Celebrity WWE Hall Of Famer Praised For Refusing Special Treatment
A celebrity WWE Hall of Famer didn’t want the special treatment offered to him.
The celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame is often scoffed at by hardcore wrestling fans because some inductees make only one or two television appearances, yet they are still given a spot in the Hall of Fame.
For actor/comedian and Price Is Right game show host Drew Carey, induction into the WWE Hall of Fame is due to his participation in the 2001 Royal Rumble match.
In the match, Carey was in the ring with Hall of Famer Kane and was terrified, of course, so Carey tried to pay him off. Kane choked Carey, but then Raven entered the match, so Carey was let go by Kane. Carey would go on to eliminate himself from the match, and he didn’t actually take a bump or cause any harm in the match.
It was a decade later, at the 2011 Hall of Fame ceremony, when Carey was inducted into the WWE HOF as a celebrity.
Drew Carey Was A Celebrity Without An Entourage
On his Something To Wrestle podcast, WWE Executive Director Bruce Prichard said Drew Carey showed up at the 2001 Royal Rumble without an entourage.
“Drew Carey shows up to the arena with a gym bag by himself, comes in the back door, introduces himself to everyone, says, ‘Hello, my name is Drew Carey. I’m involved in things here. And I mean, every person walking backstage [he] introduces himself to.”
“No manager, no lawyer, no friends, no entourage, none of that bullshit. Just showed up to the building and came across as a guy who happened to be extremely successful and was a huge star at the time, and was absolutely just so respectful of everything that we did.”
As the show went on, WWE officials found Carey and realized he didn’t want any special treatment, including his own room.
“Finally found him and say, ‘Hey… I know we got a room for you over here,’ and we put him in a dressing room. He goes, ‘Do I have to stay in here by myself?’ I was like, ‘No dude, no, come on out.’ And he came out and went and just was in awe of it all.”
“Sat up and watched the entire show just like, like, like a little kid just staring at the screen, like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god.’ And would thank everybody when they came back from the ring, ‘Oh my gosh, I was amazing. It was greatest match ever.’ Every match was the greatest match he’d ever seen.”
Prichard would go on to call Carey a class act all the way, which could be why he ended up in the WWE Hall of Fame a decade later.