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Post by kingofthings on Apr 13, 2019 11:37:32 GMT -5
To give a little bit of a spin on it (not that I want to make anyone feel old) - myself and a lot of my friends actually got in to Wrestling around the time Biker Taker came in. At the time, renting out videos of PPVs from the local video shop and seeing Taker before he was the Biker was actually really odd for us. That shot from behind of Taker on his bike at the top of the ramp at Wrestlemania X7 with Limp Bizkit blasting out was the coolest thing in the world and no level of hooded druids, slow scary voice and shenanigans with his eyes could tell us any different.
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Post by Ryushinku on Apr 13, 2019 16:18:05 GMT -5
I remember well. At the time, a lot of people were bummed with it. I can't tell you how many website clickbait links there were for Taker apparently switching back to the zombie version any week now (it was like that, Kane unmasking and Trish Naked Click Here as the hot favourites).
It really didn't help that Taker also looked a little heavy and his in-ring work was the same half-speed brawling he'd deteriorated to by the year before.
He still got good reactions in the crowd. But as suggested earlier, frostier online and the quality was in short supply. He was also getting a LOT of heat as someone seen as holding others down while being an inferior and lazy worker.
That Triple H match at WMX7 was the first flicker, before the heel turn and haircut near the end of 2001 really seemed to motivate him again.
I wasn't much of an ABA fan. I was quite happy he returned to the Dead man in 2004, even if it took a couple years for him to really fit the role again. But looking back, that first year of the heel run - RVD, Flair, Angle-Rock threeway, Jeff ladder match and the Brock HiaC - that was all real good stuff.
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Post by RedSmile on Apr 13, 2019 16:19:49 GMT -5
If there was ever a guy who needed a Motorhead entrance theme, it's Biker Taker.
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Apr 13, 2019 18:03:12 GMT -5
If there was ever a guy who needed a Motorhead entrance theme, it's Biker Taker. 'Taker's a Metallica man, IIRC. Though their licensing costs would've likely been very prohibitive. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2019 18:07:12 GMT -5
I remember well. At the time, a lot of people were bummed with it. I can't tell you how many website clickbait links there were for Taker apparently switching back to the zombie version any week now (it was like that, Kane unmasking and Trish Naked Click Here as the hot favourites). It really didn't help that Taker also looked a little heavy and his in-ring work was the same half-speed brawling he'd deteriorated to by the year before. He still got good reactions in the crowd. But as suggested earlier, frostier online and the quality was in short supply. He was also getting a LOT of heat as someone seen as holding others down while being an inferior and lazy worker.That Triple H match at WMX7 was the first flicker, before the heel turn and haircut near the end of 2001 really seemed to motivate him again. I wasn't much of an ABA fan. I was quite happy he returned to the Dead man in 2004, even if it took a couple years for him to really fit the role again. But looking back, that first year of the heel run - RVD, Flair, Angle-Rock threeway, Jeff ladder match and the Brock HiaC - that was all real good stuff. Interesting. I didn't expect that at all lmao. |
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Post by Session Moth is over on Apr 13, 2019 18:37:11 GMT -5
I remember about three weeks before the 2003 (I think?!) Royal Rumble they ran a video on Raw showing clips of old style Taker from the early 90's and there was a MASSIVE buzz on the internet the next day on how he was returning as Deadman Taker at the Rumble. That buzz quickly died down when they ran two more videos the following 2 weeks showing clips of cult leader Taker and then Biker Taker and it turned out they were only showing the different parts of his career lol.
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I don't get it. At all. It's kind of a small horse, I mean what am I missing? Am I crazy?
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Apr 13, 2019 18:49:56 GMT -5
Honestly, if he was still doing the tombstone, it'd have been more fine with me, because the Last Ride was never a favorite of mine. Always just looked like he was f***ing up guys' gear just to give them a powerbomb from higher. I remember reading that he stopped doing the Tombstone after he knocked someone (I wanna say HHH) goofy with it |
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Post by "Dashing" Dr.VonPhoenix on Apr 13, 2019 19:08:44 GMT -5
It was wack and I hated it. Everyone I watched with did, too.
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 13, 2019 19:15:29 GMT -5
Honestly, if he was still doing the tombstone, it'd have been more fine with me, because the Last Ride was never a favorite of mine. Always just looked like he was f***ing up guys' gear just to give them a powerbomb from higher. I remember reading that he stopped doing the Tombstone after he knocked someone (I wanna say HHH) goofy with it Maybe, plus around this time, piledrivers in general became very rare because of worries about guys getting "stingers" from them. |
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Apr 13, 2019 19:39:02 GMT -5
Honestly, if he was still doing the tombstone, it'd have been more fine with me, because the Last Ride was never a favorite of mine. Always just looked like he was f***ing up guys' gear just to give them a powerbomb from higher. I remember reading that he stopped doing the Tombstone after he knocked someone (I wanna say HHH) goofy with it He gave HHH a stinger in the very match in the first post of this thread, in fact. |
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Post by britishbulldog on Apr 14, 2019 15:32:26 GMT -5
His return was awesome.
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Post by Prince Petty on Apr 14, 2019 15:56:57 GMT -5
Honestly even while Ministry Taker was an absurd extreme to his character, he was already dropping it before he took a break By the time the Ministry was just him and Big Show, Taker was talking normally, in promos about riding motorbikes and kicking ass. He was Biker Taker in all but outfit. So it didn't bother me much when he returned with a new look.
It fit with the Attitude Era much better. He was much more frenetic and charged, when he was the biker, and the high pace of Raw is War, the car crash aspects of it, really didn't leave a lot of room for as dramatic a change of pace as the Deadman was.
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