Bray Wyatts promo

The Undertaker can still contribute a lot to the future of the business.

Taker Vs Bray at Mania would be a massively important match for both men, not least for The Undertaker. Who for 6 years (with the exception of CM Punk) has had to co-headline 'Mania with someone of equal legendary status. With Takers Streak being the main focal point of each Wrestlemania match, the formula has got stale.

I firmly believe The Streak died at WM30. But many say that Takers relevance also died in New Orleans, I don't believe that.

Say for arguments sake, Undertaker can still go another 2-3 'Manias, those years can now be invested by pairing Taker with future talent. And Bray Wyatt is an easy choice from a character standpoint. Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, even a rematch with Brock Lesnar could all get the best out of the ageing Undertaker over the next few years.

The end of the streak and the pairing of Taker with future talent at Wrestlemania turns the old predictability of the Streak into a fresh new uncertainty of whether Undertaker could overcome these dominant up-and-comers in his ageing years. Anyone who defeated The Deadman would still get a hell of a rub regardless of the Streak already being over, and anyone who Undertaker defeated would not suffer as much damage to their momentum due to Undertaker's status as 'The Greatest Wrestlemania Performer of them all'. Just an idea.

It also free's up Undertaker to appear at shows other than Wrestlemania, although with his schedule over previous years this seem's unlikely.

The same way CM Punk would have been had he continued his run as a heel into a rematch with 'Taker the following year. He was despised within 6 weeks leading up to WM29, largely due to the Paul Bearer angle, imagine if he had another 12 months of momentum!

Bray Wyatt would ride that 12 month wave and make it possibly the most cryptically relevant feud in WWE history, and a highly relevant feud towards WWEs future. A man who has lost clean at least once in nearly every high profile feud he has taken part in so far, a defeat to the Undertaker would do nothing to hinder Wyatt.

Here's the catch for me, if I thought Bray was going over Taker at Mania I would be super on board. I think Bray would/will definitely lose though, is my problem. That being said, this is the biggest match Bray can possibly have at Mania. So win or lose, this is as high profile as it gets for him. So you have to view it like the Punk situation, is it better to get Wyatt in a top billed match that he'll lose, or put him in a less significant match where he'll just meaninglessly, for the most part, go over. If he hadn't lost to Cena last year and had that feud, I would be in full support of him going down against Taker this year. However, that match and feud did happen and I think it's a slippery slope for him. They've gotten Bray back on track but it's a house of cards right now.

Also, he was supposed to face Bryan, apparently, at Fastlane to help build his stock for Taker and Mania. He's not going to get that match now. Unless they are going to feed a returning Orton to him and let Rollins run-in, there isn't anyway for Bray to get that good credible win at Fastlane now. Bray looked like a beast in the Rumble imo, even with his insignificant elimination. The Bryan situation, and their indecisiveness over it, has made Bray sort of collateral damage, sadly. So I'm struggling with that portion of it too.

To be clear, my issue isn't with Taker. The streak being over shouldn't mean he's done if he can still go and wants to go. Last year gets a pass for me because of the concussion and Brock and Taker have too similar of styles anyway and didn't have any kind of gimmick to lean on, which helps Taker a lot at this stage. So I think if he does like a street fight or casket match with Bray that it can still be entertaining as hell. If it's not good, well, then we start having that talk about him needing to walk away. I'm not there yet personally though just because of what happened with Brock. Once can be an anomaly, two or three times is a trend.

I was interested in his promos for all of a month, but for the past, what, 10 month I've found him so boring. It was cool to begin with but now it's just a drag listening to him imo. Combined with his average in ring performances he's got a lot to do to win me over again.

That being said, I always look forward to whatever Undertaker does this time of year so I look forward to it.

I maintain that Punk could have turned heel again, or even stayed heel throughout 2013. Imagine if he was positioned where Orton was throughout the Bryan feud, before dropping the belt before the 'Mania build for his rematch with Undertaker. Authority CM Punk would have made for the most absorbing heel in the business opposite the likes of Daniel Bryan, totally beats the 5 months spent treading water in that awful feud with Heyman/Ryback/Axel and (breifly) Brock. Punk may not have had a lot left to achieve as a heel in 2013, but it would have been a lot more than he achieved as a face during that time.

I agree 100% that if the ending of the Wyatt/Taker match was designed to protect both Wyatt and Takers nearly flawless record it would work out a lot more beneficial in the future for both guys. The only way would be akin to WM27 as you said, with Taker winning but being unable to walk from the ring.

That outcome would mean The Deadman has medically limped out of 2 back to back 'Manias though, which seems unlikely as it doesn't do a lot to enhance his status in any way other than weaken the image that the Streak helped build. On the other hand, it would work wonders for Bray Wyatts long term credibility.

have undertaker just play a clint eastwood style character ala gran torino (yes, that gif of him on the last page reminded me of that idea).

they just need to add a new dynamic to his story, and voila.

I think people way overthing the outcomes and the effects to the point where it negatively impacts how much you enjoy the show. If you can't sit back and enjoy what is one of (or could possibly the last) taker performance, especially at mania because you are worried about who goes "over" then that kinda sucks

He would be the "2" in 21 and 2 lmao. That's why Bray's not winning. They can't figure out the marketing of it.