Undertaker vs Abyss at Wrestlemania 19?

[KBeef]

I was listening to the Steve Austin podcast and on it Tommy Dreamer basically gave a scoop that they had Abyss signed in 2002 and they were going to set him up to face Undertaker at WM19.

Dreamer said that Abyss ended up backing out of the deal and we know the match that ended up happening instead. If this was already known and talked about, my apologizes.

How would have Abyss's career went had he actually signed and not stayed in TNA?

How good or bad would that match had been, now I am curious.

 

[BenChillin]

Well, first of all, he wouldn't be Abyss. That's for sure. Who knows what would've happened. He could've been packaged entirely different. Doubt the mask would've been there due to Mankind's existence.

Also, after match is said and done, maybe his career would've went downhill. I mean, remember Mordecai? That guy was set up to be an Undertaker villain and that went nowhere.

 

[OwenHart]

It would be interesting to hear why Abyss canceled the deal...

 

[KBeef]

It would be interesting to hear why Abyss canceled the deal...

He may have been repackaged, but it would've been a similar gimmick since that's what made him good.

Dreamer said he backed out because he got cold feet and didn't feel ready.

To be fair, that early in your career and to be in that kind of position with pressure a lot of people may have made a similar choice.

He also could have thought that with his look, size and work that another opportunity would have came.

 

[aholeisahole]

To be fair, that early in your career and to be in that kind of position with pressure a lot of people may have made a similar choice.

Parks debuted in 1995. If he wasn't going to be ready in 2003, when did he think he was going to be ready?

If this is true (and Dreamer is known to embellish), bad move, Abyss.

 

[KBeef]

Parks debuted in 1995. If he wasn't going to be ready in 2003, when did he think he was going to be ready?

If this is true (and Dreamer is known to embellish), bad move, Abyss.

My mistake, I did not know he debuted that early, I always thought 2000 for some reason.

Ill take the guys word since he was there but well never know for sure.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Some of it would depend upon where they ultimately went with Chris Park in terms of his gimmick. Given his size, I'm thinking they'd have gone the route of having him be a monster heel/powerhouse brawler type of guy. If so, I think there could've been the potential for a great, physical, hardcore style brawl between them.

Abyss is essentially an amalgam of the Mankind & Kane gimmicks, so I think there could've been some potential for a feud between them. Taker was still young, he was healthy, he'd obviously been working out. He was still in his biker gimmick phase and, I could see WWE going down the road of having Park as something of a big, badass biker himself.

As to where Park ultimately would've wound up, I can see the potential of him being someone who ultimately made it to the level of Kane or Big Show: an established star, mid to upper mid-card mainstay with a couple of World Heavyweight Championship runs, a handful of tag title runs, maybe one or two IC title runs who'd be used to elevate younger guys and be an occasional foil for top level guys as he got older.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I can see why he would knock it back... basically he had 2 offers, one to be a headliner, one to be "fed to Taker" which was the WWE M.O. at the time... TNA was new, had enough cash to give him more than Vince was and were offering true opportunity...

For all the good Taker has done with established talent, he hasn't EVER created new stars with the exception of Kane and even that is debatable as Glen Jacobs was already a fixture under different gimmicks... attempts to do so with him have failed... the nearest he ever got was that brief thing with Maven... not saying he considered it beneath him or anything but I can imagine Park meeting Callaway and feeling either slighted, belittled or just not that it was right for him and it was borne out, his hunch led to great things in TNA... he was a main eventer for many years there... not everyone sees the Vince McMahon Brass Ring TM as golden... some do just see it as Brass...