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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 1:40:36 GMT -5
In 2000 since my family didn't pay for ppvs (only wrestling ppv we paid for was Halloween Havoc 1998 so you can imagine how that went, I was 12-13 so I didn't have a job) I found out that Taker abandoned his gimmick the next night and I was surprised in general. I was a fan of either form of Taker so it was cool for me but what was the general consensus with the fans? I'm sure everyone in the arenas loved it but outside of the arenas how was it perceived?
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Apr 12, 2019 1:46:41 GMT -5
I knew a fair number of lapsed fans who remembered Undertaker from the early-to-mid-'90s who started getting back into wrestling around this time, and they all thought the generic biker look was super lame.
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Post by GuyOfOwnage on Apr 12, 2019 2:00:20 GMT -5
Live audiences still loved him because it was still The Undertaker and he was this huge dude who kicked a lot of ass, but I remember the online reception amongst the IWC of the day to be rather frosty. Everyone thought it was incredibly dumb. Even moreso when he adopted Rollin', because, realistically, what kind of biker listens to Limp f***ing Bizkit?
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Post by arrogantmodel on Apr 12, 2019 2:24:37 GMT -5
Hated it at first, especially the Canadian tuxedo gear. But all black, and short haired American Badass was dope. Wished he had stayed longer or brought it back.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 12, 2019 2:29:12 GMT -5
A lot of fans were bummed, but in retrospect, I get it. 1999 Undertaker took it to such absurd levels, it needed refreshing, and Undertaker was super resistant to bringing it back. He only relented years later in part to work with Bearer again, but even that was something they had to pretty much pull teeth with him on.
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spagett
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Post by spagett on Apr 12, 2019 3:24:13 GMT -5
I was a kid at the time and totally not a part of the IWC and yet I remember thinking this absolutely sucks.
He immediately lost what made him special to me, he was just generic wrestler now. Boring. I liked his run in at Judgement Day 2000 but honestly after about 2 weeks I was done with Biker taker and wanted the Deadman back.
I can look back now and appreciate it a little more, the heel Big Evil run was tremendous but it was never a patch on the Deadman gimmick.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 4:58:22 GMT -5
Yeah as a kid I was in awe of the Undertaker character especially with The Ministry which is when I started watching properly. I became bored of Biker Taker pretty quickly and couldn't wait for him to become the Deadman again. He did some great heel work in 2002 but the rest was pretty forgettable.
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Post by crowley1986 on Apr 12, 2019 5:11:24 GMT -5
I loved it , especially the run from the heel turn to survivor series 2003... preferred the humanized Taker
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Post by Joker on Apr 12, 2019 5:37:34 GMT -5
I liked it back then thought it fit in with the 'real' style they had going for them.
Honestly I was more annoyed when he lost his super invulnerability he had in the early years.
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Post by GuyOfOwnage on Apr 12, 2019 5:39:52 GMT -5
I liked it back then thought it fit in with the 'real' style they had going for them. Honestly I was more annoyed when he lost his super invulnerability he had in the early years. I wanna say he lost that in what, like 95? Annoyed the hell out of me as a kid.
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thecrusherwi
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Post by thecrusherwi on Apr 12, 2019 6:11:39 GMT -5
I was a teenager at the time and I wasn’t involved in the IWC much more than to look for rumors about upcoming PPVs and stuff. I liked the change a lot and thought it was a much needed face lift. Guys were becoming more true to themselves and I and my friends thought 1999 extra-evil Undertaker dressing like a Druid, speaking in tongues, and telling stories about leaving people in the desert was the biggest dork on the roster. This version fit in much better.
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Post by Joker on Apr 12, 2019 6:34:25 GMT -5
I liked it back then thought it fit in with the 'real' style they had going for them. Honestly I was more annoyed when he lost his super invulnerability he had in the early years. I wanna say he lost that in what, like 95? Annoyed the hell out of me as a kid. I'm gonna guess it was around the time of his Yokuzuna Casket match.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 7:28:30 GMT -5
I wish he remained as Bikertaker the rest of his career since he dresses like that in real life
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 7:39:08 GMT -5
1999 Undertaker took it to such absurd levels, it needed refreshing Yup, this. Undertaker went to bonkers levels with the Ministry stuff, and the comedown from that (the Taker/Show team.... can we call it DeadShow?) was very lame. He disappeared after Summerslam or so, and it was like no one even noticed it. Coming back as something different but still genuine to the man made perfect sense. .....that got stale after a while. I disliked the heel run in 2002 and that was probably when I was ready for the gimmick to return.
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Post by xxshoyuweeniexx on Apr 12, 2019 7:46:58 GMT -5
I started watching in 1999, so I missed the whole “Taker is an undead Zombie” thing and at the point I started, dude was just a cult leader. A waaaay better cult leader than Bray Wyatt, but mostly still just a cult leader. He was like wrestling Ozzy Osborne to me.
When he did the biker stuff I was like, oh cool he’s a badass now until that Limp Bizkit song became his theme. Even as a 9 year old I did not f*** with Fred Durst.
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Post by Crow Dust on Apr 12, 2019 10:14:20 GMT -5
I loved it felt more real unlike the hokey zombie bullcrap it’s just silly
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 10:29:10 GMT -5
I preferred The Undertaker like this.
Don’t get me wrong... Deadman Taker was awesome in the 90s. But he should have never gone back there.
Heel “Big Evil” Taker was by far my favourite run of his career.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 11:06:21 GMT -5
The first time I saw it, he was walking circles around the ring with the mic giving an intense promo in his southern drawl... it seemed to me that he was going for an Austin vibe. We already had an Austin and I figured Taker was just trying to be cool and stay relevant. I lost interest in him pretty much immediately and never really was a fan of him after that, not even when he went back to the Deadman gimmick.
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Post by Error on Apr 12, 2019 11:09:57 GMT -5
I grew up around bikers, biker clubs, and all that so I loved it.
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Post by 4real on Apr 12, 2019 11:51:49 GMT -5
I thought Ministry Taker was the coolest thing ever so I wasn’t really into Biker Taker at all. It’s tough going from the best gimic ever ‘The Undertaker’ to ‘just a dude’. He was still massively popular of course but can’t say I had any desire to see this incarnation of him at the top of the company.
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