It Should've Been Shawn
The Undertaker's loss at WrestleMania XXX wasn't a screwjob. It wasn't kept secret from the announcers and it wasn't a call in the ring. It was planned. It was his choice. It was business.
Brock Lesnar has been a financial disappointment to the company thus far, and this will give him a shot in the arm. A deca-durabolin sized shot? Time will tell. It does put a shiny new coat on Lesnar and that could mean something.
WWE needs a boost right now. WrestleMania may have been an aesthetic success and a non-sports gate record for the Super Dome, but a soft belly lies beneath. The weekly television audience is not growing. Money-drawing stars are down to two. The company becomes relevant in popular culture on increasingly rare occasions.
Kudos to Undertaker, the McMahon-Helmsleys and anyone else who saw the lay of the land and made this brave decision. There are a lot of WWE fans that wanted the Undertaker to keep that streak. Some just liked having a gimmick every spring. Some felt it made up for his relative lack of championship runs. When sentiment is all on one side, there are real risks to bucking it. Undertaker's loss may have led to more deflation than shock. It surely killed any chance that 'Taker could draw a year from now against C.M. Punk. There was real risk.
Crowd reactions during the match seemed to indicate that it was time for the streak to end. Fans had just stopped believing that he would ever lose. Undertaker's WrestleMania formula of repeated near falls and close calls served WWE well for seven years. Ever since his match with Batista blew away expectations at WrestleMania 23, the Undertaker and WWE fans had almost an unspoken pact. He would wrestle the best match on the show and they would believe that he could lose. Cracks started to show in Miami two years ago against Triple H. During CM Punk's match last year things became tenuous. Fans reacted to a great match, but the razor had been dulled for some of the near falls. In New Orleans it was done. The reaction to Brock's first F-5 made that clear.
With some time to reflect, the author keeps coming back to a conversation from 2012. WrestleMania XXVIII was recently in the books and the official announcement of a New York area WrestleMania for 2013 had been made. Rumors were already circulating that Undertaker was going to face CM Punk -- at that time only eight months removed from the Pipe Bomb promo -- at WrestleMania 29. The author's idea was different: bring back Shawn Michaels for a double-retirement match at WrestleMania in New York. Make it clear that both men are having their last match on that night; hopefully re-instituting some of the drama that had been lost by the inevitability of Undertaker's wins.
The world will never know if a Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker double-retirement match would have been wise. Maybe CM Punk meant more at WrestleMania 29 than Shawn would have? (Even though the buyrate was down 20% from the previous year.) Maybe WrestleMania XXX needed an Undertaker match? (Even though WWE Network subscriber numbers came in so low that the company lost 15% of its value the next day.) Maybe Lesnar will become the type of money-drawing special attraction that Hulk Hogan was during the early days of the nWo? None of those things could've happened if Undertaker retired with Shawn.
A finish with Shawn Michaels would have had poetry. Both men were focal points during the pre-Attitude doldrums. Both men had their drawing power incessantly criticized during the mid-90's. Shawn was always the headache and 'Taker was always the conscience, at least until Shawn found Jesus. Around that time they dovetailed again. Both men were beloved by long time fans. Both men were criticized for protecting their spots. 'Taker may have wrestled a few years longer, but his time as a regular attraction ended around the same time Shawn's did. How beautiful could one last match in New York have been?
Few men reach the pinnacle of a dream job. Fewer still enjoy it. For most who chase dreams it is a hard struggle with few rewards and many speculations. "If I would've worked harder..." "If I'd have been friends with the right person..." "If I'd have played the political games..." Undertaker made it past those hypotheticals, but only he knows if he enjoyed it. He surely feels proud of his body of work, but did he taste it? Did he have that moment where he knew? "I'm done. This part of my life is over. I did it as well as I should have."
Undertaker looked sad in the ring. After the three count, the author's first thought was of Rulon Gardner at the 2004 Olympics. He took off his shoes and placed them in the middle of the mat; the symbol of a wrestler's retirement. Gardner cried that night, but the Undertaker didn't. Maybe it's because, as the great screenwriter Nora Ephron once wrote, men who cry are sensitive to feelings, but only to their own. Maybe it's because he saw it as one last quest to protect the gimmick. Maybe it was that it didn't feel like he thought it would. Everyone has felt that.
The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were at once extraordinary and ordinary. In the grand scheme of men, few were like them. They mastered a difficult craft, surpassed countless pretenders and left on their own terms. In the narrow scheme of wrestling, there have been others. Other wrestlers have had brilliant matches. Other wrestlers have drawn impressive sums. But these two felt linked. And I wish it would've ended up that way.
Brock Lesnar has been a financial disappointment to the company thus far, and this will give him a shot in the arm. A deca-durabolin sized shot? Time will tell. It does put a shiny new coat on Lesnar and that could mean something.
WWE needs a boost right now. WrestleMania may have been an aesthetic success and a non-sports gate record for the Super Dome, but a soft belly lies beneath. The weekly television audience is not growing. Money-drawing stars are down to two. The company becomes relevant in popular culture on increasingly rare occasions.
Kudos to Undertaker, the McMahon-Helmsleys and anyone else who saw the lay of the land and made this brave decision. There are a lot of WWE fans that wanted the Undertaker to keep that streak. Some just liked having a gimmick every spring. Some felt it made up for his relative lack of championship runs. When sentiment is all on one side, there are real risks to bucking it. Undertaker's loss may have led to more deflation than shock. It surely killed any chance that 'Taker could draw a year from now against C.M. Punk. There was real risk.
Crowd reactions during the match seemed to indicate that it was time for the streak to end. Fans had just stopped believing that he would ever lose. Undertaker's WrestleMania formula of repeated near falls and close calls served WWE well for seven years. Ever since his match with Batista blew away expectations at WrestleMania 23, the Undertaker and WWE fans had almost an unspoken pact. He would wrestle the best match on the show and they would believe that he could lose. Cracks started to show in Miami two years ago against Triple H. During CM Punk's match last year things became tenuous. Fans reacted to a great match, but the razor had been dulled for some of the near falls. In New Orleans it was done. The reaction to Brock's first F-5 made that clear.
With some time to reflect, the author keeps coming back to a conversation from 2012. WrestleMania XXVIII was recently in the books and the official announcement of a New York area WrestleMania for 2013 had been made. Rumors were already circulating that Undertaker was going to face CM Punk -- at that time only eight months removed from the Pipe Bomb promo -- at WrestleMania 29. The author's idea was different: bring back Shawn Michaels for a double-retirement match at WrestleMania in New York. Make it clear that both men are having their last match on that night; hopefully re-instituting some of the drama that had been lost by the inevitability of Undertaker's wins.
The world will never know if a Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker double-retirement match would have been wise. Maybe CM Punk meant more at WrestleMania 29 than Shawn would have? (Even though the buyrate was down 20% from the previous year.) Maybe WrestleMania XXX needed an Undertaker match? (Even though WWE Network subscriber numbers came in so low that the company lost 15% of its value the next day.) Maybe Lesnar will become the type of money-drawing special attraction that Hulk Hogan was during the early days of the nWo? None of those things could've happened if Undertaker retired with Shawn.
A finish with Shawn Michaels would have had poetry. Both men were focal points during the pre-Attitude doldrums. Both men had their drawing power incessantly criticized during the mid-90's. Shawn was always the headache and 'Taker was always the conscience, at least until Shawn found Jesus. Around that time they dovetailed again. Both men were beloved by long time fans. Both men were criticized for protecting their spots. 'Taker may have wrestled a few years longer, but his time as a regular attraction ended around the same time Shawn's did. How beautiful could one last match in New York have been?
Few men reach the pinnacle of a dream job. Fewer still enjoy it. For most who chase dreams it is a hard struggle with few rewards and many speculations. "If I would've worked harder..." "If I'd have been friends with the right person..." "If I'd have played the political games..." Undertaker made it past those hypotheticals, but only he knows if he enjoyed it. He surely feels proud of his body of work, but did he taste it? Did he have that moment where he knew? "I'm done. This part of my life is over. I did it as well as I should have."
Undertaker looked sad in the ring. After the three count, the author's first thought was of Rulon Gardner at the 2004 Olympics. He took off his shoes and placed them in the middle of the mat; the symbol of a wrestler's retirement. Gardner cried that night, but the Undertaker didn't. Maybe it's because, as the great screenwriter Nora Ephron once wrote, men who cry are sensitive to feelings, but only to their own. Maybe it's because he saw it as one last quest to protect the gimmick. Maybe it was that it didn't feel like he thought it would. Everyone has felt that.
The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were at once extraordinary and ordinary. In the grand scheme of men, few were like them. They mastered a difficult craft, surpassed countless pretenders and left on their own terms. In the narrow scheme of wrestling, there have been others. Other wrestlers have had brilliant matches. Other wrestlers have drawn impressive sums. But these two felt linked. And I wish it would've ended up that way.
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