get these hands!” chant. Braun jokes about Colin Jost and Michael Che needing to sign a release form for the Battle Royal tomorrow because he’s tossing them out. Braun is excited to see Sue Aitchison’s induction and he praises her. Charly is with WWE Hall of Famers Ron Simmons, Teddy Long and The Godfather. They talk about being excited for tonight’s inductions and the women main eventing WrestleMania. We come back to Maria and Braxton after a break. They’re with Maryse, The Miz and his parents. He talks about doing battle with Shane McMahon tomorrow and fighting for his family. Kayla is with Sonya Deville and her girlfriend next. We also see WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella arriving. Sonya talks about how she and Mandy Rose have a shot at the Battle Royal tomorrow, saying they will win together or lose together by jumping off the apron. Sonya also mentions representing the LGBT community tonight. Charly is with Andrade and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair. Flair says this is their big coming out party together. They joke around about being an item and Flair talks about the WrestleMania 35 main event. Flair talks about how special Torrie’s induction will be. We go back to Maria and Saxton for the end of the Red Carpet pre-show. – The 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony opens up with a video package. We’re live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City as we see the Superstars in their seats on the floor. Hosts Corey Graves and Renee Young are introduced, and out they come. Graves welcomes us. They have a normal WWE arena set up tonight, with stage, ramp and ring. There is no longer a big stage. The inductees will go to the ring for the honors. Graves and Renee lead us to a video package for the first inductee, The Honky Tonk Man. Graves and Renee introduce WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart to do the honors. Hart walks to the ring, which actually sits a bit lower for the presentations and has an open front. Hart talks about meeting The Honky Tonk Man years ago and then running into him again years later, with the new HTM gimmick. Hart goes on about working with HTM in WWE. Hart introduces Honky Tonk Man and out he comes in a pink Cadillac with a girl wearing a poodle skirt. Honky thanks Hart for all he’s done and says he wouldn’t be here without him. Honky also mentions how he never thought he would get into the Hall of Fame and fans respond with a “you deserve it!” chant. Honky talks about how it’s been a fun trip and says he wouldn’t change a thing, he’d do it all over again. Honky starts talking about how his character came to be, and says his daughter joked with him that he needed to lose weight before he came to the ceremony. Honky goes on and talks about how WWE took their power and did something to the character that he never could. He says the character will live on thanks to what WWE did. He says it truly is an honor to be a part of this family. Honky thanks everyone and WWE once again. He goes to finish but Hart tells him he can’t leave until we hear him sing. They call for the music and Honky starts performing his theme. Hart and the girl dance. They exit the modified ring and dance with people at ringside, including The New Day and Kofi Kingston’s sons. They continue performing the song and head to the back. We go back to Corey and Renee for a retro DX clip.<doc-sep>
WWE changed things up with its Hall of Fame ceremony this year, attempting to account for the long run time in year’s past as well as switching around the stage set up. In lieu of a traditional recap, we’ll just run down where they hit and where they missed with this year’s show from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Hits They did well to keep the time down this year, and it was awfully nice that we didn’t have to sit through so many drawn out speeches from inductors to inductees. Only DX went long but they were the main event and five different guys had to give speeches while also honoring Chyna. The hope is they can keep this going in the future. X-Pac campaigning for WWE to rename the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal to the Chyna Memorial Battle Royal. Triple H making fun of AEW was legitimately funny, mostly because it’s going to lead to a lot of folks overreacting to it. Whoever had the idea to cut back and forth between WrestleMania opponents is a genius. They did it with The Miz and Shane McMahon, alternating between cheers and boos for each, and the two played into it so well. The same goes for Daniel Bryan (who was actively trying to avoid the camera) and Kofi Kingston (who had New Day there encouraging it and screaming along, including his adorable son). It legitimately made me that much more excited for those matches at WrestleMania 35. Let me just give The New Day their own spot. They were fantastic all night long, from being seen making hilarious faces in the background, to playing it up alongside Kingston, to standing up for what they believe in with their silent protest of Hulk Hogan. Harlem Heat’s speech. I thought Booker T was fantastic, striking the perfect balance between goodhearted fun and strong emotion reflecting on his run while honoring his brother. “I’ve been living my brother’s dream, and I think it’s time for me to wake up,” he said with a laugh as he ceded the floor to Stevie Ray. That was perfect. He didn’t go long, but he really hit home. I don’t want to sell Stevie short either, because he, too, was extremely well spoken and came across incredibly well. His story telling skills were so good, anyone saying he didn’t deserve this spot should be ashamed. Misses Rushing the ring during a pro wrestling show is not okay, and if you’re a fan thinking of doing this, just don’t. Some idiot rushed Bret Hart during his induction speech for the Hart Foundation and he got his ass whooped by a very large group of wrestlers for his trouble. He got himself some attention, but I’ll never understand why anyone would want to go down in infamy as a legendary dipshit. Congrats to this moron, I guess. Having said that, it should also be noted that the response, while deeply satisfying in a primitive sense, also wasn’t okay. I don’t feel bad for the guy, he was an idiot, but seeing a large group of wrestlers ganging up on him and beating him down was also bad. Travis Browne, for instance, is a trained heavyweight martial artist. This was just some schmuck trying to get some fame. They couldn’t have known what he would do and how far he would go, but that’s what you pay security for. This was obviously a failure on WWE’s part, and we can safely assume adjustments will be made for next year’s ceremony. Having said all that, the set up for this entire show, with inductees getting an entrance and giving their speeches from a podium set up in the ring felt a bit ... what’s the word ... amateur? I don’t know, it just didn’t feel as special as the expansive stage set ups of years past. My hope is they go back to the old, elevated stage look in future years. Please, god, stop doing songs at the Hall of Fame. Honky Tonk Man was much better than Jeff Jarrett but it’s always a cringe-fest. If I was grading the show, I would go with a solid C. You?