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2024 INDY WRESTLING HALL OF FAME RECAP

By Cory Strode on 2024-04-07 15:08:00

Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown in Philadelphia, PA

The Host is LJ and Dave Prazak

The first inductee is Trent Acid, and the person to induct him is Johnny Kashmere. He thanks the crowd and says he wanted to thank everyone who helped him and Trent in their careers. He goes through a list of people who helped them along the way. 

Next is Steve Corino. He was inducted by his son Colby Corino. He says he has been struggling to sum up his dad’s career. He then recaps his dad’s career. He talks about how he started the Premier Wrestling Federation and then goes over who in the 2000’s he wrestled for every company, including a dark match in WWE. He then talks about how his dad did it for Independent Wrestling. He makes a joke about Corino’s retirement in 2007. He talks about how he only wants to do Indie wrestling because it is what his dad did. 

He talks about his dad’s wrestling school and how he wants to help wrestling and how he wants to help everyone.

Steve Corino takes the stage. He talks about how he wrestles because he loves to perform. He talks about his first match 30 years ago and how he just wanted to have one match. He thanks the people who worked with him and taught him when he was coming up. He talks about bringing in his family in wrestling and puts over his sister Allison Danger. He then puts over his son as a wrestler and a father. He says independent wrestling got him through tough times and Colby is his hero. He says he hasn’t wrestled in 7 years and the scene is better than it has ever been. 

The next inductee is the late Eddie Gilbert. Missy Hyatt accepts on his behalf. She asks why out of his three ex-wives does she have to speak about him. She says Eddie spent all of his time thinking about wrestling which made him a better worker, but hurt his personal relationship. She then says that like him you should always be working to help others with ideas. She goes over the people Eddie mentored. 

She talks about how he did great work with a shoestring budget. She says that people should learn not to burn bridges, since that was his biggest flaw. 

She was tearing up through her speech and really wanted to push the idea that people in the business need to help and teach each other.

The next inductee is the late Kevin Hogan, who was a prominent fan. LJ does the induction. He says when he went to his first show, he met Kevin. He said any event he went to, Kevin was there. He tells aAa story about how when he went to a deathmatch show and he brought two suitcases, one with clothes and one with weapons and candy. He talks about his love of Muffins, and holds up a Muffin Club shirt much like the Bullet Club shirts. He says Kevin came to shows with a pizza cutter. 

He talks about how Kevin loved La Parka and often wore a La Parka match. He didn’t care about the drama, he just loved the wrestlers and what they did in the ring. He ends with “That’s all I’ve gotta say, I’m outta here” like Kevin would say. 

To accept are his brother and sister, Steve and Lynne. His brother talks about how Kevin went anywhere to see wrestling and thanks them for the honor. 

The next inductee is Mercedes Martinez. She is inducted by Lexie Fyfe. She says she first met Martinez in 2002 and Mercedez listened to everyone about how to be better.  She then says that Martinez does everything she can to make her opponent and the promotion look good. Wrestlers are excited when they are booked against her because they will learn a lot and look great. Martinez gives back to the business and stays true to her values. 

Martinez takes the stage and she says she is very nervous and thanks Lexie. She says to keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut to learn what you are doing and now she has found her voice. She says she was true to herself and to be able to look in the mirror and respect yourself. She is happy about the diversity in women’s wrestling now. She says that she wants to talk about women’s wrestling now. At 19 she wanted to be a cop and still thinks she could be one. She says it’s hard to be a woman in wrestling and her trainer, Jason Knight, who taught her to speak up when you see something wrong.

She says it's hard for her to speak and she keeps her private life private. She says she never expected to be up here and she is normally the person in the back. She thanks the people who have been in her life. She then says that Shimmer was the revolution of women’s wrestling. She says when she is done wrestling she wants to run an all women's wrestling promotion. She talks about how she spoke up when she saw something wrong, and people listened when she did speak up. 

She says to work smart and less is more so they can last longer. She puts over the people she worked with and how they built something better for women’s wrestling. She says the fans can make wrestlers and people need to support people fully. She tells the story of asking Lexie to induct her. Lexie says she was happy to get glammed up, so then SHE had to get glammed up. She goes through more people who helped her in her career. 

The final inductees are the Briscoe Brothers, Mark and Jay. Mark comes to the stage to speak. 

He says he doesn’t have notes and is going to call it in the ring. He says this is humbling. He talks about his first match in 2000 and how they had built a ring in their backyard. He says it means so much to him and thanks everyone. He says this business is how he makes his money and he prayed as a kid to be a wrestler and now he makes his living doing it. He says other sports are a big deal, but wrestling is global. 

He says pro wrestling is the best thing in the world. He then talks about how Ring of Honor came together with a convergence of great talents. He says if you don’t come from indies, you don’t understand the grind of being on the road. He then says when Sinclair bought ROH it was good to get security, but they would be exclusive and he missed the road. He said it was sad when ROH shut down, but he was excited to get to run the roads again. He says Indie wrestling is pure and it's about love. He then talks about how much he loved the dog collar match with FTR. He then says his last match with his brother was putting over a new team, and says that is the job of the older guys to put over the younger guys. 

He then talks about how he doesn’t believe in religion but he believes in God and talks about his personal faith. He thanks everyone and feels humbled. 

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