NDD

Ah, but there is a difference in the situations, my friend.

As you say, WWE fucked up when trying to re-create old characters, stables or angles. That's the way you see it. They pretty much fucked up the nWo. And I can see your point of view in the argument that they fucked up the characters of the WCW wrestlers in the Invasion angle.

But those were characters and groups from another company which WWE did not have first hand experience with. What I mean, is that WWE was not involved with the original debut and further development of any of those characters. Eric Bischoff and WCW created the nWo. WCW evolved all the wrestlers such as Booker T, DDP, Lance Storm, Billy Kidman, etc.

But WWE knows the Undertaker. He's been in the WWE for 12 years. WWE is responsible for the complete evolution of the Undertaker. They should know what to do with him if he returns to his role as the Phenom, the Dead Man from the Darkside. It's because they've done it before.

But I am slightly skeptical that the fans are too used to his persona he took on ever since his return in 2000. He became the American Badass. Then he cut his hair and he was Big Evil. How will they make the transition.

Now, I would rather not jump to conclusions about whether or not this will actually happen. This is all based purely on the fact that I have not even seen the commercial. Once I see it, I will make my own further judgements.

Also, Jerod, did this commercial say that Taker will be returning at the Royal Rumble event itself? Or did it not give a confirmed time of return?

And that brings me to one final point. Sometimes I feel that it might be better to go back to the element of surprise. Sure, they played the commercial to build up some hype and it got people talking. But is there really anything quite like being caught off guard with something you didn't fully expect?

Picture this: Two superstars are having a very important singles match at the Royal Rumble. For storyline relevance, we would say Big Show against Brock Lesnar. Big Show is about to beat Brock, likely afer some outside help from Heyman or a foreign object. As Big Show stands over Brock's body, and a pin is all but certain, the lights in the arena go out. Thunder rumbles, and the organ music begins to play. Then purple lights and smoke fill the ramp. Suddenly, a shadow of a tall figure appears at the top of the stage. This shadowy figure walks down the ramp toward the ring. All the while, Brock rolls around trying to collect himself and Show just stares at the figure walking down the ramp. The man steps up on the steel steps and the lights come back on. As Show sees the clothes, the hat, a more clear vision of the figure, he begins to get a frightened look on his face. Then the figure suddenly looks up and takes off the hat, showing the world that he is The Undertaker. He goes in, takes out Show with whatever he can do (not sure if Taker can Chokeslam or Tombstone the guy). Brock collects himself and rolls over on Show for the win and the right to be in the Royal Rumble.

Now who in their right mind wouldn't be talking about that for a long damn time, considering there was no word of it happening before hand? Then Taker could go on to have a rivalry with Show and whoever else wanted to step up.

*stops to make one last random observation*

Would it seem weird seeing the Phenom without long hair?

MMB

Well he has been able to give him the Last Ride in the past ... devasting enough as well

PapRoach123

Hmm yes, good point. Although they fucked up Stone Cold too during the invasion angle... And they've already fucked up Taker when they made him a pussy. But those were new gimmicks, gimmicks completely different.. that didn't work out. I think they've fucked with Kane too much aswell. What did they let him do again? Sing songs or what? heh.

I hope you're right anyway. And then it could be big. Aterall, he's still my favorite WWE star. I loved it when he put that teddy bear on fire. Vince McMahon was so scared.

"Soon McMahon, your world will become a nightmare."

*remembers the days*


I hate it when they cut their hair. Seriously, it's fucked up. DDP did it, Lex Luger did it, Sting did it, Mike Awesome did it... I'm a big fan of long hair styles, and I think a lot of them shouldn't have done it. And that includes the Undertaker too. I was very sad when I saw that.


There is nothing more exciting in wrestling than that. Unexpected happenings. I was very surprised when Hulk Hogan joined the nWo back in 1996. Nobody, and I mean nobody expected that to happen. Nothing was announced, only that there was a third man. Who the hell would've thought that it would be WCW's most favorite superstar? When I saw him come down to the ring I thought he was going to kick some Outsider ass. But noooooo, he turned on the Macho Man instead. This has been repeated several times now in both companies, but back then, nobody expected it until the very end where Hogan celebrated with the Outsiders to form the nWo.

Another example is how Scott Steiner joined the nWo 2000. He was coming back from back surgery (which was real and very critical). He was in a wheelchair, his brother Rick helped him up into the ring and there he held his speech. He was talking about how he could never wrestle again. It was so emotional. He was in tears and all. It was so real.

Later on in the show he just got up from his wheelchair and helped the nWo beat the crap out of <I don't remember who - I'll check that out and edit post later>. He revealed the shirt he was wearing saying nWo, and that right there was the second biggest scam in WCW.


If they hadn't played the commercial people wouldn't have known. But in your example, seeing the purple lights would give it away. Though the excitement would be great. Questions like "Is it him? Is it really him?" and then he reveals himself and it goes "YES, it's him!"

I think they should not have played the commercial. Nice scenery there, btw. Made my skin crawl.


Exactly what I was thinking...

He needs hair extensions.

NDD

Yes, but they turned Taker face again. He's badass and all, fearless again. As for Kane, they're making him a lot more human. He has emotion, unlike he did in the beginning when he was new in the WWE. I'm more into Kane now than I was in the past. Kane used to completely make me lose interest in the show. But now he's great. Although now I appreciate his old character a little more. But it would be pretty hard to turn him back into what he was before. Anyway, maybe we should stick to the topic of Undertaker.

Ah yes, those were the days.

But I guess they had to do that to further advance his new image. Sometimes you have to roll with the punches.

Exactly. That's just what I'm talking about. Things like that are what make wrestling great.


Then again, most people would probably be able to tell just from the organ music also. It's a very famous entrance theme.

Seriously, I think all this stuff about hyping a wrestler's return may not be the best thing. When people are expecting a superstar to arrive at a certain times, they get their hopes up high for something spectacular and make themselves more open to disappointment.

That could work. Hopefully, they'll think of that. But I'm sure a lot of people would think the other way. Things such as, "do they think we're stupid enough to think he grew his hair back in a couple months time?" But, what can you do?