Originally posted by dwaters I just think if Hogan or Bret Hart did this they'd catch a lot more flack. If Rock is a jerk for only showing up via satellite once in a while, what does that make Taker?
I believe the only people who think Rock is a jerk for that are McMahon, Cena, and possibly Triple H.
No one else seems to really care, which is why when Cena keeps playing that lame "I'm here every week" card, he still gets booed.
CM Punk doesn't like Rock, either.
CM Punk doesn't like anyone except Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, MVP and various comic book people and Chicago pastry chefs. At least judging by his Twitter feed.
Originally posted by Super 7-UpI just... don't see it. I don't understand the appeal. Bar the two HBK matches, it's the one match that I usually fast-forward through on every WrestleMania since they started hyping this blasted streak. ... So... why does anybody give a damn? What's the fun in knowing the outcome?
I dunno, I have a pretty good idea who's going to win a lot of matches, not just the Undertaker's. A lot of the fun is in getting there. In a lot of ways, the streak is more "real" to fans than anything else in current wrestling, even as a foregone conclusion, because it's one of the few circumstances where there are lasting ramifications (because once it's gone, it's gone forever) and the parties involved take winning and losing seriously.
Plus there's been a variation almost every year since they made the streak a big focus point.
WM21 - Orton - legend killer tries to legend kill streak; first year they make breaking the streak into the storyline of the match WM22 - Henry - generic Taker beats a monster at Wrestlemania throwback
then it gets interesting:
WM23 - Batista - title vs. streak for the first time ever, with serious consideration to Batista turning heel and breaking it WM24 - Edge - title vs. streak, as the climax of year-long storyline of Edge having Undertaker's number, plus Edge claiming his own evil undefeated streak WM25 - Michaels - Mr. Wrestlemania and UT's legendary rival challenges the streak, story is really more about Michaels than Taker WM26 - Michaels - career vs. streak, more about Michaels than Taker, a guaranteed result that somebody was losing something significant and tangible WM27 - Triple H - continuation of the Michaels storyline with Michaels' best friend trying to do what he couldn't
The Undertaker will win. Without a shadow of a doubt. It doesn't matter how many finishing move kick-outs they do, we all know who the winner of the match will be... right?
doubt: shadowed, not just for a stadium full of people, but a whole bunch of savvy wrestling fans, including me, who thought they knew better.
"Nah. The fans will never believe a beaten up old man can beat the champ." That makes perfect sense in my mind.
True, but Undertaker is no mere man, he's a ghost or something.
Originally posted by Dr UnlikelyThe most baffling thing about the entire 10+ years where the Streak mattered is that, in all that time, it never once occurred to them to start building a challenger with his own undefeated streak ahead of time. Edge had a streak going (5-0?), and then they threw him in a multi-man match to lose the year BEFORE they finally set him up against Undertaker.
I was thinking about that too. It's too bad, Edge could've easily won that MITB (since he sort of did anyway) and they could've hit that storyline a lot harder than him alluding to the idea that he'd never technically been "beaten" at Wrestlemania.
And no one wants to hear this, but at the two Wrestlemanias John Cena lost at (vs. Orton/HHH and Miz), he probably should've just won since they only kept the belt on the heel for another month. It's assuming a lot that Cena would beat Rock, but imagine if he were an obnoxiously dynastic 9-0 and challenging the Undertaker's streak.
Originally posted by Peter The Hegemon
Originally posted by dwaters
Originally posted by JustinShapiroWell, this is the first time he's sat out for an entire year.
I didn't think he appeared between the 2010 and 2011 Wrestlemanias, showing up only in late February to do the banner point.
Actually, he was active during the summer of '10, including defeating Rey to get into a world title Fatal Four Way (but suffering an injury that kept him out of said match) and then feuding with Kane, leading to the return of Paul Bearer and the involvement of the Nexus.
Yeah, Taker suffered a serious shoulder injury during the Kane feud that spelled the end of his active career beyond rare special appearances.
Originally posted by Matt TrackerJustin, I see the four-year plan's attraction, but if you're Hunter, the only thing you can do to beat Taker is hit him a hammer. How do you work a match when Taker's proven he can survive your AND his finisher? We need special stipulations, and that smothers a match that has a built-in gimmick: the streak.
The only thing that sucks about all of this is that The Undertaker went and got old.
A wrestling world without Taker is a lot less fun than one with him. If you weren't around for the whole Undertaker ride, then I can kind of see why the streak would bother you. He's one of the only guys that I can think of that didn't need a title to make his feuds feel big time. Plus not too many main eventers have had to work with such a slew of shitty opponents for years. It wasn't until he found HBK and Hart and later Foley and the rest that we realized that oh shit this guy can actually work.
Did he work more WrestleCrap angles than any main eventer? Yes. Did he cut such a long rambling promo about making the Big Show carry a motorcycle out of the desert that was so terrible that it was awesome only because he probably thought it was awesome? Yup. Did he hold down guys and act like a dick backstage? Probably at times.
What am I getting at? I don't know, but The Undertaker is big time. He's probably right there with Stone Cold behind Hogan as wrestler that person that never watches wrestling could name. If you don't like the streak than you suck. The Undertaker got old, so he sucks too, but I still want him to slap the crap out of HHH and hopefully he smacks HBK for good measure.
See what Taker did there, he brought the fanboy out in me. I didn't even know I had that in there until I started thinking about it.
Originally posted by Amos CochranIs that when he refused to put Angle over in 2000, or when he refused to turn heel and be Paul Heyman's Dead Man in 2004?
I believe the quote was attributed to Taker circa 2002 during his program with Brock. Taker (allegedly) didn't want to put Lesnar over clean at Unforgiven so they did a wacky DQ finish instead.
I think it's poppycock because Taker ended up putting Brock over the next month at No Mercy inside Hell in a Cell. Or maybe he did say it and it was taken out of context. I can see how he wouldn't want to job clean in a standard match if they're just going to turn around and do a HIAC match the following month. The fans probably wouldn't have believed Taker stood any chance inside the Cell if he had been beaten clean by Brock under normal circumstances.
It is interesting that this is the line that got dragged out of all that when my point was something else, but yes there was Brock and the one that sticks out to me was refusing to sell anything from DDP and Kanyon. Now stop making me think of ways that Undertaker isn't awesome.
{ Yikes! Resized - Ed. } (sorry, wasn't sure how to do it - thanks)
(edited by CRZ on 3.2.12 1849)
(edited by AWArulz on 4.2.12 1820)
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
I watched a little bit of this week's NXT this week, one of only times since NXT3 ended. It's a wonderful show if you like silence during ring entrances. Hardly anyone gets a reaction.
But the most important thing is no one on NXT does the Points to WrestleMania sign. None of them are going to WrestleMania, except as Hall of Fame seat fillers, for Axxess five minute specials, and as spare bodies for the dark match battle royal.
With A-Train's release, is it safe to presume Taker was slightly off in believing he was the future of the company a few years ago? As for Billy Gunn, good-bye, good riddance, don't let the door hit you on the way out.