Is taker wrestling at mania?

[Deleted]

Only if it's against Terry Funk. If you're going to no-sell retirement, at least learn from the master.

[Legion]

I'd still mark for him.

I'll fan for life for some guys, no matter what.

[mattperiolat]

No.

No one loves Taker more than I do, but especially with him being reduced to Hunter’s bitch boy for foreign funds, enough’s enough. He has nothing left to prove. Let it go.

[Some Guy]

Jan 11, 2019 18:40:30 GMT -5 hbkid718 said:

Curt Hawkins comes out and says it's time that he ends his streak and wins a match. And what better place to win than at Mania against the man that had the longest win streak in Mania History. He calls out Taker. Taker comes out, hits a chokeslam, 1-2-3. Match is over.

I assume you mean Curt Hawkins hits a chokeslam and pins Taker, which is the correct way to end Taker's career.

[Deleted]

He better not.

[Kevin Hamilton]

I don't wanna see it, but it's a big paycheck for one appearance so it's hard to blame him.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Please no, he’s no longer the phenom, he should be starring in cialis ads. He looks like someone’s uncle.

Like it was brilliantly mentioned before in FAN, “Taker can no longer even limp.”

[KofiMania]

Balor teases a match on Instagram. I’d like to see a passing of the torch from Phenom to Demon.

[A Platypus Rave]

my guess if he does it'll be a quick thing like the Cena match from last year.

[Deleted]

I don't WANT to see it, but I'll never blame anyone for taking a big payday for 20 minutes of work, either.

I'm not calling the guy a saint, but he's killed his body for the enjoyment of the fans over the years. In his position, I'd tell Vince get me a jobber to pinball off my fist, then chokeslam/tombstone/eyeroll, go home to my family.

Like I said, I don't WANT to see it, because The Undertaker is my favorite of all time, and seeing him lately is... eugh. But Vince signs the checks, not me, and as long he's willing to write them, I'd take them, too.

[Hobby Drifter]

I hope not.

'Taker's match at Wrestlemania 30 was hard to watch. I know he wound up concussed early on, but just watching him struggling to do much of anything was really hard. It was like watching an older relative start to decline. Here was this guy who had been the biggest and baddest dude since most of us were kids and he just wasn't there.

The thing that always gets me is that terrible Tombstone Piledriver to Lesnar. It was probably the worst one I've ever seen Taker do. Lesnar's head looked like it was about 8 inches from the mat. To me, that read like the Undertaker, one of the greatest ever, didn't trust himself to deliver his signature move safely. Like, he was just thinking "I don't know where I am right now. If I **** this up, Brock is gonna die. I've gotta do the move, but I'm gonna make absolutely sure this doesn't kill him. To hell with how it looks."

Then you had all the backstage news coming out during and after the show. Undertaker was immediately taken to the hospital after being in terrible shape backstage. Vince McMahon left *Wrestlemania* in the ambulance with him. Taker spent the night in the hospital and cell phone video of him leaving made it clear that he was in a bad, bad way.

That should have been the end of the Undertaker having matches. Full stop. I've said before that the story WWE accidentally told with the Lesnar/Taker match was perfect. Taker knew he was coming to the end. But he couldn't let himself stop while the streak was intact. He'd keep forcing himself to keep going, year after year, no matter the cost to himself, until somebody ended it. And he didn't want just anybody to end it. He didn't want some nobody to end the Streak just because Taker couldn't go anymore.

And he didn't want the "I'm sorry. I love you" mercy killing that Ric Flair got. He didn't want somebody to hesitate. He didn't want somebody with any kind of sentimental attachment to the Streak to go soft in the end. So he picked Brock Lesnar and he *pissed him off*. In the end, Lesnar gave Taker what he wanted. A good ending.

But, like I said, I guess most/all of that was unintentional.

Everything after 30 seemed like a mistake to me. And it undid a lot of what made the WM30 match so special. Taker never regained that lost step and his matches after WM30 weren't anything to write home about. He's an older guy who is obviously in a lot of pain who shouldn't have to do this anymore.

The matches following his supposed retirement after facing Roman Reigns were sad. They felt like a parody. They felt like every indy show that brings in an old 80's guy to do their greatest hits in front of a few hundred people.

As other people have said, if he wants to stick around, just keep it to short segments to pop the Mania crowd. Celebrity guest/Heel with nothing to do/Vince McMahon is running his mouth. Gong. Entrance. Chokeslam. Done.

You remember that Hulk Hogan promo from last week? About how Mean Gene was putting together a tag match with The Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, and Mr. Perfect with Andre the Giant as the special guest ref? Only one of those men lived to be 60. Know when to say when.

[fw91]

Jan 13, 2019 2:02:14 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

Balor teases a match on Instagram. I’d like to see a passing of the torch from Phenom to Demon.

That would be an awful match though.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jan 11, 2019 21:05:58 GMT -5 thelonewolf527 said:

To everyone saying they hope not, do you want his last match to have been at Crown Jewel?

YES.

I don't care how much you have done for the industry, for any industry, if you suck, people shouldn't be booking you any more, and I am absolutely baffled that anybody still wants to see Undertaker wrestle.

And if we're talking about 'wants,' I wanted Taker's last match to have been years ago, and I would happily sacrifice the few excellent matches he has had since he went part-time in order to avoid having John 'carried the company for ten years, doesn't show up much but can definitely still go' Cena get squashed in a f***ing three minute match against someone whose gimmick is getting a little bit too on-the-nose to really be comfortable.

To you, who wants to see Taker have more matches after Crown Jewel, do you want his last-ever ring appearance to be a Dynamite Kid situation? Or would you rather he just stop now and show up at HoF ceremonies to get an appearance fee and not end up in a wheelchair? Taker is old for a wrestler, but not that old for a human, and he likely has decades left to live.

The people who still want Taker to wrestle and the people who don't mind seeing a squash at Wrestle-f***ing-mania seem to exist in an overlapping part of a Venn diagram that is very, very far away from where I am.

[Deleted]

I don't see the harm in a quick cool down segment (doesn't even have to be a match) where a heel talks shit and gets Chokeslammed and Tombstoned. Taker going out there and trying to have another 20+ minute WM epic again? Yeah, hardest pass.

[Surfer Sandman]

Jan 11, 2019 15:59:53 GMT -5 No Longer a Produceman said:

Jan 11, 2019 15:01:00 GMT -5 realist said:

This!!!  It is time to call it a career.  I can only think of two things that Undertaker can do at WrestleMania that would be entertaining:

1.) Finally go into the Hall of Fame.
2.) Have a segment where he chokeslams a lowercard heel who is running his mouth.  Similar to Hogan and Muhammad Hassan at 23 and The Rock and The Wyatt Family at 32.

Other than that, please stay home, Taker.  Your time has come and gone.  Don't tarnish the legacy any further.

As an aside, that was WM 21.

On topic, Taker needs the “Old Yeller” treatment: have him get murked in a squash putting over an established monster heel (NOT BROCK) and call it a career.

Lars Sullivan?

Strowman?

[KofiMania]

Jan 14, 2019 16:28:59 GMT -5 fw91 said:

Jan 13, 2019 2:02:14 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

Balor teases a match on Instagram. I’d like to see a passing of the torch from Phenom to Demon.

That would be an awful match though.

Not everything has to be a heavy workrate match. Theatrical entrances, smoke and mirrors, quick 8-10 minute match and out.

[fw91]

Jan 14, 2019 19:07:22 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

Jan 14, 2019 16:28:59 GMT -5 fw91 said:

That would be an awful match though.

Not everything has to be a heavy workrate match. Theatrical entrances, smoke and mirrors, quick 8-10 minute match and out.

Believe me I’m in the work rate can be overrated and take too much of a priority for a lot of the Indy fans who shit on the wwe. I’m lretty much at war with my fb wr taking community over that. It’s just that I don’t think
Taker can wrestle with the young agile ones without risking huge injury and look awful. His past few opponents work a much slower pace

[KofiMania]

Jan 14, 2019 19:12:38 GMT -5 fw91 said:

Jan 14, 2019 19:07:22 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

Not everything has to be a heavy workrate match. Theatrical entrances, smoke and mirrors, quick 8-10 minute match and out.

Believe me I’m in the work rate can be overrated and take too much of a priority for a lot of the Indy fans who shit on the wwe. I’m lretty much at war with my fb wr taking community over that. It’s just that I don’t think
Taker can wrestle with the young agile ones without risking huge injury and look awful. His past few opponents work a much slower pace

His past few opponents working a slower pace has led to poor matches, though. He might match up better with a younger, faster wrestler who can bump and fly for him.

[willywonka666]

Yes-a Crown Jewels rematch.

Seriously though-he could show up like Sting and not say a word and get a pop forever

[Sir Woodrow]

He doesn't have to wrestle but he could be a special guest ref or enforcer in the main event.

Taker could be at ringside to put the fear in Brock & Heyman, then he can raise the arm of the winner, let's say Seth Rollins