Thunderbolt Patterson was one of the legends who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
Recently, while speaking during a virtual signing for K & S WrestleFest, Thunderbolt Patterson shared how his induction came to fruition. Patterson noted that he initially planned to turn it down, citing his lack of desire to step back into a pro wrestling environment.
“Jerry Brisco (called me about the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame), Jerry called me. Jerry was the one who called me and he said it took him five years to get me into the Lou Thesz-Dan Gable in Waterloo, Iowa and… here I am.
“It’s two steps to that. In the Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa, well, you know, they normally say that you never get any props in your hometown. Power of the living God. WWF… I worked for the old man one time, and it’s amazing because I had said that I would never take it if that was asked, and Brisco called and told me and said, ‘Bolt, don’t say a word until you hear the whole thing,’ and when I got through listening to them, Brisco and Bruce Prichard…
“That was the trial to just what we were talking about a few minutes ago. Deep man, it’s deep. Just thankful, because I wasn’t gonna take it. I said that I never would step in a ring again. It takes me an hour to get up there now, but I said that I never would even get up in there again because it took the best years of my life… and I’m not bitter. I was at one time, but I have nothing but love for all of the haters out there.” [H/T POST Wrestling]
Thunderbolt Patterson on The New Day
The popular faction The New Day was the group that inducted Thunderbolt Patterson into the Class of 2024 WWE Hall of Fame. Patterson appreciated the New Day.
“Those boys (New Day) got a lot of talent and they had to go through a lot of different things. All I’ll say, they are some real good young men that is focused and been there for a while and had to be real because we can understand the world and that business now of what people have to go through to make a living… I was very, very pleased to hear them say what they said,” Thunderbolt Patterson said.
What was your reaction to Patterson’s Hall of Fame speech?
