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Post by Brad on Nov 29, 2019 17:55:30 GMT -5
Hey guys. Long time no talk...I've been MIA around here for a while.
Anyway, I watched The Broken Skull Sessions with Taker last night. (Phenomenal if you haven't seen it.) I've never been a huge Undertaker fan for whatever reason. It's not something I can pinpoint to be honest. I would say the closest I've came to being a fan has been either between 2000-2004 or 2010-Current. However, watching his interview with Austin put me in the mood to watch some Taker matches today.
I started out old school.
Vs. Bigelow
Vs. Papa Shango
Vs.Jerry Lawler
All three of these are from Coliseum Video releases. While watching I had two thoughts. One, the old gimmick was pretty dang cool. However, I think it might have been the slow in ring style (which I understand was due to the character at the time) that caused me to not jump on the Undertaker train as a child. Right behind that thought was the realization that it makes complete sense that I've said for years I prefer ABA/Big Evil to the Deadman...it WAS that ring style (but honestly I think I prefer his more normal 'ass-kicker' promos as ABA/Big Evil.
As far as current day, if I'm honest...I'm still not what I would call a Undertaker fan, but I know that when he comes around 1. It's special and it could be his last match. 2. It's more than likely going to be a hell of a match.
With all that being said I'll always respect the man behind the character and when he speaks...I'll listen.
What is the overall opinion of Undertaker? Which gimmick and time frame do you prefer. What are some of your favorite moments and matches?
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Nov 29, 2019 18:06:57 GMT -5
Undertaker with the mullet look for the first year of his WWE run wasn't the best look. I get that he was growing his hair out, but once it got long enough in late 1992 to go in front of his face it really gave off a cool look.
The change to purple gloves in 1994 was a small change, but it worked perfectly. It helped with adding the purple lights to his entrance too. The purple look really is his New Generation era look.
The look he had at Survivor Series 96 was cool. He kept that look for a few months before altering it once he became WWE Champion to the look we saw until he changed for the Ministry.
The Ministry look was cool. The long pointy goatee, the hair being up in a ponytail and still down at the back. Just an interesting look for him then.
The American Bad Ass look actually started before he left in 1999. On Smackdown he came down dressed like that when teaming with Big Show. As for the American Bad Ass look in 2000 till 2001 before the hair cut, it really suited him then. Suited that era too for the WWE.
The short hair was perfect for the heel change. And of course growing it out in 2004 was great for his return to the dead man gimmick.
Everything about Taker seemed to work. He just knew when it was time to change it up. It was almost like the guy had a natural gift. The same can be said for Chris Jericho with how he can constantly change his style and image as the time goes on.
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Post by The Brain on Nov 29, 2019 18:08:10 GMT -5
Greatest character of all time in my book. My fav time period of his career is from late 90-early 94. Matches wise his stuff with Foley/HBK/Bret during the late 90s.
And I also saw the Broken Skull Session show. Excellent all around. Very rare to see him do an interview as just himself. I enjoyed it a lot
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Post by MKSavage on Nov 29, 2019 18:57:38 GMT -5
Greatest character of all time in my book. My fav time period of his career is from late 90-early 94. Matches wise his stuff with Foley/HBK/Bret during the late 90s.And I also saw the Broken Skull Session show. Excellent all around. Very rare to see him do an interview as just himself. I enjoyed it a lot Agreed, I feel those guys got the best out of Taker. When they let him start wrestling these guys I started to become a fan of Taker, he showed he had a lot more ability than they let him show at the beginning of his career. |
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Post by PJ on Nov 29, 2019 22:04:28 GMT -5
I liked him back when he was Mean Mark as for the Undertaker gimmick I liked him best from his Debut until he switched to the purple gloves. Least favorite was the American Badass. Not that aI didn’t like it but it was my least favorite of his gimmicks.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2019 0:20:09 GMT -5
Undertaker was a character that shouldn't have been over but Mark Callaway made it work! I liked him as the American Badass because that version was the real him and he cut his best promos as ABA. My favorite Undertaker time period would be 1992-97. I didn't like the 1999 version.
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Post by Kill Em' All on Nov 30, 2019 0:56:12 GMT -5
Never liked his mullet/early era. Until, the hair grew out in late 92.
Purple Glove Era Taker was really fun. His work with Mankind, drifting away from Paul Bearer. And I loved the whole look.
Lord of Darkness Era was fun. Great stories and turns to his long ordeal with Bearer and Kane. And his work rate still held up to put on some great hard hitting matches.
His work rate in the Ministry and matches don't hold up. Some of the least enthralling matches, but it was 1999. 1999 in terms of in ring work isn't top. The look and persona was top notch, but the booking also hurt it.
His first couple years as the Biker was cool look and he looked badass. But, his work rate and direction was little eh. But, he didn't need to be and didn't need to be lead character in 00-01. Big Evil take on it was really cool. I really enjoyed his look as Big Evil and his work rate cleaned up.
The Return of the Deadman started with really cool look. Loved that first year of his return look, but he didn't find real steady story and direction to Orton. But, once he hit Orton he hit the sweet spot. We got Orton,Angle, Batista, Edge, Shawn Michaels. Even respectable matches with Henry, and really good one with Show.
Taker also held up putting on really good once a year kinda matches with HHH and Punk.
The character is the greatest in adapting and changing and entertaining. They greatest character in professional wrestling imo.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2019 3:09:14 GMT -5
Greatest character of all time in my book. My fav time period of his career is from late 90-early 94. Matches wise his stuff with Foley/HBK/Bret during the late 90s.
^^^ this for me exactly as well. i LOVED debut early taker and his gradual change into mid 90's. i like badass taker, but not as much as old school one. wasnt a fan of ministry taker at all. loved brothers of destruction team.
my fav matches of his were vs hogan in 91, vs yoko, vs gonzales, sid, kane, mankind. loved the warrior casket fued.
most of all, i LOVE his entrances and original music. his sitting up thing is the greatest thing in wrestling ever.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2019 3:14:56 GMT -5
a funny short story. watched rumble 94 at friends house. his parents let us order it. they didnt watch or know any wrestling. they were drunks. when someone asked who was wrestling his stepdad drunkenly said "its the dead guy vs the fat jap" lol
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Post by keegandimitrijevic01 on Nov 30, 2019 8:02:59 GMT -5
IMO, the greatest of all time.
- The most consistent performer in the history of wrestling (30 years)
- Had many, many classic matches (Triple H, Shawn, Orton, Kurt, Foley, Edge, Batista, Punk, Brock, etc)
- Constantly re-invented
- Had a SUPER underrated heel run in 2002
- Went from the old-western Undertaker to phantom Undertaker to gothic Undertaker to the ministry Undertaker to the American Badass to the Deadman. The gimmick never got old
If we're counting all aspects of wrestling overall, he's the greatest of all time.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,816
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Nov 30, 2019 12:13:54 GMT -5
a funny short story. watched rumble 94 at friends house. his parents let us order it. they didnt watch or know any wrestling. they were drunks. when someone asked who was wrestling his stepdad drunkenly said "its the dead guy vs the fat jap" lol Hogan cut a promo at Wrestlemania IX issuing a challenge to either Bret Hart "or the Jap, brother." 😂 Not to hijack another thread, but with Undertaker being written off for several months following the 1994 Royal Rumble, I always wondered how he would've been used for WrestleMania X. Yokozuna was his primary feud at the time, but he was wrapped up in the title picture triangle with Bret and Lex so I'm not sure where they could've inserted Taker on the card. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2019 12:42:44 GMT -5
another funny, my little 7 yr bro loved Taker and was writing matches down he wants to see, he asked how to spell his name i proceeded to spell it out for him as he wrote it down: U N D E R W E A R T A K E R! took him a few seconds of looking at it to be like "hey" lol
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jking1979
Superstar
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Post by jking1979 on Dec 2, 2019 14:37:35 GMT -5
Yes. I liked his matches with Mankind and his storyline with Kane made another superstar.
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Post by JokerFC on Dec 4, 2019 11:39:20 GMT -5
Have enjoyed him the whole way through......
As an 10/11 year old? he was an awesome heel to me...intimidating & indestructible.
I was fascinated by his face turn...It felt right. His joining team USA & standing up to Yoko excited the f*ck outta me. His defeat by Yoko and the heels was a "whoa" moment for me. His return was built up so well and his return bout with Yoko was great. Pedestrian then until The Mankind feud which in 1996 blew most peoples socks off.....NOBODY had ever seen him beat up like this...then there was the Bearer heel turn which is a top 5 in the shocking stakes.
97/98 2 more good years as a face.....his world title run felt flat as it was overshadowed by the blistering feud that was Austin vs Harts. His loss to Bret was just incredible booking. His feud with HBK where he lost 3 PPV matches on the bounce was very unexpected. His feud with Kane was ok...but his slow heel turn in 98 was better.
The Ministry was ok I suppose...enjoyed his team with Show but yeah...He needed a break. his return as the ABA with Kid Rock then Limp Bizkit music was so over it was unreal. so many great feuds & matches had there " Ill make you famous"
His heel turn after SS01 is another entry into the most shocking ever and he had some great feuds & PPV matches here too....his face turn was welcome and that HIAC with Lesnar was awesome.
his return as the Deadman and focus on the streak was incredible in fairness.....outstanding WM outings with Orton, Batista, Edge, HBK & HHH were something else at the time.
so yeah....big fan here.
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Post by LA Times on Dec 6, 2019 16:56:34 GMT -5
I respect his longevity in the business, but not really a fan
-Didnt like him as Mean Mark working in a funeral home
-Didnt like him as an Amish looking Ministry of Darkness leader
-Didnt like him as a biker
-Liked him somewhat as the Deadman from 2004-2008 when he was incorporating boxing and BJJ in his moveset
-Didnt like him as a warlock working the Santa Claus schedule for most of the last decade
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Post by Brad on Dec 9, 2019 8:17:26 GMT -5
IMO, the greatest of all time. - The most consistent performer in the history of wrestling (30 years) - Had many, many classic matches (Triple H, Shawn, Orton, Kurt, Foley, Edge, Batista, Punk, Brock, etc) - Constantly re-invented - Had a SUPER underrated heel run in 2002 - Went from the old-western Undertaker to phantom Undertaker to gothic Undertaker to the ministry Undertaker to the American Badass to the Deadman. The gimmick never got old If we're counting all aspects of wrestling overall, he's the greatest of all time. Definitely hard to argue with that |
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Post by Brad on Dec 9, 2019 8:21:22 GMT -5
I respect his longevity in the business, but not really a fan -Didnt like him as Mean Mark working in a funeral home -Didnt like him as an Amish looking Ministry of Darkness leader -Didnt like him as a biker -Liked him somewhat as the Deadman from 2004-2008 when he was incorporating boxing and BJJ in his moveset -Didnt like him as a warlock working the Santa Claus schedule for most of the last decade Santa Claus schedule. Lmao. |
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jason1980s
Main Eventer
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Post by jason1980s on Dec 9, 2019 8:39:14 GMT -5
I respect his longevity in the business, but not really a fan -Didnt like him as Mean Mark working in a funeral home -Didnt like him as an Amish looking Ministry of Darkness leader -Didnt like him as a biker -Liked him somewhat as the Deadman from 2004-2008 when he was incorporating boxing and BJJ in his moveset -Didnt like him as a warlock working the Santa Claus schedule for most of the last decade This pretty much sums up my feelings on him as well. I liked him from 1992 to around 1997. I know he had to change the character up a bit but some of the changes were a little too much. I actually didn't like the boxing version. Even then he struck me as someone who probably wanted to be a fighter but really I don't think he could make it. I think he's a toned down version of Bradshaw-a guy who think's he the toughest but really can't hang when it's all on the line. I'm sure very few wrestlers would talk negatively about Undertaker because of the longevity but I would hope more comes out about the "wrestler's court" because if he was the "judge" then he probably played some role in Bradshaw's backstage bullying and harassment. To me wrestler's court seems like something 1st graders would do to settle playground problems. I also don't believe the whole Shawn Michaels "taped fist" story. I'm sure Shawn Michaels had much more clout with Vince McMahon at the time and also Shawn was taking time off for a major back injury. And ultimately the unpredictable one is Mike Tyson, who knew the finish of the match. Who knows what he would do if Shawn or Austin changed script. |
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Post by Back to the Codyverse on Dec 10, 2019 12:04:48 GMT -5
Greatest to ever do it.
Greatest character. Best wrestler of that size, hands down.
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Post by taserface on Dec 10, 2019 18:49:48 GMT -5
I was a WCW / NWA kid so I loved Mean Mark (and the other Sky Scrapers)
Thought the gimmick was stupid, along with Paul Bearer. But I learned to enjoy it. Liked his changes until it got to the Ministry look. I despised everything about that group and they honestly bored me to death
I loved the American Badass return and that run That was awesome IMO
After that until current day, I’m kind of over him. He’s a special attraction that I just don’t care that much about seeing
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