Thank You Taker

[J.T.]

1 minute ago, Wyld Samurai said:

"The Charm of Making" was made famous by Nicol Williamson as Merlin in the 1980 John Boorman film "Excalibur".

Wyld Samurai hates my earlier post about the Ministry of Darkness theme.

[Wyld Samurai]

3 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Wyld Samurai hates my earlier post about the Ministry of Darkness theme.

Sorry - it's one of my favorite films of all time. Had to jump before I looked!

[J.T.]

I and my circle of geek friends recognized the Chant immediately the first time the full version MoD theme played on RAW and we all lost our shit.

[Curt McGirt]

Now I know what Anaal Nathrakh means. Coincidentally a member of the same-named band used to post here (or still does?)

[J.T.]

On 4/6/2017 at 2:00 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Now I know what Anaal Nathrakh means.

Finn Balor:  pro wrestler and learned scholar of Celtic folklore.  Who knew?

[Curt McGirt]

...and professional grinner.

[Brian Fowler]

I'm not exactly sure where Taker ranks in my all-time list, definitely below Eddy and Vader, but not too much further down.

But I think he probably had the greatest WWF/WWE career of my lifetime. Taker/HBK HIAC is my favorite match ever, the Triple H XXVII match is my favorite Mania match, those two things were 14 years apart. And he had been in the WWF nearly 7 years before the first one, and he stuck around another 6 years (albeit on a very limited scheduled) after the second one.

He recreated himself from the ground up in 2000, and then recreated himself in ring in the mid 00's, becoming a flat out super worker.

I started calling him the God of WrestleMania and I stick to that. He has done absolutely everything there is to do, and though these last two matches at the last two Manias showed a man who physically just didn't have it anymore, on neither one did he completely embarrass himself. He leaves on his terms which by itself is incredibly rare in wrestling.

RIP Undertaker. Thank you Mark Calloway.

[The Natural]

12 hours ago, The Iron Yuppie said:

YES! Dude, I'm so glad you shouted out the 23 match. Everyone loves the two HBK matches, and rightfully so. But of the run from 23 to XXIX, the match against Batista is my next favorite. 

 

Thanks, man.

12 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I know this is the Thank you Taker thread, but I don't feel like Paul Bearer gets enough credit for the early days of the character. The little touches he adds that only people in the funeral industry would get added so much, from the terminology he used, using a casket key in the Warrior Funeral Parlor segment. I don't think the character lasts as long if Brother Love is left with Taker. First, why is the corrupt televangelist with a mortician that may or not be be the living dead? The pairing didn't make a lot of sense.

I'll second this. What a combination of wrestler and manager.

10 hours ago, joseph2112 said:

I have the same #1 for several reasons and I wouldn't sleep on that Smackdown (your 15) match with Kurt Angle, which may have been my favorite match from 2003. 

Great minds think alike as the saying goes. I think I might bump that 'Taker/Angle match up a few places. Stay tuned!

10 hours ago, (BP) said:

This was such a money TV spot. I had only been following wrestling for about a year, and Stone Cold and Taker had been the two focal points of the company nearly the entire time, so the match felt huge. 

 

'Taker vs. Austin at SummerSlam 1998 is an underrated match. No wonder the PPV drew so big.

[The Natural]

3 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I'm not exactly sure where Taker ranks in my all-time list, definitely below Eddy and Vader, but not too much further down.

But I think he probably had the greatest WWF/WWE career of my lifetime. Taker/HBK HIAC is my favorite match ever, the Triple H XXVII match is my favorite Mania match, those two things were 14 years apart. And he had been in the WWF nearly 7 years before the first one, and he stuck around another 6 years (albeit on a very limited scheduled) after the second one.

He recreated himself from the ground up in 2000, and then recreated himself in ring in the mid 00's, becoming a flat out super worker.

I started calling him the God of WrestleMania and I stick to that. He has done absolutely everything there is to do, and though these last two matches at the last two Manias showed a man who physically just didn't have it anymore, on neither one did he completely embarrass himself. He leaves on his terms which by itself is incredibly rare in wrestling.

RIP Undertaker. Thank you Mark Calloway.

Nicely said. I'd take (pun wasn't intended) Undertaker as the true WrestleMania icon over Mr. WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels.

[NikoBaltimore]

I full bought into the hype for Austin/'Taker at Summerslam, that was some damn fine work getting people into that match.  And the match itself was a wild and enjoyable match, though with those two it's hard to expect anything less.  But the video title saying it's 9/11 predictive programming?  Fuck the fuck off with that shit!

Looking back it's pretty amazing they took Percy Pringle who was doing his thing elsewhere and gave him this mortician gimmick.  He went all-in and deserves tons of respect for his work.  I might not have picked up on the terms that Nice Guy Eddie knows of, but it sure added an extra eerie vibe to things.

[The Iron Yuppie]

The build to Summerslam '98 was just incredible. That Raw that opens with Austin driving a hearse to the stage, blasting AC/DC and pulling a casket full of Steveweisers out from the back? That crowd was ON FIRE. 

That same show ends with Austin throwing Kane into the back and when he goes to get into the driver's seat, Taker is sitting there. I remember being a teenager and losing my shit for that finish. 

[Jiji]

The match just never clicked though. It went too long and Austin/Taker didn't have great chemistry. Didn't he talk about that on his podcast? I remember there being loooong stretches of Austin selling and not getting much sympathy from the audience.

[The Iron Yuppie]

20 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

The match just never clicked though. It went too long and Austin/Taker didn't have great chemistry. Didn't he talk about that on his podcast? I remember there being loooong stretches of Austin selling and not getting much sympathy from the audience.

I thought that match was OK, not matching the build. It also had to follow Rock-HHH's Ladder Match, which was amazing. But there were definitely better Austin-Taker matches -- the two that stand out to me are the WWF Championship match from In Your House: Cold Day in Hell, and First Blood from Fully Loaded '99. 

[PetrolCB]

2 hours ago, Oyaji said:

The match just never clicked though. It went too long and Austin/Taker didn't have great chemistry. Didn't he talk about that on his podcast? I remember there being loooong stretches of Austin selling and not getting much sympathy from the audience.

To be fair, Austin was knocked out during the match, so that may have put things off track. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

5 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Looking back it's pretty amazing they took Percy Pringle who was doing his thing elsewhere and gave him this mortician gimmick.  He went all-in and deserves tons of respect for his work.  I might not have picked up on the terms that Nice Guy Eddie knows of, but it sure added an extra eerie vibe to things.

I wouldn't say they gave Percy Pringle the mortician gimmick. William Moody was a licensed funeral director. The story goes that it was Rick Rude's suggestion to bring Pringle in because of his funeral background. Pringle had managed Rude in World Class.

[Brian Fowler]

The way Pringle told the story, Vince didn't know he was a licensed mortician until during his interview when he started scanning Percy's CV.

[(BP)]

Bearer carried the Kane feud on the mic and was a great mouthpiece in general for Kane. And as much fun as the character's hokey early run was, he really excelled at being a prick doing old school southern heeling after he ditched the makeup in 97-98. As far as guys who were able to adapt their act to the Attitude Era, Percy is an unsung hero. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

18 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I absolutely love that piano version. It needs to be the main theme for a really depressing horror movie. 

On the other hand, that SummerSlam has made me avoid hearing "Highway to Hell" any time it comes on anymore. When you can make me not want to listen to Bon-era AC/DC then you played something WAY TOO MANY GODDAMN TIMES

Summerslam '98 made me actively hate Highway to Hell for a long time afterwards.

[Curt McGirt]

Bearer getting busted open by Taker in the Cell while Mankind and Kane are desperately trying to get inside on (I think) the Raw before KOTR is another favorite Taker memory. Taker hits him with the stairs and he blades and I lost it. The funny thing is you'd think Kane could just rip the cage door off like at Badd Blood. 

On the AC/DC tip, I woke up with "TNT" playing in my head. Turned on the TV and they're playing "TNT" on some AXSTV AC/DC special! Didn't even have to change the channel. Weird. Maybe I left the TV on and that was a replay and my sleeping brain had already sucked it in. 

[DeadEffect]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjIFYyCWS3g

Not sure on how to embed the actual clip into the post, but this is the first memory I have of really digging wrestling. As a 9 year old weirdo kid into comic books and watching old horror movies on TV, 'Taker was the coolest. Even some 25 years later, that whole "Who's side are you on?" - "Not yours!" exchange gives me chills as a fanboy.

 

[Curt McGirt]

That was great. 

[BurningBeard]

Speaking of the WM27 match, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Triple H's entrance to For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica is the most goosebumps I've ever got from a wrestling match

[Brian Fowler]

48 minutes ago, CreativeControl said:

Speaking of the WM27 match, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Triple H's entrance to For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica is the most goosebumps I've ever got from a wrestling match

There were rumors all week that he was coming out to a Metallica song, and I made a joke to my friend "If it's Bellz, I'm turning back the clock to when Triple H was my favorite wrestler"

When the song hit, I went fucking nuts.

[BurningBeard]

I went looking for a video of it but the song was removed for DVD and the only other options were phonecam footage

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah, that Metallica shit ain't cheap, they redub it immediately.