|
|
Post by wendytorrancev1 on Feb 1, 2022 19:09:32 GMT -5
Hello all!!
Happy unhappy Tuesday!!!! I hope you're all doing well!
I hope all of you have a fantastic week!
I had a question about The Rock and The Undertaker's extremely brief tag team title run in December 2000.
Okay, first of all, I think The Undertaker and The Rock are fine enough when wrestling on their own. However, I believe when the two got into the ring facing each other, they did not flow well at all. They were all wooden and stiff, with The Rock overselling Taker's moves, and Taker not convincingly selling The Rock's moves. It just felt "off" when those two stepped into the ring against each other. When there were more people in the ring with them, it felt a bit more natural. I would absolutely cringe when those two would square off against each other because it was just so....awkward.
For example, check out their match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship at King of the Ring 1999. The match felt very unfulfilling and random.
So, getting into the topic of this post, who's great idea was it to have these two as the WWF Tag Team Champions? Not only that, but they were tag champions for like a week before losing it to Edge & Christian on an episode of Smackdown. It didn't progress any plot point, besides to make E & C far more cocky and arrogant than they had been prior. The two didn't do anything with the titles, besides talk a bunch of shit. This was after Armageddon 2000, which IMHO was one of the better main events of 2000. It just seemed super useless and fan service to give The Rock a title after he lost to Kurt Angle. But even that seems like a stretch considering that he didn't keep the tag team title for longer than a week and they did absolutely nothing with the title. The Rock also came back two months later to reclaim the title from Kurt Angle.
It's just such a weird plotline that didn't drive anything. LOL. They were a horrible tag team together, and I was really pissed that the writers couldn't even have E&C beat them clean, but instead had to have Kurt Angle as the special guest referee. If they were going to write it to have E&C "get lucky" and win, then they should have had Kane interfere in the match at that point, since Kane was technically a heel at the time.
It was a useless tag team title switch and looking back on it, it looks completely stupid.
|
|
fg
Unicron
Gaming
Posts: 2,941 
|
Post by fg on Feb 1, 2022 19:29:35 GMT -5
It actually lasted a day because they lost it the next night at the Smackdown tapings.
|
|
MolotovMocktail
Grimlock
Home of the 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time 5-time Super Bowl Champion 49ers-and Wrestlemania 31
Posts: 13,958
|
Post by MolotovMocktail on Feb 1, 2022 20:57:50 GMT -5
I only remember this because E&C tried to fake having genital warts to get out of the match.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andee9001 on Feb 1, 2022 23:29:20 GMT -5
I only remember this because E&C tried to fake having genital warts to get out of the match. And genital warts don't rule from what i've heard |
|
|
|
Post by Can you afford to pay me, Gah on Feb 1, 2022 23:50:23 GMT -5
Hello all!! Happy unhappy Tuesday!!!! I hope you're all doing well! I hope all of you have a fantastic week! I had a question about The Rock and The Undertaker's extremely brief tag team title run in December 2000. Okay, first of all, I think The Undertaker and The Rock are fine enough when wrestling on their own. However, I believe when the two got into the ring facing each other, they did not flow well at all. They were all wooden and stiff, with The Rock overselling Taker's moves, and Taker not convincingly selling The Rock's moves. It just felt "off" when those two stepped into the ring against each other. When their were more people in the ring with them, it felt a bit more natural. I would absolutely cringe when those two would square off against each other because it was just so....awkward. For example, check out their match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship at King of the Ring 1999. The match felt very unfulfilling and random. So, getting into the topic of this post, who's great idea was it to have these two as the WWF Tag Team Champions? Not only that, but they were tag champions for like a week before losing it to Edge & Christian on an episode of Smackdown. It didn't progress any plot point, besides to make E & C far more cocky and arrogant than they had been prior. The two didn't do anything with the titles, besides talk a bunch of shit. This was after Armageddon 2000, which IMHO was one of the better main events of 2000. It just seemed super useless and fan service to give The Rock a title after he lost to Kurt Angle. But even that seems like a stretch considering that he didn't keep the tag team title for longer than a week and they did absolutely nothing with the title. The Rock also came back two months later to reclaim the title from Kurt Angle. It's just such a weird plotline that didn't drive anything. LOL. They were a horrible tag team together, and I was really pissed that the writers couldn't even have E&C beat them clean, but instead had to have Kurt Angle as the special guest referee. If they were going to write it to have E&C "get lucky" and win, then they should have had Kane interfere in the match at that point, since Kane was technically a heel at the time. It was a useless tag team title switch and looking back on it, it looks completely stupid. The Rock and Taker just happened at the wrong time. Some would say they lack chemistry against each other and that could be some what it but Taker himself wasn't in the best place when they faced. KOR 99 Taker was not in a good state most of the year and was beatup. The other one on match I can think of was 02 and just turned heel. He didn't come into his own in ring wise as a heel until WM. But when them two and Angle had a 3 way later in the year it was really good. I barely remember the tag run. Or even know why they did it for a short period with no pay off. |
|
|
|
Post by karl100589 on Feb 1, 2022 23:53:21 GMT -5
They needed something to warrant E&C to turn against Foley. The relationship between the three had become increasingly fragile and Mick booking that match was the last straw. Why it was Rock and Taker I’m not sure.
|
|
|
|
Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Feb 1, 2022 23:58:50 GMT -5
They needed something to warrant E&C to turn against Foley. The relationship between the three had become increasingly fragile and Mick booking that match was the last straw. Why it was Rock and Taker I’m not sure. Well, for E&C to get so mad that they would turn on Foley it would have to be a steep challenge, especially since Foley had already booked them against every other tag team on the roster, even against other teams that would make sense to be in this spot like the APA. So, booking them against two main eventers like The Rock, and especially Undertaker, was a sensible way to escalate it further so it would actually make sense why E&C would resort to getting Foley fired as commissioner. And this is back when the WWF would actually pay attention to a detail like Edge and Christian not turning against Foley in the past even though he was already putting them in tough matches like the APA or even the first TLC match, thus they needed to take it one step further so it would be logical that they would. |
|
|
|
Post by wendytorrancev1 on Feb 2, 2022 12:46:18 GMT -5
They needed something to warrant E&C to turn against Foley. The relationship between the three had become increasingly fragile and Mick booking that match was the last straw. Why it was Rock and Taker I’m not sure. Well, for E&C to get so mad that they would turn on Foley it would have to be a steep challenge, especially since Foley had already booked them against every other tag team on the roster, even against other teams that would make sense to be in this spot like the APA. So, booking them against two main eventers like The Rock, and especially Undertaker, was a sensible way to escalate it further so it would actually make sense why E&C would resort to getting Foley fired as commissioner. And this is back when the WWF would actually pay attention to a detail like Edge and Christian not turning against Foley in the past even though he was already putting them in tough matches like the APA or even the first TLC match, thus they needed to take it one step further so it would be logical that they would. I thought they had already turned on Foley by that point. I thought the TLC match was to punish them and it backfired on Foley when E&C came out victorious. There was also that plotline with Foley barring E&C from competing for the tag titles, which is why they dressed up as Uno & Dos to take on The Hardy Boyz. I figured by that point, they were already fed up with Foley and the match against The Rock and The Undertaker was just icing on the cake because Vince was already gunning for Foley due to the disastrous results from the six man Hell in the Cell at Armageddon (since Vince already caused Linda to have a mental breakdown). I may be misremembering things. |
|
|
|
Post by government mule on Feb 2, 2022 12:55:26 GMT -5
Taker had no real chemistry with either Rock or Austin really, none of their marquee matches ever felt memorable.
|
|
msc
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,440
|
Post by msc on Feb 2, 2022 13:17:02 GMT -5
One of those random switcheroos to make it feel like the titles could change on any note. iirc Kurt Angle screwed Rock out of the rematch and Rock brought it up as one of his gripes in their No Way Out title match a few weeks down the line.
I'll always be nostalgic for KOTR99's title match, the first I saw live from the UK at stupid o'clock in the morning. Taker's first move is to KO the ref! Chloroform! Run ins! False finishes! JR fluffing referring to a Taker/Rock Inferno Match which never happened! And the all time classic pre-match promo: "What happens when you rip the balls off a bull?" Presumably, it gets mad.
Taker/Rock in 2002 was good, but Taker was on his career best form at the time - his matches with RVD, Flair, Kurt, Jeff Hardy, Brock etc that year all great. And even then, in his best form of his life, his match with Stone Cold sucked. In fact, as the Cold Day in Hell match is a decent spectacle, and the Summerslam match a decent match it's probably their worst ever match.
I liked title changes. Not too many. But if every title reign is 5+ months, none of the 5+ month reigns feel special. imo.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Schlapowitz on Feb 2, 2022 22:43:33 GMT -5
I only remember this because E&C tried to fake having genital warts to get out of the match. And genital warts don't rule from what i've heard They can be painful and embarrassing....so I'm told. |
|
Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone.
Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 23,515
|
Post by Bo Rida on Feb 3, 2022 2:35:13 GMT -5
I remember so much of WWE 2000 to wm17, it's the highpoint of wrestling to me.
Was still completely lost years later when I saw this reign in the record books. I kind of like it for that reason alone.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cvslfc123 on Feb 3, 2022 4:59:07 GMT -5
As huge Rock fan 9 year old me wanted to kill Kurt Angle when he cost them the titles, I remember making them a team on Smackdown 2 and giving them a long reign to make myself feel better.
|
|
|
|
Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Feb 3, 2022 17:52:33 GMT -5
Taker had no real chemistry with either Rock or Austin really, none of their marquee matches ever felt memorable. Given how protective Taker was of his spot, I wonder if not being the biggest star in the ring when he took on Austin and Rock made him tank a little bit. |
|
Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,046
|
Post by Mozenrath on Feb 6, 2022 4:59:01 GMT -5
Taker had no real chemistry with either Rock or Austin really, none of their marquee matches ever felt memorable. Given how protective Taker was of his spot, I wonder if not being the biggest star in the ring when he took on Austin and Rock made him tank a little bit. That my have been part of it, though 1999, when he had a lot of his matches with both guys, was also when his body had really shit the bed, which did them no favors. |
|
|
|
Post by wendytorrancev1 on Feb 7, 2022 17:48:53 GMT -5
Given how protective Taker was of his spot, I wonder if not being the biggest star in the ring when he took on Austin and Rock made him tank a little bit. That my have been part of it, though 1999, when he had a lot of his matches with both guys, was also when his body had really shit the bed, which did them no favors. This is so true. |
|
