When should the Undertaker have retired? (read OP)

[ColePens]

***Any wrestler can wrestle and get money for as long as they want. This discussion is for protecting the character and putting a bow on the amazing career of The Undertaker***

Taker once said he doesn't want to be that guy who dad's take their kid to the show and say "Man.. if you could only have seen him back then." Well we are waaaaaaaaaaaay past that. So when do you think would have been the perfect time for Taker to retire?


- "The end of the era" match against HHH? To me... I think this is a good answer. That spot where HHH/Taker/HBK walked up the ramp together was priceless. Really hit home and I wish we would have moved on from there. It's definitely my choice. However we wouldn't have got the Taker/Punk match.

- Losing the streak to Lesnar? We would have got the Punk match and then ended on a loss.

- When he put his gear in the ring for Roman? We had a match against Bray AND Shane McMahon before this Roman match. To me... this was a sad match to watch. Taker couldn't go for shit.

- Any other moments?

Click to read more...

 

[Cor]

WM28 is the answer.

End of an Era should have been the End of an Era damnit.


Off the board choice: Have CM Punk beat the streak and retire Taker.

 

[Disclose]

never. cuz hes my favorite :'(

 

[The Gongshow]

After the streak. It was his ultimate rub to give. I'm not saying it should have went to Brock, but he should have retired after the streak ended. Imagine if he had lost it to Wyatt! A star would have been made.

It did lead to a pretty fun year for Lesnar, before everyone turned on him. Beating Taker, the squash match with Cena, the Triple Threat at the Rumble and the WM31 main event was pretty entertaining.

 

[Paris in Flames]

Should have given the streak to Wyatt and not Lesnar and retired then.

But in terms of this poll...Definitely went WM28.

 

[dahrougem2]

I always thought the CM Punk match was perfect to end the streak.

 

[Kimi]

Should have given the streak to Wyatt and not Lesnar and retired then.

But in terms of this poll...Definitely went WM28.

Same.

I think the steak is somewhat wasted on Lesnar. Lesnar can be Lesnar without it, but it would really have boosted up someone else.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Great shock moment but a total waste of the steak. WWE is shooting themselves in the foot trying to make new stars.

 

[GarbageGoal]

Lesnar never should have lost to Cena and HHH prior to that match. Then it would have had some juice.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Should have lost the streak to Bray Wyatt and never been seen again.

For this poll, after losing to Brock. When the streak ended, so should have the Undertaker.

If he really wanted to continue after that, it should have been American Badass

 

[SeidoN]

WM33 was probably past its best before date, but felt good.

 

[TD Charlie]

I always thought the CM Punk match was perfect to end the streak.

Being there, I and everyone in the group knew that Punk was gonna lose that match. But then about 10 minutes deep there got to be some doubt that crept into everyone's mind and you could feel it in the entire building. Punk should have won that match and just let Taker go afterwards. He hasn't done anything since that's been any good and it would have catapulted Punk higher than he was before he lost to The Rock (which was also a crap decision).

ah what could have been

 

[ColePens]

I mean without a doubt looking back now, 2 things were butchered so badly that the WWE and even some fans thought they got right.

1) The streak should never have died to Lesnar. I personally thought Taker should have kept the streak. The only thing I would have accepted was him losing the streak and giving it to someone young and with plenty of time to be an insane heel (Wyatt or Punk would have been so insane)

2) Lesnar destroying Cena. Holy shit looking back now that is awful. That match and what led after with suplex city matches just flat out sucked. People marked out that night but looking back now it was brutal.

So like I said... end of Taker's career should have been 20-0 with all 3 of them holding on to one another. Beautiful sight to see. Such a great culmination of the true streak.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

WM30 when the streak ended.

He could at least stull work after 28, given that he and Punk had the MOTN at 29.

 

[Paris in Flames]

2) Lesnar destroying Cena. Holy **** looking back now that is awful. That match and what led after with suplex city matches just flat out sucked. People marked out that night but looking back now it was brutal.

Jesus. This. So much this.

I loved seeing Cena destroyed with...17 different variations of a suplex or whatever it was especially because Super Cena had been around for so long. It was so unexpected and in that moment..incredible.

But now...years later...it ruined so much. So God damned much.

 

[Del Preston]

The end of the streak should have signified the end of his career. If he didn't want to retire in 2014 then don't do it then. I hate when he shows up now, especially to wrestle at Mania. It's become pathetic.

 

[JackSlater]

I think that there are plenty of points at which he should have retired, anywhere from Wrestlemania 27 (the 28 match against hhh was horrible and had no purpose anyway so I wouldn't miss it) to Wrestlemania 31 against Wyatt. Undertaker was really going downhill by Wrestlemania 31, and by Wrestlemania 32 he was against a non-wrestler in a waste of a match. His Wrestlemania 33 match against Reigns was horrible and to me signifies the time when it was decidedly too late. I found the streak gimmick pretty tedious and largely wasted on a gimmick like Undertaker so I never cared who beat him to take or if anyone ever would. Lesnar, Punk, or Wyatt would each be fine choices to beat Undertaker in my eyes.

 

[ColePens]

Taker matches started to be sad that night he lost to Lesnar. I think he had a concussion or something during the match but that match was really sad. That is where I realized his glory days were gone. You could start to see it a little bit in his HHH matches, but he still had that magic. He still had that aura of storytelling. That was shown in the Punk match. Even though his skills were diminishing, the storytelling was incredible.

So yeah that Lesnar match turned from "Omg I love this streak" to "Oh wow.. he's really getting old and slow." And then from there every single appearance was sad. Every single appearance was hard to watch.

 

[JackSlater]

Taker matches started to be sad that night he lost to Lesnar. I think he had a concussion or something during the match but that match was really sad. That is where I realized his glory days were gone. You could start to see it a little bit in his HHH matches, but he still had that magic. He still had that aura of storytelling. That was shown in the Punk match. Even though his skills were diminishing, the storytelling was incredible.

So yeah that Lesnar match turned from "Omg I love this streak" to "Oh wow.. he's really getting old and slow." And then from there every single appearance was sad. Every single appearance was hard to watch.

I can see the Lesnar match being viewed as a turning point, though he was severely hurt early in the match so I find it hard to hold the quality of that match against either of them. Once he suffered the concussion there was no way that match could turn out very good. There are plenty of bad matches throughout the Undertaker's Wrestlemania catalogue, as even at his best he generally needed the other guy to take the match to a high level, but WWE didn't do him any favours late in his career as his ability really eroded. I feel confident in saying that against Punk he still had the ability to participate in a good match, but for the Lesnar match I can only give him an N/A. I'm not sure that he was even completely washed up by the Wyatt match. He was beyond washed up by the Reigns match though.

It's too bad really as the way he seemed to be ending his career was very unique and was leaving people with only a positive impression. He's now just another wrestler who hung on too long and left a bad taste in people's mouths.

 

[Conrad McBenis]

Should have given the streak to Wyatt and not Lesnar and retired then.

But in terms of this poll...Definitely went WM28.

This.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

read @JackSlater 's post and I just randomly thought of that randomly amazing Batista vs. Taker match at WM23 because they felt disrespected at their spot on the card. Before then his WM performances were hit or miss, but his opponents were meh a lot of the time too, though.

Something definitely clicked again for him in 2006 when he worked with Angle before WM though and he killed it. In fact, even the program with Randy seemed to get him back on his A-game in 2005. Then they stuck him with Henry at WM22, Khali and Kennedy for a large part of 2006 and wasted it away.

Thank god he broke free and ended up working with actual talent after that, though. 2007-2013 Taker was fun when he was there though (aside from that program with Kane, ugh).

 

[alko]

You see it from your point. But lets look to it from Taker point. Big Star, big money, fans love him, so why not to continue?

 

[JackSlater]

read @JackSlater 's post and I just randomly thought of that randomly amazing Batista vs. Taker match at WM23 because they felt disrespected at their spot on the card. Before then his WM performances were hit or miss, but his opponents were meh a lot of the time too, though.

Something definitely clicked again for him in 2006 when he worked with Angle before WM though and he killed it. In fact, even the program with Randy seemed to get him back on his A-game in 2005. Then they stuck him with Henry at WM22, Khali and Kennedy for a large part of 2006 and wasted it away.

Thank god he broke free and ended up working with actual talent after that, though. 2007-2013 Taker was fun when he was there though (aside from that program with Kane, ugh).

You're right to highlight that match. I consider Undertaker's work with Batista the most impressive thing he ever did. Having a classic with Michaels is one thing, but it's another thing entirely to put on high quality matches with Batista. Definitely seemed like a second wind that did him well for few years and WWE was wise to give him Edge and Michaels in the coming years.

You see it from your point. But lets look to it from Taker point. Big Star, big money, fans love him, so why not to continue?

I think everyone can understand why he has continued. Sometimes it's better to go out on top than to wring every last drop you can out of your career.

 

[BonMorrison]

Hot take alert - I still don't get what was so great about the Punk match (I mean, it was fine-to-good) and I personally thought he was terrible by the time his Triple H match happened at 27. I thought both his Triple H matches were awful and wanted him retired long before the Punk match even happened.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

After the "end of the era" match at 20-0 at WM 28

This.