Triple H Recalls His "Worst Moment Ever" During Ric Flair's WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony
A new WWE 24 documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair was released after NXT "Takeover: In Your House", and WWE also released the bonus clip above featuring Triple H on YouTube. Triple H opened up with how Flair was a hero of his and his feelings before inducting him into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.
"People will say, 'well, if you get the opportunity in life to meet your hero, don't meet him.' I met mine, became best friends with him, traveled up and down the road [and] got to induct him into the hall of fame," Triple H stated. "I was way more nervous about inducting Ric than I probably was about anything else that entire weekend."
Triple H then shared a story from Flair's induction speech where Flair was going too long in his speech. Triple H was told by Vince McMahon and producers to tell Flair to cut his speech short, and he called it "the worst moment ever."
"Now Ric's doing his speech and I see somebody wave from the curtain, wave for me to come over," Triple H described. "I peek my head in the gorilla position, and Vince is like, 'how much longer he's got?' He's talking about the '70s. He's not even in the '80s yet, and Vince is like 'well, we're gonna get dropped dead off TV. You gotta go out there and cut him off.' I'm like, 'you want me to go out on stage and tell Ric Flair to wrap up his induction speech?' And he's like, 'yes, go right now.' And I'm like oh for the love of God right?
"So I have to walk out there and the crowd's booing. And I'm like, 'uh, you gotta warp it up.' He's like OK. He just keeps going. Now there's a panic of people at gorilla calling me over. 'Why didn't you tell him?' I did tell him. 'Why isn't he wrapping it up?' It's his hall of fame speech.
"They're like, 'go tell him again.' I'm like ugh. The worst possible feeling I could have is having to tell Ric, 'you're a legend. You had a great career. You gotta get off the stage please.' I don't know if that was a big deal to him or if it was like this whirlwind to him, but oh my God, for me, it was the worst moment ever. That was a crazy weekend, but then, you can't write a better fairy-tale ending."
You can view the Triple H clip above. If you use any quotes from this article, please credit WWE 24 with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.