Undertaker and Sting to work Summerslam

[WingedEagle]

I would argue that Brock DID need that rub because he didn't have the same aura he has now before he beat Undertaker. He kind of did when he first came back but he got watered down with the loss to Cena and the shitty HHH feud.

 

I think the Cena match at Summerslam may be juts as responsible for his aura now.

[Slasher]

Fair enough but not really the point. Brock's heat was largely unchanged. He was still massively respected and he is massively respected after.

[Grimmas]

WrestleMania 26 things you could had done with Shawn that would help the business going forward:

 

CM Punk retires Shawn

 

That's about it, because it was too early for Bryan and Drew could had worked, but they fucked him up after this. Maybe Sheamus in a competetive match which Shawn won on his way out?

[Slasher]

Eh I like the idea that Shawn was so consumed with beating the Undertaker and ending the streak that he would put his career on the line without blinking. It was so...main event peak era Shawn. What better than sending the reformed guy who had made his singles career on being an unrepentant douchey asshole out with a gamble gone wrong borne out of unrepentant douche assholeness?

 

I don't recall the Flair retirement angle so much beyond that Vince had decreed that if he lost a match he was to be forced to retire, so I don't know how they arrived at his friend Shawn to be the guy tasked with taking out Old Yeller but I assume it wasn't as good a storyline as it probably could have been.

[LariatMMBOPPO]

It feels like an idea that's gotten idealized in people's heads as the way everyone should retire but it's not like there's really much of a precedent.

It's sounds like one of those things lapsed wrestling fans say. "Aw, I remember when the Rock and Stone Cold were around! Now all they do these days is talk instead of wrestle."

 

I don't recall the Flair retirement angle so much beyond that Vince had decreed that if he lost a match he was to be forced to retire, so I don't know how they arrived at his friend Shawn to be the guy tasked with taking out Old Yeller but I assume it wasn't as good a storyline as it probably could have been.

What I hated about that was Flair went through a bunch of younger guys, but it was Vince himself who nearly put him out by almost defeating him in a no DQ match. That actually led to the WM match as Shawn interfered to save Flair and this PO'd Ric who wanted to stand or fall on his own.

[DMJ]

Just throwing it out there because the idea sounds crazy in my head, but is there any chance that Taker is returning as a heel at Battleground?

 

If he costs Lesnar the title, I think the audience is going to boo him. Sure, when the lights go out, the pop will be huge, but when Lesnar gets screwed a second time, I think there is going to be opposition from the audience. Granted, JR could get the angle over much better than Cole and Company will, but essentially, Lesnar beat Taker fair and square and now Undertaker is holding a grudge. The whole "He has a right to be angry, but NOT THIS WAY, Undertaker, bah gawd, NOT THIS WAY!"

 

This enables Sting to return as the Vigilante, out to beat the Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 because the Undertaker has forgotten that he once fought for justice or whatever.

 

There are all sorts of holes in this scenario, but if Taker does screw Lesnar, I don't think it is going to affect Lesnar. Hell, it probably won't even affect Taker all that much if the commentators ignore how heelish that would be (which is totally possible).

[Parties]

I prefer Taker as a heel (albeit one who gets lots of cheers, against mega-babyfaces like Austin and Jeff Hardy). It'd be tough to get people to boo him and I really don't expect them to do it as HHH/Vince have too much reverence for him, but turning heel would probably help his matches as he could stick to plunder and brawling. Generally speaking I like when veterans turn heel near the end of their run, as it makes sense from a "desperation" perspective and you can tell the story of eventual babyface redemption that allows them to retire on a high note. Michaels was basically the heel going into his retirement, and that seems the blueprint for how they now want top stars to go out. How much Taker merch do they sell at this point? It's not nearly as crazy as turning Cena or Reigns heel.

[The Chief]

Well, yeah, it's important to pick the right guy. But let's say CM Punk is the guy -- someone with a decent amount of fan support who was just beneath the top level. Does he become an overnight superstar by beating Shawn? Does it catapult him to the top immediately and put him on the level of Cena-Orton types? Or does his heat go to the company? I don't know. I agree that a lot of the things that used to work don't work anymore, so it's possibly I'm looking at this through an outdated lens.

I feel retiring a guy at the Mark Henry level is the right way to go. Someone who isn't seen as an A+ megastar but has enough cred and has been around for a while. I think Kane has enough to give somebody like a Rusev a huge rub on the way out, but without all the emotional investment and baggage that could potentially burden a new guy.

 

I feel like they could have played up the fact that Cody Rhodes and Ted Jr retired Bob Holly a little more. It's not going to kill you if you don't "live up to the hype" but it's a good little notch in your belt.

[PWI500]

I just can't see modern day Sting vs. Undertaker being a watchable match at next year's WM, so i hope it doesn't happen. I would like to remember the Attitude Era versions of both guys and not of seeing one of them break a hip in the ring. I prefer Taker as a heel too, although the crowd will never turn on him. A Taker/Brock rematch does not need to happen and both will be faces regardless. So I really don't know (sans Stone Cold) who they could send Undertaker off into the sunset with really, def not Super Cena!

[Matt D]

I'm glad that they seemingly figured out the best way to use these guys are in tag matches where they can be protected and someone else can get the rub, at least if they are going to run Wyatt/Harper vs Reigns/Sting. You rarely saw Fritz or Bill Watts or Verne come back for a singles match. It was usually a tag (though not always, yeah).

[Cap]

WWE seems bound and determined to curb the aura Brock picked up in 2014. I would much prefer this match to a Wrestlemania rematch (though I don't think that is out of the question yet), but what is the result here that pushes everything forward. Another Brock win isn't interesting and kills any momentum Taker might have going into mania. A Taker win kind of deflates the Brock-murder-machine-Lesnar aura. A double DQ would make some sense if done right but where does that take us? Interference would mean 3 screwy matches in a row for Brock.

 

How do you not use Brock to help the rest of the roster more? This is far and away the hottest thing in wrestling and they are booking him into a corner with Taker.

 

As for Taker, sending him off is a bit of a problem, but I would honestly rather it be Cena than Brock. I am a little more optimistic about Taker vs Sting than most, but as a 10 minute brawl with smoke and mirrors capped off by a very slow 4-5 minute period with long sells and strategic, well planned spots. If they announce team plays up the wars they have been through before, they get the green light to bleed (or do it the hard way), and they focus on pace changes it could be passible. Taker could go over (almost certain) or they could do some double ko or something and they could both walk off into the sunset. I can’t really think of anything off hand that would be more satisfying from a story standpoint I don’t think there is anyone in that sweet spot between sure to not blow this in the long run and still in need of the last bump to do it.

[PWI500]

Well as a huge WCW fan, i had a serious problem with the way they (meaning Trips, Vince & Stephy) booked Sting to look weak and second-class to HHH at WM. If they do it again against Taker at the next WM, then he really looks like shit. I'm questioning why Sting even bothered to make appearances at WWE now, if all they are going to have him do is job/lose matches to old WWF Attitude era guys...its lame.

 

I agree with your above point that they should be using Brock to get over the current generation guys more, they absolutely HAVE to do that because as it stands now, this business is dying slowly but surely and 5 years from now it will be much worse, without new megastars to carry the brand. Rollins looks like a big pussy now as champ (against Brock) and Reigns was killed by the "Universe" morons at Royal Rumble so not sure where that leaves things moving forward...

[Grimmas]

So we are looking at SummerSlam as:

Brock-Taker
Rollins-Cena
Ambrose/Reigns/Sting vs Wyatt Family
Women's Match (Probably 3 v 3 v 3)

as the big four matches this year?

[peachchaos]

 

 

The dumbest thing ever was to retire a perfectly healthy Michaels to build up the streak. If that wasn't dumb enough, they killed the streak and jobbed Taker to Lesnar. Now they expect people to care about a guy who has looked like ass for years?

What? Shawn Michaels WANTED to retire. That was his idea. He was going to be finished wrestling either way.

 

 

Not only did he want to retire, he wanted to go out losing to Taker at WM AND is one of the very few guys who's actually honored his retirement stipulation

 

peachchaos is probably one of those people who bitched about HBK 'retiring' Ric Flair

 

I posit to you peachchaos.....who should HBK have 'put over' in his retirement match? Who should have beat Flair in his last WWE match? Carlito? Chris Masters? Gotta give those young guys the rub, right?

 

I can't think of a single opponent to retire Michaels that would have had the gravitas and indelible all-time "WM moment" feel to it other than Taker. Would you rather it was Hunter?

 

 

That's all well and good. I'm just saying if I had a choice of who to keep and who to retire, I would have retired Undertaker and kept Shawn on top of Mania for years and years. He could have put over Rock, Punk, Bryan, The Shield, etc. I understand it's not what Shawn and Undertaker wanted, just a bit of fantasy booking.

 

The point of my comment had nothing to do with the retirement angle and everything to do with the fact that Shawn can still go and Taker just can't.

[ButchReedMark]

But can Shawn still go? We don't know as he's not wrestled in 4 years.

[rvd356]

How do we know where he's At really? He was KTFO out Mania 30 with Brock, and at Mania 31 he had Bray Wyatt who's better in 6 mans obviously.

 

Taker looked good in the /Kane/Bryan vs Shield matches. And if you wanna go back 2 years to Mania 29 I think the Punk/Taker match might have been his best Mania bout.

 

Oh and on Seth Rollins, he pretty much looked exactly like Kofi in that match. I was pumped that this would be his coming out party where he gets smashed and keeps fighting and flying back(someday he will be a face after all) l. But he looked way out of his depth with Brock

[rvd356]

**Roman Reigns looked about a million times better @ Mania. I understand the face:heel dynamics are weird.

 

Big Sting guy here, and I like Reigns/Sting vs Wyatt/Harper a lot. Yea yea Sting should have won but here we are. Vigilante Sting is still a good character and is capable

[sek69]

Bryan had a throwaway line on one of his radio shows implying that there will be a new Wyatt Family member and (based on what he's hearing internally) would be someone underwhelming, so it looks like we're getting a Reigns/Ambrose/Sting vs Wyatt/Harper/? at SummerSlam.

[Cap]

Bryan had a throwaway line on one of his radio shows implying that there will be a new Wyatt Family member and (based on what he's hearing internally) would be someone underwhelming, so it looks like we're getting a Reigns/Ambrose/Sting vs Wyatt/Harper/? at SummerSlam.

Bo?

[C.S.]

Bo wouldn't be underwhelming to me. Didn't Meltzer say the new person would make us wish for Erick Rowan? Who would fit into that dubious category?

[Slasher]

Bo? I mean he might not be underwhelming to you but Bo fits the description to a tee. He doesn't have a push to speak of, his look doesn't really fit the Wyatts, his style is mediocre and doesn't fit the Wyatts and wouldn't really be a credible partner for Bray and Luke. The only reason he would be tossed in there is his real life relation to Bray. He is exactly who I can picture Meltzer referring to.

[Grimmas]

Baron Corbin?

[Parties]

Corbin was def. who I thought of when I read that. Bo continuing to do his gimmick but just kind of letting himself go physically would be fun. "Just Bolieve" isn't that far removed from "Find me" or "We're here".

[Cap]

 

Oh god, I am wishing for Rowan's return just THINKING of the possibility of Corbin coming up.

 

I like Bo pretty well, but a lot of people REALLY aren't sold on him and when it comes to wrestling mysteries, he doesn't exactly inspire excitement. Bo coming under the spell of Bray while waxing philosophical (though completely emptily) about positivity and BOlieving would be a good transition to him being sort of a sporadic and crazy member of the family. That was the thing that was missing. They needed more diversity in their crazy and Bo could bring that to the table. That all said, it wouldn’t send shockwaves through the WWE or anything.

 

Oh shit… what if it is R Truth… please let it be R-Truth.

[goodhelmet]

I am thinking it could be worse... like Big Show or Kane worse.