Larry Zbyszko on Vince's Reaction to His WWE HOF Speech

“The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko was recently a guest on “The RCWR Show” with Lee Sanders. During the interview, Zbyszko discussed his notoriously-long WWE Hall of Fame speech, Vince McMahon’s reaction to it, as well as hecklers who were in attendance that night:

Being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:

“Oh, it was a thrill of a lifetime. You know I tried to keep it simple and not talk too philosophically. It was a real interesting night because I didn’t write any speech. I just wanted to go out and talk to the fans and tell them a quick story, a true story about how I was one of the biggest fans ever and just wanted to be like my hero. One day I end up crawling through these stupid giant hedges cause I caught a glimpse of him [Bruno Sammartino]. It was like going through a rabbit hole. Next thing I know I’m on the stage and in the Hall of Fame. Got the same ring and my dream kind of came true. But it was a wild experience because, I mean, all the energy in the room was really cool, I kind of went into a different dimension. I remember looking up and seeing people I knew and it threw me off for a minute. I remember saying I lost my train of thought and then I don’t remember saying a word until afterwards.”

Vince McMahon’s reaction

“Vince thought it was great. Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled me over and said, ‘You have the greatest act ever, that was the greatest speech I ever heard!’ I said really? I think I blanked out, I don’t remember what the hell I said. Then some guy in a big three-piece suit come running up, said I am so and so from the WWE Board of Directors telling me that was the greatest speech he ever heard and I couldn’t remember what the hell I said. I was in a different dimension. I was watching replays of it and I was like, ‘I did say that, I did say that!’ Vince said, ‘Yeah, you were in the moment brother!’ That’s what I wanted! I’m in a twilight zone man! It was wild!”

Hecklers at the ceremony

“Unfortunately it’s like every other thing in the world: there’s 98% percent of humanity that are great people and it’s 2% of humanity that are psychopaths and idiots. To be honest with you, after my speech, I went off to twilight zone. I didn’t see the rest of the Hall of Fame. I really can’t comment about the heckling, what was said and everything they were doing. The WWE is such a great company. I mean, I look at it and see some of their policy and they are just so nice. I mean, if it was me running it, you think I’d put someone through rehab ten times? I’d give them one shot. You want to go to rehab? Here, great! You messed up? You big dummy. To bad! The company bends over backwards to help people like the Connor thing and the Hall of Fame.”