• On This Day In Pro Wrestling History (February 18, 1989) – Legendary Old School Diva Passed Away
On this day in 1989, we lost Old School Wrestling Legend Mildred Burke (Real name: Mildred Bliss) at the age of 73 due to a stroke.
Mildred, who wrestled during the 30s, 40s & 50s, is widely considered one of the greatest female professional wrestlers in the history of this sport.
Burke used to be the NWA World Women’s Champion for almost twenty years.
In 2016, she was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of their annual Legacy wing inductees.
† REST IN PEACE MILDRED BURKE
August 5, 1915 – February 18, 1989
• Triple H Says Chyna Should Be Inducted Into WWE Hall Of Fame Individually As Well
As we noted earlier, WWE announced that D-Generation X (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, X-Pac, Billy Gunn & Road Dogg) will be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame Class Of 2019.
During an interview with ESPN, “The Game” Triple H talked about this WWE Hall of Fame induction, what it means for this group, Chyna & more.
Below are the highlights:
On what it means to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of a group:
“I think it’s the most meaningful for us all to go in together and to be recognized together. Because I think both groups were just as impactful.
It’s a funny thing, because DX was something that, before Kevin [Nash] and Scott [Hall] left, at the time we all talked about using ‘The Kliq’ as it was — kind of morphing that into television, since it was so out there anyways. But things worked out the way they did — they left, and the timing was right.
Shawn and I still wanted to do it. Vince saw the value in it, I guess, and finally let us go at it. By that point in time I was looking for a heater, and we had brought Chyna.”
WATCH: Former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly Slaps Her Own $exy Bum:
On Chyna’s role in DX:
“It was completely different. No one had ever had a female [enforcer] before, especially one like that. It just worked out. The timing was right.”
On DX being involved in a major storyline with Stone Cold Steve Austin & Mike Tyson in 1998:
“For me, it was the break of a lifetime, right? My career was on the upswing, and then it had its downswing, due to a lot of [different] reasons. That was an opportunity for me to kind of get back on the right path, get out there and show what I could do. Being next to Shawn, the experience was so great, to be around that level of performer. From Taker, to Bret [Hart], to everybody else — the learning experience was massive. “
On him previously saying Chyna getting inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame being a tough decision due to her career in the adult movie industry:
“Look, people believe what they want to believe. When I said a few years ago on the Austin podcast, or show, or whatever you want to call it, there’s complexities around it. But absolutely, definitely deserves to be in there. It’d be tough to pick a female that was more impactful on the business. She did something that was completely so out of left field that it wasn’t even being considered when we first brought it up for her to come in. It wasn’t even a consideration… it wasn’t an easy thing, and against all odds she did all of that. She earned everybody’s trust. She won over the fans. She won over the boys. She did all of it.
From that standpoint, absolutely 100% deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and should probably be more than once — as a group, but individually as well.
There’s more complexity to that than meets the eye, but here we are. I’m just happy that it’s here. I’m happy for her family, the people that she was close to, that hopefully this is super meaningful to them. I know it would be to her. It’s a great thing — very deserving.”
