Molly Holly Reflects On The WWE Hall Of Fame

Molly Holly shined as a pioneer of women's wrestling during her tenure in WWE. The former WWE Women's World Champion joined the company in 2000, and later took the division by storm, and had some memorable moments portraying her alter ego character, "Mighty Molly." By the time she left WWE in 2005, Holly gained an impressive resume, capturing the women's division's biggest prize on two occasions.

Holly was announced as the first name in the 2021 class of the WWE Hall of Fame and accepted her induction with grace. But the speeches that aired were noticeably shorter than years prior, especially hers.

In a recent appearance on the "K&S Wrestlefest" virtual signing, Holly explained why WWE shaved down the Hall of Fame speeches last year. "They were wanting to change it to be a little bit more like the Academy Awards, to follow suit of what pop culture expects from award ceremonies," she said. "Plus, people's attention spans are shorter, so they just wanted shorter speeches to reflect what other award shows do."

Holly previously spoke about her frustration with finding out her prepared speech would be trimmed down after initially being told to aim for 15 minutes. After working hard to practice, Holly received a phone call informing her of the significant time cut to her speech; she now had just two minutes. "I cried for like four hours," she said.

WWE eventually uploaded her full, extended speech on YouTube, where she got to express her gratitude to all the people — behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera — who helped shape her career. Holly made her return at the Royal Rumble in 2022, as part of the women's Royal Rumble match.

If you use any quotes in this article, please credit K&S Wrestlefest, with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.