SONICdopeFRESH wrote:Big Red Machine wrote:
WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA!
Brian Lee played the Undertaker character as a kayfabe replacement for Undertaker. That was the storyline building up to Summer Slam. Ted Dibiase claimed he had The Undertaker, but it wasn't the real deal. Not just anyone can play The Undertaker, because playing that character requires a dedication to it. The stoicism necessary for the Undertaker character to work is very hard to achieve. You need to be fully immersed in the character, and not many people can do that. As Stone Cold said on a recent podcast "when Taker is out there, Mark don't exist."
I also find your criticism that Taker isn't a great worker because he didn't take many bumps to be... well... frankly ridiculous. Of course Taker didn't take the majority of the bumps in his match. HE'S 6'10'' AND THREE HUNDRED POUNDS. That's called good psychology, and it is a very important part of working a match.
So what if Taker didn't take most of the bumps. It takes two to tango. Both guys are important parts of the match. Have you seen Flair vs. Sting from the first Clash? Do you know who took most of the bumps in that match? HINT: It sure as hell wasn't Sting. That match was AMAZING, and Sting definitely deserves a lot of credit for it. How often did the Road Warriors even SELL, never mind take bumps?
A lot of Taker's mic work definitely does come down to personal taste, but to say that he isn't one of the all-time greats (especially as far as big-men go) is utterly silly. And to dismiss him as a just a "product" and not a wrestler? Hell... you're the guy who called Hogan vs. Goldberg the best match of the 90's! DOES NOT COMPUTE!
Many people don't know that though. Because to play the gimmick you had to do NOTHING. You just walked, hair covered your face, did a chop here, throat thrust there, chokeslam, tombstone, then wait for your manager to escort your backstage. There's NOTHING hard about the gimmick he played.
Yeah. Aside from being able to keep so stoic when it is the complete opposite of natural human instinct. And either way, that was one phase of Taker's career. This criticism does not apply to the past twenty years!
SONICdopeFRESH wrote:
Stone Cold obviously would say that, he's a WWE lover anyways, that's why they still pay him lol. He'll say HBK is the GOAT over Hogan, I mean goodness, that's irrelevant to toss in.
Or maybe he's just a fan and a fellow worker with a tremendous amount of respect for how great Taker is? If he were as much of a "WWE lover" and was taking money from them just to shill, as you claim, the why would he put TNA guys like James Storm over so strongly? Or even mention them at all.
SONICdopeFRESH wrote:
As I mentioned in response to badnews, I beg to differ. It DOES matter. Tell me why Kane has been far more impressive, fluid, and better in ring than Taker. Oh, did I mention he works year round too?!?!?!? And isn't some sucker of an excuse to not be on the road?
I never said that Kane wasn't. I just think he isn't remembered as fondly because he got stuck with a whole bunch of extremely sh*tty angles over the past ten years.
SONICdopeFRESH wrote:
And you're correct, but look at the rematches and matches after. Look how he worked! Always gave it everything and got it in. Taker, same thing just a different week. The most predictable & boring in ring worker I've seen make it to a permanent main event level, ever. And they said Sycho Sid couldn't work...
I cannot believe YOU of all people would make this claim. Let me just throw two names at you HULK HOGAN and BILL GOLDBERG.
SONICdopeFRESH wrote:
That RIDICULOUS streak (which I cried tears of joy when it ended), the foolish amounts of money they spend for that man on theatrics, and everything to basically bail him out, that when down to the nitty gritty, he's a mediocre wrestler at best. Should've stayed Mean Mark Callous if you ask me...
And yes, Goldberg vs. Hogan was the most INTENSE match of the 90's. When he won... The world cried many many tears of happiness. It was even better than when UT's streak was broken.
Are you just trolling at this point? Because you really come across that way. I find it hard to believe that anyone cried tears of happiness when Goldberg beat Hogan. When Sting did it... now that I could buy, but Goldberg? After three days build, he accomplished something that Sting had already done 6 months before him. And Lex Luger did six months before that.
