Let's first look at who was the most “offended” by the crowd that Saturday night in Madison Square Garden. Bruno Sammartino certainly got a hero's welcome, and was given every ounce of respect he deserved through his near half hour speech. Mick Foley was welcomed with open arms and got the laughs, cheers and reactions that he deserved. He spoke for 45 minutes. Donald Trump perhaps? Well, he was booed maliciously, but he knew he would be and he played to the crowd. Trish Stratus & her husband? Maybe, but it appeared that she took the booing in stride, except towards the end when she couldn't speak. I agree it was a bit much, but not over the top. So who's left that was SO upset to cause all the controversy? Drum roll please...
*drum roll*
Maria Menonous. Yes, Maria fucking Menonous, celebrity. She inducted Bob Backlund into the Hall of Fame, and his speech could be a whole other column within itself. The reason Menonous was even there is because her & Bob are great friends, and she's a major fan of his. Greatest reason ever to explain her being there? No, but there's been worse. However, we had to deal with Menonous in the ring last year at Mania (she teamed with Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix and Eve in the “We won't be here by Mania next year” divas match), and enough skidmark jokes came out of that. Once word broke that Menonous would be inducting Backlund, the internet exploded. NOBODY wanted to hear her talk about someone that important in WWE history, myself included. As the ceremony got closer, I opened my mind a little bit and decided I'd see how her speech was.
As she got introduced in the Garden that night, there was a mixed reaction. Some politely applauded, some sat silently, some booed. Then she started talking. First was about Bob's life, which was fine. She actually told a really great story about Bob doing the Harvard Step Test for 8 hours after turning 50, which was amazing. And then she showed her ignorance. She thought people would tear up hearing Bob refused to turn heel during his title run; nobody cared. She thought explaining the full story of how she met Bob would get fans on her side; it didn't. She had the AUDACITY to say nobody had ever reinvented their character like Bob Backlund had; that fucking pissed everyone off.
On top off all that nonsense, she went on for a long time... well, longer than she should have. People were getting restless as she rambled on and on and on. We were 2 hours in and barely halfway through the entire ceremony to begin with, then you had someone on stage who people didn't want to see in the first place. So the crowd went to their instincts: booing, heckling, jeering. Someone in the section to my left yelled “get off the stage!” which got applause. In the end, this is WWE's fault. They have nobody to blame but themselves, and if they don't like fans reacting oppositely of how they imagined there's a simple solution: don't let fans in, or have it in a smaller arena. Until then, fans pay their hard earned money to attend those ceremonies. Let them boo.