Thought of the Day: You Were Expecting Maybe The Easter Bunny?
On the Brock vs. Undertaker build.So the general consensus on the Undertaker vs. Lesnar build seems to be that people hate it. My immediate answer to that is what were you expecting?
The build to Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar has taken place over the last 23 years. Maybe you’ve heard of it: it’s called the Streak. For several years now, the story for Undertaker at Wrestlemania has been people wanting to take down the Streak. Undertaker had four matches against DX about legacies and retirements and what have you, but it all came down to HHH and Shawn wanting to stop the Streak. Over the years CM Punk, Randy Orton, HHH, Ric Flair, Batista and a host of others have tried and failed. The Streak is (arguably) bigger than the WWE Title at this point.
Think about this for a minute. The Streak started 23 years ago. I’m 26 years old and the Streak began before I went to school for the first time. It started when WCW was still in the NWA. The WCW World Title was two months old. It’s so old that the son of the man who was President when it started served eight years in office since then. It’s over three times longer than Bruno Sammartino’s WWWF Title reign. I could go on but you get the idea by now.
Whether you like the Streak or not, there’s never been anything like it in wrestling and there never will be again. Undertaker is getting older now though and the wins are getting harder to come by. Now the next challenger is Brock Lesnar, who is stronger and tougher than anyone Undertaker has faced in the Streak (yes I’m including Henry). It’s basically Rocky vs. Drago in Rocky IV. Lesnar is a fire breathing dragon for Undertaker to slay, but he’s going to push Undertaker to the point where it’s impossible to believe Undertaker will survive. It happened with Shawn and it happened in the Cell so it can happen again. They’re even using the idea that Brock has beaten Undertaker’s opponents more easily than Undertaker could.
In short, this is what the Streak matches are going to be like, and I could argue that it’s bigger than the triple threat is going to be. It’s a built in story and one of those things that doesn’t need a big elaborate reason for the two men to be fighting. Brock Lesnar has destroyed everything else and now he wants to destroy the one thing that no one has been able to stop. Why do you need a more elaborate story than that? THe match will be great (Undertaker hasn’t had a bad Wrestlemania match since……Wrestlemania 22? And Lesnar hasn’t had a truly bad match since he’s been back), the moment will be great, and seeing the 22-0 sign will work at the end of the day.
I really don’t know what you people want, because this is what the Streak is going to be until Undertaker hangs up his boots. They’d be crazy to do anything else.
I Suppose you could argue that. What they are currently doing is to dull. Something needs to done to spice it up. Besides I doubt Lesnar would injure him purposely right before his own big payday. Which only leaves freak accident and those are rare.
Dull I could see. I don’t think it’s true but it makes a lot more sense than most of what I’ve seen said about it.
You run the risk of UNdertaker being broken to the point where he can’t compete at Wrestlemania. Simple as that.
You are being a shill. Saying all we need is the Streak is just as lazy as the booking for this year’s Mania. The build has been lazy, boring and predictable. No I wasn’t expecting the Easter Bunny, but I was expecting a half way decent build to a match between the Undertaker and Brock Frickin’ Lesnar at Wrestlemania
What would you have done instead?
Present the story in such a way so that it looks like either side can win? I have to admit you do have an almost to pro wwe/shill attitude. You seem to try to justify stupid or lazy ideas. The wwe is not inflatable. It has and will continue to make stupid decisions. This build has been lackluster.
Sure it will. I just don’t see the complaints here.
I guess we thought the build would be better for two stars of this magnitude. Why not have Brock destroy taker on a raw to drive home the point that’s older and broken down? It just seems thrown together.
It’s because most fans of that type aren’t children. Most of the time we need more than enjoy because we say so. We over think for better or worse.
Thats a good point Dragon why can’t we as Fans just try to enjoy whats coming up at Wrestlemania without acting like IWC Smarks? No matter how old we are for that matter. I am 31 years old and I can still enjoy Wrestling like a Fan without the nitpicking. One thing I have liked about the Feud is that WWE acknowledged that Undertaker is getting older in the video that Heyman played last week and its taking more for him to hold on to The Streak. Personally I am looking forward to the Match and I think it will be fine.
I agree with Dark Grin……..sometimes the IWC can be so selfish as to what they believe is “best for business”……..they never seem to think of the casual fan……I am a teacher and most of my younger student body are excited for Wrestlemania, picking their winners without any cynicism. It is refreshing to hear truly innocent exitement for wrestling much like I was during the Golden Era.
Hoping Taker’s old bones aren’t too brittle these days, Brock’s pretty rough out there. I personally can’t wait for the match.
See what Dark Grin just said, know it, learn it, accept it. I got a 14 year old who thinks Lesnar is gonna snap the streak, there is just no way for Taker to beat Lesnar, he’s somewhat smart to the business (he knows the basics) and see’s no way Taker can beat that monster and that’s the magic of wrestling right there.
Of course Taker wins, yes us IWC knows but that doesn’t mean the casual fan (you know, the people WWE targets because they already got your money) does. The build has been simple but effective, its Taker and Lesnar, they don’t need to do much and they often keep it simple, why would you think otherwise?
Even if it was obvious to everyone what else would you expect? Every time Lesnar wrestles there’s a group of fans who say he looks like a chump, even after he made Cena his bitch for 20 minutes only for Cena to fluke out a victory, his Punk match was last years match of the year in my eyes, Triple H didn’t do a good job with Lesnar but is that really suprising? Lesnar has done good work since he came back and after his match with Taker he will give another solid performance that a lot of you will complain about, its inevitable. When I got to a point I was only bitching I took a hiatus from wrestling and it did me a lot of good and even today I only watch segments and matches that look interesting or got rave reviews (thanks for that KB), if Taker vs. Lesnar is that bad why don’t you just skip those segments and their match?
I think people forget that these matches aren’t built for us. The cynical hardcore fan will correctly predict 95% of PPV matches. IMO these matches are built for the more casual fan i.e. the younger fan base. All I know is my 10 year old son thinks Taker has no chance of beating Brock. Just like he thought Punk would end the Streak last year. He also thinks DB has no chance after the beating HHH gave him on Raw a few weeks ago. THESE are the fans the WWE are catering to – and the build(s) , though pedestrian to us, are working in their eyes. Just my 2 cents.
It’s a stupid match, billed as a total squash. Wow, maybe Lesnar will get in some offense before laying down!
Since WWE is going to squander one of Brock’s five matches on this nonsense, you have to wonder why they could not have afforded Norv Fernum and Dewey Barnes from the TNA roster. Why not give Undertaker a REAL challenge and pit him against two superstars at the same time? Could he overcome the odds?
It’s the dumbest “feud” in recent memory, a total deflation of hype. Old Man Calloway should lay down for his millions, but he can’t even be bothered to travel for four straight Mondays before his payday. That’s the difference between Brock and Mark… both are mercenaries, but only one marks for himself. I hope their pointless match does not steal too much airtime from Emma’s dancing segment.
Oooh, fanboys cream their pants over “the streak” because it’s “larger than life”… treat it like the carnival sideshow that it is, put it on the free pre-show, and be done with it. Maybe Undertaker can job out Ziggler, Sandow, Ryback, Axel, Miz, Kingston, Ryder, Three Man Band, Los Matadores, Santino, Evil Doink (surprise run-in) and Great Khali in a gauntlet match next year. Wow! I’d pay to watch that great match!
There’s no such thing as a squash match with Brock Lesnar involved.
How about Lesnar coming out on top in the build up rather than looking like a chump? That’s hardly too much to ask for. I mean, what’s the point of making the one who no one expects to win look like he has no chance for weeks before the show? Surely the whole point is to place the seed of doubt in the mind of the audience.
He looked like a chump in the Big Show build and dominated that match. Also there’s still a Raw to go.
I Think the problem with the match is the fact that since Lesnar is part time there is no way he’s going to win. Yes I know no one is going to beat taker at wrestlemania ever. ” he would win a 3 on 1 handicap against hogan, austin, and cena” People are afraid that they can’t be sucked in knowing that fact.
I got sucked into the first Shawn match and the Cell match knowing that. It can work.