Ain't no grave can hold his body down

[KaiserGlider]

Someone resurrect @Headlesspete, because there is a rumor circulating regarding the status of a certain man who is pronounced dead.

http://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/spoile ... stlemania/

http://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/bruce- ... rs-health/

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been reporting on The Undertaker’s status with WWE. As we’ve been exclusively reporting here on WrestlingNews.co, Taker is said to be feeling much better and is looking better than he did last year around this time. The talk backstage at WWE is that he is not done wrestling and the announcers were instructed to never definitively say that he was retired. Only Roman Reigns has claimed that Taker retired after last year’s Mania. One source was more direct and indicated to us that Taker is not going to show up at the Raw 25th anniversary show just to say hello. Clearly, they have a plan for him and he is not going to stand in the ring with the other legends on the show.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Taker is not done and he will be involved in a major match at WrestleMania. Meltzer confirmed that Taker has been training for his comeback.

Right now, unless things change, the plan is for The Undertaker vs. John Cena. The other big main event, as most of you know, is Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. Unless Taker changes his mind, it seems likely that they’ll do something with Cena and Taker at the Raw 25th anniversary show to plant the seeds for that match. Cena and Taker have wanted to do a match at Mania and it was originally planned for last year before the card was changed.

Now, I can just picture most of you doing more grave-rolling after reading this than Taker usually does (Hanley, you better sit down just to be safe). BUT, if this news about him feeling good and being in good health and being able to go are true and not total bullshit, AND this match will actually be built as "the final match of The Undertaker's career", then I would want to see it. I feel like everyone was cheated out of Taker vs Cena the past two Wrestlemanias, might as well let it finally go down and have Taker ride off into the sunset on a more positive note than he did last time.

However, this would completely nullify Roman going around for the past year and saying that this is "his yard now", so it would be weird for Taker not to go after Roman and shut the big dawg up. Roman would get his comeuppance without actually getting his comeuppance, in a way. I don't know how that's going to play out.

At the end of the day, if Taker comes back and has a good match with Cena and retires, I'll be okay with it. If he stays retired, Ill be okay with that too. I'll go either way.

[The Legend]

^^^ The article doesn't say he's feeling good and in good shape. It just says he's feeling better than he has the past two years. There's a lot of distance between how he was the last couple years and actually good enough to truly put on a good match.

[Str8Shooter]

^^^ The article doesn't say he's feeling good and in good shape. It just says he's feeling better than he has the past two years. There's a lot of distance between how he was the last couple years and actually good enough to truly put on a good match.

Thought I saw something on Reddit about Bruce Prichard seeing him and saying he looked better than he has in 10 years and Taker said he feels better than he has in 10 years after his hip surgery.

I'll believe it when I see it, because he looked awful against Reigns and it's not like Reigns is terrible in the ring.

[Hanley!]

(Hanley, you better sit down just to be safe).

I appreciate your concern.

Honestly, maybe a couple of years ago this would have pissed me off, but I just don't care anymore. Do I think an hour of Wrestlemania should still be dedicated to a wrestler who peaked 20 years ago and can't deliver in the ring anymore? Obviously not. But this is WWE, and that's what they do. If they weren't giving Undertaker another send-off, I'm sure they'd waste the time some other way.

I didn't watch Wrestlemania last year, and don't intend on watching it this year. So this doesn't really matter to me. I've basically given up on WWE altogether now. I cancelled my Network subscription after Survivor Series. Not because I hated the show, but because I just realised I didn't care about what was happening at all. They sucked the joy out of wrestling for me. Everything is too corporate, too bland, too phony. And no fun at all.

That being said, I hope that Vince really does quit his role in the company (take Kevin Dunn too please) to ruin football for some other folk, and that the show becomes watchable again.

There's a lot of distance between how he was the last couple years and actually good enough to truly put on a good match.

Not to mention that it's not like he was great a couple of years ago. His last four Wrestlemania matches have disappointed, not just his last two.

[PorkChop]

I watched Undertaker vs Reigns for the first time the other day, and it was just sad.

I always hear of people's respect for Undertaker behind the scenes - I wish he had as much respect for himself. Surely he must realise that he can barely go in the ring anymore?

I can think of about 5 occasions over the past few years when it was perfect for Undertaker to retire. It's a disgrace that he's passed up every opportunity and continues to churn out such shitty matches. It really has soured his legacy for me.

[The Legend]

I can think of about 5 occasions over the past few years when it was perfect for Undertaker to retire. It's a disgrace that he's passed up every opportunity and continues to churn out such shitty matches. It really has soured his legacy for me.

I will say I'm not much of a fan of this take. Wrestlers, athletes, performers, for each of them fans get in their heads that they get to have some say over when they should retire, but fans aren't the one living their lives, they aren't the ones deciding if they need to continue to draw that paycheck. It doesn't have to do with Taker not respecting his legacy or career. It's Mark Calloway deciding what's best for his life and nobody has the right to take that decision out of his hands.

[AkydefGoldberg]

The way the last Mania ended with Taker so ambiguously suggests neither the company or Taker knew what the future held for the man in question. It may have been at the point of last year's Mania he seemed inclined to call it a day with his conditions where as now he feels better to think he could continue. Remisicent of a boxer who finds it difficult to call it quits and if he's had hip surgery, it's probably best to focus on his health post-WWE than a short-term feeling of he can continue but I won't be watching Mania this year so wouldn't draw me back in.

[War Daddy]

Get rid of the Deadman and bring back the American Badass for one night and I’ll be on board.

[Messiah]

Honestly, maybe a couple of years ago this would have pissed me off, but I just don't care anymore. Do I think an hour of Wrestlemania should still be dedicated to a wrestler who peaked 20 years ago and can't deliver in the ring anymore? Obviously not. But this is WWE, and that's what they do. If they weren't giving Undertaker another send-off, I'm sure they'd waste the time some other way.

I didn't watch Wrestlemania last year, and don't intend on watching it this year. So this doesn't really matter to me. I've basically given up on WWE altogether now. I cancelled my Network subscription after Survivor Series. Not because I hated the show, but because I just realised I didn't care about what was happening at all. They sucked the joy out of wrestling for me. Everything is too corporate, too bland, too phony. And no fun at all.

I'm the same way. It's mind-blowingly boring. Every wrestler it feels like has had the personality sucked out of them.

I know it's The Undertaker's life and all, but I don't know why anyone would want to see him wrestle after that pathetic performance last year. The novelty of this match, for me, wore off when Cena was moved out of the main event picture and Undertaker lost his streak. At that point the interest in it for me was Cena being the franchise guy who always won the big matches vs Undertaker who had never lost at Mania. Now I'm just not sure why to care or what story they could possibly build to it. I mean, neither guy is going to turn heel. I imagine it would go a lot like the crappy HHH/Undertaker WM27 build, except probably even worse. And another in a long line of mishandled opportunities.

[KaiserGlider]

Yeah, it's not as big of an encounter as it would have been 10 years ago, but it's still the biggest match left for Cena at this point, on paper. One thing that's changed since then is that Cena has vastly improved his mic game. He could cut one of his scathing promos on Undertaker, calling him out for being old and sticking around too long. But I doubt they go that route, given how protected and respected Undertaker has always been. Anyway, I think I'm more interested in seeing what Cena does in this feud rather than Taker. Is this gonna be like when Shawn had doubts about the being the one to retire Flair?

And how will Roman factor into this? Are they just gonna have him ignore Taker completely?

[GameDesigner14]

I’m wondering what type of angle they’re going to use to hype up this match. I mean it sounds good on paper but the build needs to be there for people to be interested and be possibly a wrestlemania moment for people to remember. I’m a huge fan of the Undertaker and i’m hoping the creative team lets him win his LAST match. Honestly I did not like the match from last year involving Roman Reigns, taker should have won it.

[AkydefGoldberg]

I think @KaiserGlider has succintly described the pointlessness of Taker's appearance in another thread but yeah, whole thing has so many questions and very little answers.