So Let me get this straight.....

[lyonssv]

After a night to sleep on it, I'm a little irritated with Taker coming back the way he did...

Lesnar has been built to possibly be the strongest character in WWE history. There isn't a person on the roster they even allow to get any offense on him. They allow him to squash even the biggest names on the roster. And when someone finally does beat him, it would make the career of some up and coming star. Talk about a big rub....

however, we are going to allow to Undertaker to come back and beat Brock? A less than part time, old man who can barely move. We are going to allow Undertaker to get the rub of beating Brock? Just for nastolagia sake?

And just for storyline purposes....Brock beat Undertaker fair and square at Wrestlemania. What is Taker so bitter about? And Brock is probably the most over person on the roster and Taker comes back and allows the biggest heel in the company to keep the title? Who's the face and who is supposed to be the heel here? None of this makes sense to me.

[SlightlyJames]

BUT IT'S THE UNDERTAKER! /s

[Everlong]

I juts don't understand AT ALL the need to go back to the well for Lesnar/Taker. THE STORY IS OVER! There's nothing else to do there! Why is Taker so focused on revenge NOW, after he already got another victory back at WrestleMania? Why didn't he go after him earlier if he really gave that much of a shit about it?

This is just really fucking stupid. Undertaker sucks.

[Str8Shooter]

You make some good points. But storyline wise Taker is still "Taker". They haven't made a point of making him look like an old man who can't get it done anymore, he's still the "Deadman", one of the greatest of all time who is coming off a win over Wyatt.

Personally, I'd have Taker lose again and then put his career on the line against Brock at Mania in Texas. Then if you wanted to could have Taker get the win there in a swan song.

I actually think this match will be better than their Mania match. Taker is in better shape going in to this one presumably, or he wouldn't be wrestling at Summerslam at all. And his match with Wyatt was actually not that bad at Mania and people were saying he looked better than the year before.

[SlightlyJames]

They haven't made a point of making him look like an old man who can't get it done anymore

WWE haven't done that but I'd say reality has done a fairly good job of making him look that way.

[The Legend]

This has very little to nothing to do with Taker. WWE's appearances otherwise is just window dressing. What they did last night was all about protecting Brock and Rollins both. Neither one took the loss and that's exactly what WWE wanted. They didn't want Lesnar losing to Rollins and they certainly didn't want Rollins dropping the belt to Lesnar for another Lesnar reign.

So they set up a feud that makes some sense. What could Taker possibly want retribution for? How about Lesnar taking something he (kayfabe) built his life creating. His passion and the only thing that kept him wrestling for the better part of the last decade was his streak. If you can't understand him being pissed about that and wanting to do something about it whether he lost clean or not in the match, well then I can't help you.

As for why he waited "so long", it wasn't in the cards earlier. He was strategically waiting, sitting back until the right time. Waiting until Brock had something he was trying to get back that he loved and wanted as much as Taker loved and wanted the Streak.

[War Daddy]

Brock took Takers streak, so now Taker is taking his revenge.

It sucks, but it's Summerslam. We all knew something like this would happen.

[SlightlyJames]

This has very little to nothing to do with Taker. WWE's appearances otherwise is just window dressing. What they did last night was all about protecting Brock and Rollins both. Neither one took the loss and that's exactly what WWE wanted. They didn't want Lesnar losing to Rollins and they certainly didn't want Rollins dropping the belt to Lesnar for another Lesnar reign.

If they didn't want either of those outcomes they should have booked a different match, instead of selling it to people and robbing them of an actual finish.

[The Legend]

This has very little to nothing to do with Taker. WWE's appearances otherwise is just window dressing. What they did last night was all about protecting Brock and Rollins both. Neither one took the loss and that's exactly what WWE wanted. They didn't want Lesnar losing to Rollins and they certainly didn't want Rollins dropping the belt to Lesnar for another Lesnar reign.

If they didn't want either of those outcomes they should have booked a different match, instead of selling it to people and robbing them of an actual finish.

I guess I'm not as upset because I always expected some kind of DQ/non-finish finish to this match. It didn't really make sense otherwise. It also will add fuel to the fire when they do face off again at Survivor Series or Mania and the finish happens there.

[Hanley!]

Everything about this makes me groan.

You make a lot of good points, @lyonssv. These were the first things that went through my head too.

In fact, I think this Undertaker thing bothers me in enough different ways for me to make an actual list. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything here:

1) No finish to the main event of a pay per view. The WWE seems increasingly willing to pull this shit now that people are mostly watching on the Network and not on pay per view. But people are still theoretically paying a tenner for this match. If fans are paying any amount of money to see something you advertised, fucking give it to them. This would have been forgivable elsewhere on the show but in the main event? Absolute bullshit.

2) They're going to kill their biggest draw. Lesnar's return was not going well until he beat the Undertaker. Once he did, he became a big deal. Since then, Lesnar has had a completely different presence to anyone else on the roster. Letting Undertaker get his win back could turn him into just another guy. Why do that? Why would you kill the biggest draw you have just so a boring veteran who shows up once or twice a year can get revenge? Getting that win back won't do anything for the Undertaker, but it will harm Lesnar. Why do they have to throw away every meaningful victory in the company by always letting the loser get his fucking win back?

3) A Lesnar vs Undertaker feud will suck. I think we all know this. Undertaker has no personality on television at this point. He coasts entirely on his name value. And because he's so old and rusty, there's very little chance of any decent physicality until their pay per view match itself. This is going to be another feud where they expect the big names to sell the show for them, and where the Raws leading up to the show will be excruciatingly dull. If the feud is even built up on Raw at all.

4) A Lesnar vs Undertaker match will probably suck. Look, I know it won't necessarily be as bad as their Wrestlemania match. That was a bit of a fluke. But Lesnar is compelling in the ring these days because he works stiff and he works loose, and I don't think he's going to be allowed to do things his usual way in a match against the Undertaker. Do you see him pulling out all those German suplexes against Taker? No chance.

5) 2002 called and it wants its main event back. It's an old complaint, but I just find it dull and depressing watching crappier, less important versions of matches I saw more than a decade ago. WWE isn't doing too great at the moment, but the best thing about the show is that they're actually starting to slightly embrace a new generation of wrestlers. The show doesn't feel the exact same as it did 10 years ago any more. When they put on a main event like Lesnar/Undertaker it just makes the show seem dated and lacking in ideas.

6) The story makes no sense. If Undertaker wanted to cost Lesnar the title, it would have made more sense for him to do it when Lesnar first challenged for the title at Summerslam last year. Or maybe he could have cost Lesnar the title during one of his actual defenses. Or maybe he could have returned at the Royal Rumble to try and secure the opportunity to gain revenge on Lesnar AND win the title. I don't buy the idea that he was "just biding his time" until like the 5th time where he had a chance to take something important from Lesnar.

7) It was just a dickish, heel move for Undertaker to interrupt a title match. Yet you know that Lesnar is going to be the heel of the feud. It's bad storytelling. Undertaker lost fair and square. Now he's being a bitch about it. Why should the fans take his side?

None of this is exciting or interesting to me. If anything, I feel pretty deflated by the reappearance of this tragically dull fossil of a character. Why can't we just be rid of the Undertaker? I really wish they had just saved Rollins vs Lesnar for Summerslam instead. That was the rumour after Wrestlemania and I would have been 100% on board with that. It could have been an awesome match. Instead we got it a month early, with a shitty finish, just so we could spend the next month building to a new, shittier match.

[Str8Shooter]

You guys get way too worked up about stuff

Chill out, I'm more into wrestling than most people on here I would presume and I don't freak out like this

Steve you don't even watch that much and you go nuts more than most

[Hanley!]

You guys get way too worked up about stuff

Chill out, I'm more into wrestling than most people on here I would presume and I don't freak out like this

Steve you don't even watch that much and you go nuts more than most

I don't watch that much because it sucks though.

For all that I complain about WWE, there's nobody here who wants to watch the show more than me. I love wrestling when it's good. Which is why I tend to watch all the pay per views these days, even if I usually skip Raw. And it's why I always keep up with what's happening. Once the show gets better, I'll know about it and I'll be all over that shit.

Meanwhile, I'll take advantage of my right to call a spade a spade.

[Circled Square]

I liked where the Lesnar vs. Rollins match was going. That's what was kinda sad about it. Undertaker's return didn't bother me as much as it did others. I will always like the character and welcome his presence. It's hard to stay like that though when he's put smack dab in the middle of a waaaay better match. Knowing Undertaker, he won't be wrestling at RAWs, he won't appear very much, he'll be the exact same character...it's just hard to take in. SummerSlam's main event will look like the Divas triple threat. Except this time, the one who'll look awkward and slow will be The Undertaker, not Brie Bella.

Besides that, Rollins/Lesnar is a so much better feud. A much better program with a higher ceiling. If we don't see Rollins vs. Lesnar one-on-one for the WWE title I'd be gutted. Rollins was doing better than Reigns and Cena in that match before Undertaker got involved. The crowd was hot for St. Louis that night and I think the reaction to an upset win by Rollins would have been amazing to see. Or even having Lesnar destroy Rollins and win his title back leading to a SummerSlam rematch would have sufficed.

SummerSlam will end in a clusterfuck of a match for no good reason at all.

[Str8Shooter]

I kinda wish Taker would come back at this point with some sort of hybrid American Badass/real guy gimmick rather than the Deadman gimmick. It would breathe some new life to hear him talking normally and getting rid of the supernatural stuff. Then again the nostalgia of the gimmick is part of the reason people love him, maybe people don't want to see a different Taker.

[Circled Square]

Yeah if he was the American Badass again it'd give him am excuse to cut promos. Plus come on Taker's ABA entrance is awesome and the only prop needed for it is a motorcycle.

[Hanley!]

I kinda wish Taker would come back at this point with some sort of hybrid American Badass/real guy gimmick rather than the Deadman gimmick. It would breathe some new life to hear him talking normally and getting rid of the supernatural stuff. Then again the nostalgia of the gimmick is part of the reason people love him, maybe people don't want to see a different Taker.

I'd much prefer it if he was allowed to be Big Evil again, or at least show more humanity. His supernatural gimmick is so restrictive on the stories he can take part in. It makes all of his stuff hugely repetitive, not to mention dated.

I get the nostalgia aspect. I was marking out as hard as everyone else when he brought back the Deadman gimmick in 2004. But that was over a decade ago now. You can't just rely on nostalgia for that long. Eventually you need to inject some substance, or the act just gets old.

[Circled Square]

As for why he waited "so long", it wasn't in the cards earlier. He was strategically waiting, sitting back until the right time. Waiting until Brock had something he was trying to get back that he loved and wanted as much as Taker loved and wanted the Streak.

I never thought of it that way. This is a way to make the story logical, this can ONLY work if Undertaker's actually around on RAW to deliver a promo. But we know him. It'll be a one off thing and a dull build up straight into the Summerslam disaster that will be either Lesnar/Taker or Rollins/Taker/Lesnar.

[prophet]

As for why he waited "so long", it wasn't in the cards earlier. He was strategically waiting, sitting back until the right time. Waiting until Brock had something he was trying to get back that he loved and wanted as much as Taker loved and wanted the Streak.

I never thought of it that way. This is a way to make the story logical, this can ONLY work if Undertaker's actually around on RAW to deliver a promo. But we know him. It'll be a one off thing and a dull build up straight into the Summerslam disaster that will be either Lesnar/Taker or Rollins/Taker/Lesnar.

Would it be logical though? Why not go after Brock when he actually had the title and cost him it? It's fucking stupid to expect us to think he's been methodically waiting this whole time.

Wait a minute.

It's fucking stupid to expect us to think he's been methodically waiting this whole time.

It's fucking stupid.

Of course that's what they'll expect us to think.

[Str8Shooter]

If I can take a stab at the kayfabe explanation for Taker waiting so long. Bray Wyatt called him out last year repeatedly, so he had to come back to teach the young punk a lesson about calling people out. Thus he was too busy to do anything with Lesnar. Alternatively, maybe he though that Reigns was going to take the title from Lesnar and thus didn't want to interfere. Also, revenge is a dish best served cold (which will almost certainly come out of Taker's mouth in the next month).