How would you handle HBK / Taker after mania

[Depakote]

I think HBK and 'Taker will beat the living hell out of each other but 'Taker will win. HBK gets "retired" so he's off TV. They could sell the story that HBK pushed 'Taker to the limit like nobody ever has before so Taker's off TV. There ya go. Taker doesnt need to say anything before disappearing. He hardly ever has said anything in the past. He just disappears from time to time for a couple months and then everyone marks out when the bells from his entrance theme interrupts some heel randomly. Its not rocket science. Theyve only been doing this with the Undertaker character for the last 20 years.

I wouldnt get Kane involved in a program against the Undertaker again unless Kane won the money in the bank and was in line for one last push. Taker still has unfinished business with the world title since he didnt lose it fairly thanks to HBK. So he has a reason to jump into the title picture upon his return. We could see him beat Edge or whoever, win the belt, just to have Kane cash in and win the title a minute after Undertaker, in typical Money in the Bank fashion. However that will never happen. Kane wont win this year and he wont get a big push. He'll stay as a glorified jobber for the rest of his career. Nobody needs to see Undertaker vs Kane anymore. They milked that angle dry. They could get the Brothers of Destruction tag team back together to solidify them as one of the best tag teams ever, but the WWE is just pimping out the Big Show to mid card guys who could use the rub, like the Miz. After Miz moves on, expect to see Big Show become tag champs with another up and comer. The Brothers of Destruction would indirectly bury the current tag title angle because they virtually always get booked to squash jobbers. Also at this stage of his career, Undertaker doesnt need a tag title run.

What they really need to do with Undertaker in the long run is make him face John Cena at WM either next year or the year after. Let Undertaker retire 20-0 at Wrestlemania, having his last win be against Cena. That would be a great way to cap the Streak. Would McMahon let his true franchise creation in the Undertaker cleanly beat Cena at WM? Only time will tell. If this did happen, Undertaker would go down as one of the only people to retire who didnt lose his last match. I'm a huge Taker mark so I'd love to see it work out this way.

 

[619girl4life]

im assuming that shawn micheals will win and ad the streak because we all know the streak isnt gonna last forever and shawn is the only person that deserves to end the streak...and considering that he is the only opponent that has faced the undertaker twice at wrestlemania should mean he should win...and i cant really see him loosing and retiring.... but if undertaker looses what do we have to look forward to at the upcoming wrestlemanias??? i like both of these 2 wrestlers but in my opinion shawn will win and i want shawn to win..im not taking anything from the undertaker but shawn keeping his career is alot more important then taker keeping his streak!

 

[aaronmb]

Im thinking 1 of these 3:
They have a brutal 20 minute match and undertaker wins.

2. Something freaky happens to Undertaker 'a freak accident' or something theatrical, where neither wins or loses.

3. Theres a ton of interference(my guess is definetely bret hart).

 

[#hamler]

im assuming that shawn micheals will win and ad the streak because we all know the streak isnt gonna last forever and shawn is the only person that deserves to end the streak...and considering that he is the only opponent that has faced the undertaker twice at wrestlemania should mean he should win...and i cant really see him loosing and retiring.... but if undertaker looses what do we have to look forward to at the upcoming wrestlemanias??? i like both of these 2 wrestlers but in my opinion shawn will win and i want shawn to win..im not taking anything from the undertaker but shawn keeping his career is alot more important then taker keeping his streak!

wait, kane faced undertaker twice... if they build kane the right way and make him into this generation's undertaker then why not have kane beat the undertaker a WM, besides, who sholuld retire HBK??? undertaker... and undertaker should be retired by HBK...they need to both walk out a WM this year but not just one. both, or none... My opinion, none, have one more year for both but let them take of through 2010. then at WM28ish they can both face each other a third time and both walk away...perfect. lol

and this match need to be at least 30-40 minutes.. with no interference, that'll just ruin the whole match...

 

[mooseman]

im assuming that shawn micheals will win and ad the streak because we all know the streak isnt gonna last forever and shawn is the only person that deserves to end the streak...and considering that he is the only opponent that has faced the undertaker twice at wrestlemania should mean he should win...and i cant really see him loosing and retiring.... but if undertaker looses what do we have to look forward to at the upcoming wrestlemanias??? i like both of these 2 wrestlers but in my opinion shawn will win and i want shawn to win..im not taking anything from the undertaker but shawn keeping his career is alot more important then taker keeping his streak!

I'm pretty sure we had Kane vs Taker twice.................

 

[TheBestThereNevaWas]

I like the idea of Morrison calling Shawn out of retirement for a Wrestlemania match. Of course, Morrison would have to be in the main event and on a serious roll for this to work. But it's a simple and very workable storyline.

Wrestlemania has usually been mano y mano so it's hard to imagine a match of this magnitude being decided due to outside interference. But if we're going by that, wouldn't it be something if Goldberg came out and speared and jackhammered 'Taker and thereby giving Shawn the win? If he is indeed coming back, this is a very good way to get him monster heat.

I think Goldberg now would be the new Cena...a smattering of cheers mixed in with a shitload of boos, so why not just go with the booing? Can you imagine the heat both he and Shawn would get for this? It would easily surpass Vickie Guerrero heat. (Amazing that the measuring stick for heat is a non-wrestler). And later on, he can take Shawn out furthering his heat to levels never before witnessed.

With this, we get 'Taker out after Wrestlemania and a later feud with Goldberg, Shawn out via blindside at a later date, and also a future feud with Goldberg and possibly a match with Morrison.

Am I the only one who wouldn't mind Goldberg coming back if only to show Edge what a real spear is? I would like to see him spear the piss outta Edge to the point that Edge NEVER...EVER uses the spear A-GAIN.

Maybe they're trying to save Cena-Taker for Wrestlemania 28 when the streak will be 20-0, then Taker will retire. Here's hoping Taker's body can hold up until then.

 

[kcordloh]

Well they didn't really do an explanation last year for them disappearing, so they don't have to this year either.

I am sorry, but I don't see this whole "Michaels loses and then returns" thing. I know never say never and all, but why would they hype this match as Streak -vs- Career only to have Michaels lose and then come back to retire in a year. Makes no sense to me hype wise. Yes, for the money it would make Michaels to return for RTWM27 and lose a retirement match, yeah it would make sense. But they could have found other ways to hype this match without Michaels career then.

With Goldberg negociating with WWE, I'd love to see Goldberg -vs- The Undertaker at WM27. That is my personal dream match. But alot of possibilities exist. Goldberg/Taker, HHH/Taker (revenge for the prior year), Sheamus/Taker , McIntyre/Taker, Miz/Taker, Swagger/Taker (note all the prior 4 hinge on one of those guys taking off, but seriously in a year one of them should be off the charts!). Then there is Punk/Taker, Cena/Taker, Orton/Taker (face Orton), etc.

 

[Greenlight13]

Do they even need to explain it?

Fans have come to expect Undertaker to not be around much and for Shawn to take time off for personal reasons. Both of them are upper-level enhancement talents in a way these days, so it isn't as big a deal as say John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Chris Jericho or Edge. Those are the key 5 guys in the company in terms of main event storylines and championships. Rey Mysterio and CM Punk are borderline. Shawn and Taker are here for respect feuds, sporadically wrestling on TV and putting on lengthy matches with younger talent to give them a rub. The only difference between them and jobbers to the stars is they almost always defeat the star they're feuding with, but a strong showing against either raises your profile, even in defeat. Bryan Danielson was the same between losing his title in ROH and leaving for the WWE, he began to branch off from the main event scene and work with guys he hadn't really before, trying to enhance them and better the company overall. You have Shawn doing that for the guys on Raw, also teaming with Triple H to take the load off himself, and Taker doing it on Smackdown.

I know what everyone's going to say; Undertaker's had a few long title runs in recent years. But he isn't like most champions, and he's also had long, long breaks from wrestling from April to August. The real main eventers are the 9-5-ers, the guys who are there all year long pending injury.

That's my response to explaining their absence, but as for what I'd do for each after Mania more generally, well, I do have some thoughts.

I believe that if Shawn loses he should get a big emotional send-off to START the show but Triple H should stop it mid-way. Everyone would assume he's going to attack Shawn, but he should ask for one last match with his best friend, HBK should accept, and it should main event raw and regardless of who wins, the entire locker room should stand around the ring and applaud and he should get the Ric Flair send-off, with the biggest guys coming out and hugging him one by one.

Taker can then take his annual time off and continue business as usual, return in summer, challenge for the title, and then begin a strong Mania program, just adding two straight wins of HBK to his resume.

If Shawn wins then all he has to do is say the match took almost everything he had and he needs to go away for a little while, but he will return. Then for his next epic rivalry he can say he retired Ric Flair, ended The Streak, he's Mr Wrestlemania etc. Same as if Taker wins, just add to his resume.

What to do with Taker if he loses is the golden question. Realistically it doesn't really affect his overall character. I mean he loses plenty for the other 364 days of the year and nobody makes a massive fuss. I know WM is special and it's an incredible thing to have, but he's still the Undertaker. He's still, to borrow a phrase from his other gimmick, the big dog in this yard. "He has won 17 times at Wrestlemania" still sounds VERY impressive, considering second place is waaaay behind him.

 

[DL23]

I'd do something along the lines of Austin/Bret Mania 13, I'd have Undertaker viciously assault HBK to the point he can't continue, I would even allow blood for this match to over sell the injury, then Undertaker maybe do a heel turn, and pound on HBK to the point the referee stops the bout, that way Undertaker wins via stoppage, but HBK never lost due to pinfall or submission, so that leads to him taken a lot of time off, and maybe around January for his HOF announcement, which I'd work into a storyline where he annouces that he was never pinned or submitted and he'd like one more match at wrestlemania before he retires against someone who he can pass the torch to.. enter Morrison or Miz even Drew Macntyre

 

[oldskoolrassler]

In pro wrestling, career matches have been done to death over the years. Michaels will lose cleanly to the Undertaker in an epic match. Undertaker will appear on Raw on Monday night and have a load of guilt for ending Michaels career, he will "disappear" for a few months and return for a title run. Undertaker will face Sheamus in next years Wrestlemania as the champ only to have Shawn Micheals come out of nowhere, interfere and cost him the title. That way Michaels will have his "victory" over the Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

 

[#hamler]

I'd do something along the lines of Austin/Bret Mania 13, I'd have Undertaker viciously assault HBK to the point he can't continue, I would even allow blood for this match to over sell the injury, then Undertaker maybe do a heel turn, and pound on HBK to the point the referee stops the bout, that way Undertaker wins via stoppage, but HBK never lost due to pinfall or submission, so that leads to him taken a lot of time off, and maybe around January for his HOF announcement, which I'd work into a storyline where he annouces that he was never pinned or submitted and he'd like one more match at wrestlemania before he retires against someone who he can pass the torch to.. enter Morrison or Miz even Drew Macntyre

wow, that just described what i couldn't put into words. that storyline is perfect. only thing is that no matter how much macntyre or miz are pushed, they couldn't retire HBK, morrison however could.

really really great idea...

also, sheamus could never retire the undertaker. that would just be a huge mistake on vince's part...

 

[jgregist]

I see Taker getting the clean win tonight and Michaels riding off into the sunset. Taker then takes time off and returns just before SummerSlam where a newly reunited Edge and Christian attack Undertaker week after week leading to a tag match at Summerslam featuring Edge/Christian vs Undertaker and a surprise partner which turns out to be none other than HBK.

HBK and Taker go over at Summerslam and make ammends which allows HBK to find peace and move on to his retirement program vs HHH headlining next years Wrestlemania.

 

[bxbigshow]

HBK loses and 'retires', that explains his absence easily. Honestly before the match stip was added all the reports said that Michaels was taking a small amount of time off after 'Mania. So HBK wasn't talking 'full-blown' retirement until after the stip, which IMO means hes just hyping the match.

He'll be off until late summer where Trips will either call him out in a heel run, brig him back as DX, or he will have an official's role (special ref, RAW Host) and be coaxed back by a younger Superstar. I think the Taker boat would've sailed by then and HBK will be going on a shorter schedule for another year or two.

As for Undertaker...

!8-0 on the tron, lightning bolts, UT kneeling in the ring...lights go dark, lights come on...no Undertaker. Seriously by now that's all the explanation you need, he did what he accomplished and he can rest in yada yada.

He will also be back by Summerslam, shutting up some heel who has got too full of himself. I'd prefer a Sheamus or a heel Edge for the summer. I would hope that Chris Jericho is still in full bastard mode, gets the Royal Rumble win that's the only thing missing from his resume, and challenges Taker for the title and the streak next year. I think Jericho is the next best person to pull of a 5 star(ish) match with Taker at Wrestlemania. Save Cena for 20-0.

Kane, while I love him, has been done already. Have him just get major league focused on establishing his legacy and erasing that 24 hour WWE Championship reign and challenge for the World Title seriously. While I'd love for him to have it for a while, just a serious more-than-one-random-match run will do.

Sheamus as an option while sounds good, I can't see a great quality match from these two. Screams too much like a Nathan Jones/Batista botchfest.

 

[mooseman]

I want Cena vs Taker for Mania 28 (20-0) to be in The Deadman's home state of Texas and the new Cowboy Stadium. How awesome would that be? I don't know if they could do it but the opportunity to seat 100,000+ might be enticing for Mcmahon.

 

[D CENATION X]

Post WM26 I think both of them will be absent for quite some time and silence will be cast over the match after RAW. That way the other wrestlers should start building their own status's a bit like CM Punk did last year over Jeff Hardy. Triple H should also take a hiatus though that really means trusting the rest of the roster to really make the step up in their respective fueds. Former Legacy members, and the MITB winner in particular need to show how good they really are. The draft should also shake things up and I wouldn't mind seeing the likes of Drew Mcintyre, Shaemus or Jack Swagger fued with each other or join up as a team. But taker and HBK deserve a long rest... well HBK I'm not sure what will happen. The young stars never seem to step up anymore to make WWE more interesting. I also agree that Taker must face Cena at Wrestlemania before he retires. Had Cena not lost at WM24 then he too would have had an undefeated streak but WWE writers ...well we already know they love to *waste* opportunity after opportunity (just look at Shelton Benjamin, were it not for Michael Hayes).

I completely agree and this would work out for a cena heel turn with cena bragging that even he is undefeated at mania and he will end takers streak and say that his streak will go longer than takers, only for cena to lose at mania, but at the end of the match cena offers his hand immediately turning face again (i mean you dont want to lose half of your viewers, the little kids who would probably never watch wrestling again because of cena turning heel) but instead taker tombstones him causing a double turn.

 

[sKiitz]

Honestly don't think there's any reason why Shawn should be the one to end the streak. I mean, he's at the end of his career and has accomplished more than anybody else in the business. There are so many more deserving people who could use such a boost. Whoever is the one to end the WM streak will no doubt get a HUGE boost like none seen before. 'Taker's streak is probably the most important thing in the WWE today as it's been going on for 17 years now and nothing comes close to the importance of it and the time period it's been around for.

Yes, Shawn will lose, but they'll praise him for pushing Taker to his limits and giving him the hardest match of his career (perfect excuse for time off).

On the other hand, having Undertaker as HBK's last match isn't the best idea around. Maybe a retirement match at next years WrestleMania along the lines of HBK/Flair would be the perfect way for Shawn to retire. And guess who his last match should be against? Triple H of course. Perfect..