First of all, I don't know whether the voting done in Cyber Sunday is real or not. The voting was open until the day when Cyber Sunday was actually supposed to be held. If the voting is open till afternoon or evening, how will the story-line be decided, how will the match-scripting take place, how will the wrestlers and the referee practice the match to ensure they end it within the time alloted (otherwise they will be taken off-air)? Since the intermediary voting-results are not disclosed, I have a feeling that the results of the voting done in this case are fixed and pre-decided.
HHH vs (Kozlov and/ or Hardy): I have a feeling that HHH will retain. Hardy has been in too many title matches recently and he never wins. I'm not sure if he will even be selected. If it is Kozlov, he will not win either because it would be too early to give him a title reign. I think the earliest title win was for Undertaker - he was undefeated the 1st year of his career and he defeated Hulk Hogan for the title. And like all know, as good as Kozlov is - he is no Undertaker.
Chris Jericho vs Batista: Batista has been really promoted a lot recently with wins over Shawn Michaels and John Cena. My guess is that he will win this one. The special guest referee, like last time, will most likely be Stone Cold Steve Austin. It will be the only thing worth watching in this PPV, next to the match between Undertaker and Big SLow.
Matt Hardy vs Evan Bourne: I don't see Bourne becoming champion all of a sudden in such less time, so I think Hardy will retain.
Undertaker vs Big SLow: Now this is the one we are all waiting for. This decides who the leader of the WWE is, and we all know that is Undertaker since 2 decades. Big SLow can not even come close.
This match should have been the main-event, but it won't be because Big SLow is still a mediocre-card player, and not really a main-eventer. It is upto Undertaker to make this match look good.
The options for this one are I Quit, Knock out and Last Man Standing. One would think that since Big SLow defeated Undertaker by knock-out through cheating (by using the exposed steel of the turn-buckle), this would also be a knock-out match so that the dead-man can take revenge. However, I think a Last Man Standing match is better because it will allow Undertaker to do more damage to Big SLow and if Big SLow cannot answer the 10 count, it is like a knock-out revenge.
I'm going with the dead-man coming on top on this one. I hope to see him choke-slamming Big SLow towards the end, like he did to Khali in the last-man-standing match on Smackdown. If he can choke-slam Yokozuna, Mabel (Big Daddy V/ Viscera), Mark Henry and Khali, he can as well choke-slam Big SLow.
Now that this filler-feud will be over, I guess Big SLow will have a rivalry with Khali because Khali is perhaps turning face (good character) as he refused to hit Undertaker with the chair that Big SLow gave to him. Khali will take revenge for their Backlash match where Big SLow defeated him. Undertaker will perhaps have another filler feud (maybe with Umaga who needs some popularity now, as Kozlov is involved with HHH). I guess the Umaga rivalry will go on till Armageddon, and then the Undertaker will win the Rumble for a title match at Wrestlemania, where he wins 17-0.
That's what you normally heard Stone Cold saying to Vince McMahon when he didn't want to pay attention to it, but I mean - COME ON! What did WWE do in No Mercy?
First of all, how long will HHH be a champion and how long will Jeff Hardy be a number 1 contender? I'm sick of seeing their matches so often, with the same result. If Hardy cannot be a champion, then remove him from the line and bring somebody else to challenge HHH.
Secondly, Shawn Michaels lost the ladder match to Jericho? Shawn is a bigger legend than Jericho. How many times will he lose matches, let Jericho injure him, and then come back to lose again? He lost to Cena at the main event of Wrestlemania 23 but then he defeated Cena at Raw in a non-title match. He lost to Jericho at No Mercy but then he defeated him at Raw in a non-title match. Is that WWE's way of saying to him that "you are better than the champion but we won't give you the title"? That's what they always did to Undertaker, but looks like Shawn has been added to the screw-up list which ironically he helped build for Undertaker when he defeated Undertaker in the first ever classic hell-in-a-cell match with help from Kane, who beat his brother.
Last and MOST importantly - the point I wanted to discuss. How the hell can Big Show defeat Undertaker by a KO? The WWE have spent decades making Undertaker the greatest legend in the history of the business and making his character the most dominant ever, a man who is not human, who cannot be hurt because he is already dead, and a man who cannot be conquered cleanly without any interference or cheating.... how can he lose a match by KO? It is true that the match was not clean, and that Big Show used the exposed steel of the turn-buckle to hurt Undertaker in the head, but did the live audience realize that is what happened? Or did they think that Big Show simply knocked down Undertaker with his punches? That would be UNBELIEVABLE for anybody who has followed wrestling for 2 decades.
If they are trying to make their matches look more 'real', then this was an even bigger mistake. The Undertaker, in his real skills, can execute so many quick mixed-martial-arts moves on Big Show before Big Show (I prefer calling him Big SLow) can even figure out what hit him.
The Undertaker has defeated Big Show so many times in the past (including the grandest stage of them all - Wrestlemania) using different moves each time. The Undertaker mentored Big Show during the ministry-days and helped him become famous by tagging along with him, becoming tag-team champions. Big Show copied his finisher move, the choke-slam. The Undertaker said in an interview that he considers the Big Show to have the right capability, but he was unhappy about the fact that Show was very SLow, had low stamina and could not stand in the ring for more than 10 minutes due to his huge bulk. Big SLow took his advice and during his hiatus, worked on getting better and came back weighing 50 pounds less, looking much better than earlier. In a statement - we can say that the Undertaker created Big Show, and he as well will destroy him.
Undertaker has lost his last 5 matches at No Mercy, mostly through interference. Hence, I am not surprised that he lost this one too. But why did he lose this one? Once again, the WWE are to blame. Every time they plan a long title reign for him nicely, they screw it equally well by giving him brutal matches which injure him as he does not take drugs unlike most other wrestlers. They made him win the Royal Rumble 2007 and win the title from Batista, after which he was going to hold the title as long as he wanted. But they gave him bloody matches like the last-man-standing match and the steel-cage match with Batista, resulting in him getting injured because he does not take drugs unlike the others. Therefore, his long title reign had to be curtailed, and this allowed Mark Henry and Edge to attack him, and steal the title. He returned and took revenge from Mark Henry, but they again gave him bloody matches like the hell-in-a-cell match against Batista, and the elimination chamber. Though he won the title back from Edge, he again needed time off due to a knee injury. And why am I not astonished about that - if a man works his a** off for more than 18 years to build a company and build an industry, giving the most difficult finisher tombstone piledriver on guys as big as Mark Henry and taking their entire body-weight on his knees when he brings them down, obviously it will have an impact on the knee.
So, Undertaker again needs time off to heal his nagging injuries. Why did the WWE screw up yet again like they did last year and earlier this year? Why did the WWE call Undertaker back at Summerslam for a brutal hell-in-a-cell match with Edge when he had not entirely healed? Knowing Undertaker, he will do anything which is best for the business. He came back to culminate the rivalry with Edge because it made sense to do so at a big PPV like Summerslam, and because Edge also needed a break. Due to these reasons, he made his return despite being injured and I can't stop praising him for that. It was easy to figure out that his knee is not fine, because he did not do the old-school top-rope walk in the match against Edge. I mean, you expect to see that in every Undertaker match, don't you? He's so perfect at doing it. After that match, he has not been in action on Smackdown but has been only doing promos. That is what led me to believe that his knee is not entirely healed and he will perhaps lose the match to Big SLow to take some more time off. Yes, a clean defeat was not acceptable, so they made sure the cheap-shot from the steel of the exposed turn-buckle is the reason why Undertaker lost, but still - a knock out was way too much to tolerate!
Though Undertaker has been in action in house-shows and dark-matches which are not shown on TV, he has been mostly doing tag-team matches and that would definitely make you believe that he is not completely healed. He delivered a tombstone to Vickie on Smackdown, which I thought was a message to his fans that his knee is fine - but I guess he still needs time to nurse and heal it. Now when he comes back after getting healed, I hope they don't put him through bloody and brutal matches again - though I can't help understand what other option they have. He is the only one who can do all kinds of matches, be it hell-in-a-cell, inferno, casket, steel-cage, elimination-chamber, last-ride, last-man-standing, etc. He has been in both the annual hell-in-a-cell matches the last 2 years, and that is because the greatest rivalries are settled at hell-in-a-cell - obviously, any great rivalry still inevitably requires Undertaker to be a part of it. WWE are at a severe talent crunch if they cannot find better guys than Batista and John Cena to carry the torch when Undertaker, HHH, Michaels and Kane retire.
And what's up with the Masked Kane? Is he coming or is he not coming? Though Kane is portrayed as a heel (bad/ evil/ villain character) right now, I really would not support Rey Mysterio. Yeah the kids would support Mysterio, but who cares about the un-knowledgeable opinion of children? If anybody has seen the Masked Kane, they know that next to Undertaker, he was the most dominant and explosive force in WWE history. He created terror in the hearts of his opponents, much like Undertaker did in the past. Kane, now, is not as big as a threat as he was earlier but I hope that he returns with the mask and becomes his dominant self once again as he was earlier. He beat everybody during those days - Stone Cold, HHH, Batista, etc. But now he has started losing to HHH, Batista and even Mark Henry. I hoped the Masked Kane to return by helping Undertaker in this match in case La Familia interfered. Anyway, that was not to be. But maybe he will make a return at Wrestlemania! WWE have shown signs of his return to the fans now, and they will all be waiting to see him back for once. Who knows Paul Bearer might be by his side too.
As for Edge, I think he will return soon and feud with La Familia. He will perhaps turn face (good character), because he has "paid for his sins" by "burning in hell" after Undertaker sent him to hell after the hell-in-a-cell match and called upon the flames. But there will not be any alliance between him and Undertaker, and no - the ministry is not returning, sorry.
My prediction about Undertaker is that he will perhaps return at Survivor Series or Armageddon. Big SLow might win the title from HHH, because he has got a very high push right now by beating Undertaker. Since he has formed an alliance with Vickie, it would make sense to sell the alliance by making it look strong and by giving him the title win from HHH. Regardless of whether Big SLow is champion or not, Undertaker will return and defeat him. I think that it will be a casket match, so that Big SLow and Vickie can be locked in it and burnt (as Undertaker told Vickie that he will send her to hell too). I guess Undertaker is not winning the title this year now, so maybe he will take some time to heal his injuries, make a good return and then win the Royal Rumble next year. That would be a good way to give him a nice title reign. The WWE belt looks awful because of the spinner that John Cena introduced in it to make it a waste.
I hope that Undertaker goes for the World Heavyweight Championship belt after winning the Royal Rumble next year, because it is bigger and looks better - a big guy like Undertaker can carry it very well. Maybe that Shawn Michaels would've won it by then and it will be a classic match at Wrestlemania if Undertaker challenges him for the title, that too in his real hometown of Houston. Apart from taking his streak to 17-0 (which is listed as the greatest record in the history of the WWE at http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/wwerecords/) and adding another legendary name to his list of victims, he would've also created the record of winning the World Heavyweight Championship 3 times in a row at Wrestlemania - a hat-trick, another record to be proud of. And this time, WWE - don't give him bloody matches that injure him.
I have concluded that the WWE don't want to keep their loyal veteran wrestling fans happy, and it is not long before the fans who helped them become so big stop appreciating them. If they have any sense left, I hope that they give Undertaker a long title reign soon which he has deserved and earned more than anyone else.
I'm not watching Unforgiven because of two main reasons:
* No Undertaker match announced
* All championship bouts are scramble matches which really don't make good matches out of them
As I'm writing, I know that Unforgiven is going on live and I am catching the updates on WWE.com. So far Matt Hardy has won the ECW title and Dibiase/ Rhodes have maintained their tag-team titles against Cryme Time by the help of a "vicious" man - who might that be? I have a feeling it was Sid Vicious (I didn't see the video, so am not sure) because I have read on some websites that he is interested in coming back, and his Wikipedia page also says that he is signed to WWE now.
As for the titles - I think Batista is going to win the WHC title because he features on the Unforgiven poster. He has been pushed really high up the last few months after his victories against Shawn Michaels and John Cena in PPVs. It might be a way to make him the top superstar instead of John Cena on Raw for a while. Maybe that Cena has to take time off to shoot for a movie.
The WWE title is tricky - I want Jeff Hardy to win, but it is going to be difficult for him. HHH might retain it - the only reason I don't want him to retain it is that I don't want to see another Undertaker vs HHH feud. Now that Undertaker is back after his "banishment" (WWE's excuse to hide his injury knee-cyst on-screen), once he is done with Vickie, he will surely go for the title. The same title which was always HIS the last 18 years, but which other jokers have won many more times than he has and have held many more days than he has. Unfortunately he always runs into some bad luck with injuries after he wins the title because the WWE gives him bloody matches which nobody else can do (like the last-man standing and steel-cage matches against Batista last year after the Wrestlemania match, and then the annual Hell in a cell matches 2 in a row, last year as well as this year), and then the title has to be stolen from him either by cashing the Money-in-the-bank (like Edge did in 2007 after Mark Henry attacked Undertaker following his already-brutal steel-cage match with Batista) or by stripping him off the title (2008) because you can't have the Dead-man forfeit the title or lose it cleanly in a match as it would be against his character and reputation.
All veteran wrestling fans have been waiting to finally see a long Undertaker title reign before he retires, and we have been expecting it to start from early 2007 ever since he won the Royal Rumble. I am not saying that he is retiring - I hope he stays on at least until he becomes 20-0 at Wrestlemania and the streak should remain alive. That would be more than 2 decades of destruction.
I can't help admire the fact that Undertaker returned with an injury - his knee is still not completely healed, which is obvious from the way he executed the tombstone piledriver on Edge in the Hell in a Cell match. There was also no old-school (top-rope walk) executed by Undertaker, which means his knee is not doing good. Perhaps the reason why he was made to return was that the Vickie-Edge story-line was becoming too elongated (it was created only due to Undertaker's injury), and had to be ended because Edge was injured too, and needed time off.
Undertaker's return was better suited for Summerslam instead of Unforgiven because Summerslam is a bigger PPV (and he already made his return at Unforgiven last year - why repeat it?). I appreciate the fact that Undertaker made his return despite his knee's condition for what was best for the business - end the rivalry with Edge on screen and let Edge go away for a while to heal his injuries. Its not surprising that Edge dominated most of the match because Undertaker was injured and couldn't jump around much to show his great agility for his huge size - and the story-line made it look like Edge is trying all that he can, but in the end you cannot kill what's already dead. Another proof of the fact that Undertaker is not completely healed is that he is not wrestling any matches on Smackdown but just coming out for doing promos. He is not scheduled for any Unforgiven match which reassures the fact, but then the WWE have kept him in a promo-mode on the mic to ensure that his fans watch it. Vickie also annouced that she demands an apology from Undertaker on Unforgiven - so that would not reduce the viewership for the PPV because a lot of people will pay just to see Undertaker appear.
I am sick and tired of the Vickie Guerrero stuff. Get Undertaker to win the title and get rid of all these jokers! I hope that a handi-cap match is announced with Undertaker on one side and the entire La Familia on the other side, so that he can single-handedly kick a** of all of them and then burn Vickie in a casket so that she can join her on-screen "husband" Edge in Hell as Undertaker had promised. Otherwise, Undertaker feuding with a woman just doesn't make sense to me and is too boring to watch. Finish it quick!
I was hoping that Vickie will hire Big Show or Umaga or Vladimir Kozlov to protect herself from Undertaker and that would lead to a match at Unforgiven, because I had heard of an Undertaker vs Umaga rivalry planned for the year. But those would be filler-feuds until Undertaker starts feuding for the title, that is why they would not interest me. The wait for it has been too long since last year's January - WWE, now please give the fans what they want! Give Undertaker the title shot and finish all the other stupid/ tiny story-lines around him. Now that Sid has made his return to WWE (so I think), she might as well hire him for the job - who knows? But I would be bored to see that too because Undertaker is still on the top of his game (even when injured, he kicks a** of all the top-brass though they try to perform at their 200% best when they are in the ring against him). I don't think Sid, at this age, can stand in front of the age-less Undertaker, the dead-man who cannot be hurt. Undertaker's health seemed to be better than before in the Hell in a cell match (except for the knee) which makes me feel he has a good 3-4 years left in his full-time WWE career.
But since Undertaker vs HHH has already happened at Wrestlemania, I don't wanna see another repeat of the rivalry. This is why I wanted Jeff Hardy to win the title at Unforgiven but my guess is that it won't happen. In order to increase viewership, the WWE is doing big matches and rivalries at this time - Batista vs John Cena came out of nowhere on Summerslam. Hence, we might see Undertaker vs HHH happen at Survivor series. Survivor is where Undertaker debuted, that is where he won his first title a year after his debut against Hulk Hogan, that is where I guess he will win the title again this year if it is his last title reign (hopefully a very long and dominant one because nobody has deserved it more for his contributions to the business, both on-stage and back-stage). Anyways - if there is an Undertaker vs HHH rivalry planned, get it done quickly with the title going to Undertaker because I don't want it to go on till Wrestlemania - it cannot amount to anything bigger than a Wrestlemania match and we have already seen them fight at Wrestlemania 17 where Undertaker completely conquered HHH. Let somebody else get added to the victim-list of Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak instead of having HHH listed in there 2 times. My best bet for the next victim is Shawn Michaels. Hopefully he will win the Royal Rumble next year and challenge Undertaker for the title. Maybe he will claim to end the streak like the way he stopped the show of Flair, but then Vince will put a retirement storyline into it and the show-stopper will be the one getting retired and getting his show "stopped" by the dead-man. I don't think anyone else deserves to stop his show.
Vickie is not getting an apology from Undertaker for sure - I just jope the damned rivalry gets over soon and then we can have Undertaker for the championship title once he has healed all is injuries and is back in full swing!
Update: Ok - I am updating the blog now. I just checked on WWE.com that HHH has indeed retained the title as I predicted and now the WWE have made it very obvious as to there will be an Undertaker vs HHH fued. This is what they say here - http://www.wwe.com/shows/unforgiven/matches/7925052/results/: "the champion proved his mettle and why he is dubbed 'The King of Kings'. If four Superstars can't stop him, who can? " - the answer is the Undertaker. WWE had also said something similar after Summerslam - http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/matches/7720708/results/: "The Game has defeated the 420-pound Punjabi Giant. Who or what can stop The King of Kings?" - ok, it is hint enough that Undertaker would stop him :-)
* Michaels announces that he will continue wrestling - my take is that later he will have a retirement stipulation in his Wrestlemania 25 match against Undertaker, which Undertaker will obviously win and that would stop the show of the show-stopper just like the show-stopper stopped the show of Flair at Wrestlemania 24.
* Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella defeat Mickie James and Kofi Kingston - Beth deserves to be women's champion though Santino doesn't deserve anything, but since they have a new relationship and story coming up, I guess it will gain some mileage if they win.
* Jeff Hardy defeats MVP - Jeff is becoming one of the most popular stars of the current WWE roster and he is considered to be the future along with Cena and Batista once the likes of Undertaker, Michaels, Kane and HHH retire. So I guess Jeff will definitely win this one. Unless Jeff is injured and needs time off - in that case there could be some interference which allows MVP to win.
* Mark Henry defeats Matt Hardy - I guess this feud is just a filler-feud until somebody else is ready to take the title from Henry. So my take is that Henry will retain the title (or Hardy could win via disqualification so that the title still remains with Henry).
* CM Punk defeats JBL - this might also be a filler-feud until one of Cena or Batista win the title from Punk.
* HHH vs Khali - as much as I want to say that Khali will win it because he did so last year too at almost the same time, I feel that HHH will win this one. HHH is likely to turn heel soon as per what Smackdown storyline writer Michael Hayes had wished, and that might result in a short rivalry between HHH and Undertaker - but it will not go until Wrestlemania because Undertaker vs HHH at Wrestlemania has happened before. When Undertaker wins the title from HHH (maybe at Survivor series because that is where he won his first title) and the rivalry is over, it will be time for Undertaker to feud with Shawn (perhaps Shawn will win the Rumble and challenge Undertaker, later Vince will put a retirement stipulation into the match). Undertaker will continue to have a long title reign.
* John Cena vs Batista - Cena has lost a couple of PPV matches in this year, whereas Batista had won his last match against Shawn MIchaels. I don't see this feud ending right now because it would be worthless to schedule this match. If Cena wins this, then Batista might get his victory later in a re-match on some other PPV. If Cena has to go for shooting his new movie, then Batista might win. I don't see interference in this match because it is highly anticipated. I think that the WWE wants to increase viewer-rating so they are making the best guys feud now instead of having the Edges on top. Therefore a Cena vs Batista feud on Raw and a Undertaker vs HHH short-feud on Smackdown might be required to pull the business up. Cena vs Batista might also go until Wrestlemania 25.
Undertaker vs Edge - :-) I have already written another blog on this - please read that one.
I do hope to see the masked Kane come out to help Undertaker this time instead of beating him, in case Umaga or some other wrestler interferes in the ring (Edge could have Umaga or Kozlov hidden in the ring because he has had sufficient time to prepare for the match). If Mick Foley makes an appearance like being the special guest referee, nothing like it.
It is to the WWE's credit - the way they have been able to tweak story-lines when the Undertaker got injured.
I guess that year 2007 was planned to be his year, so that he gets a long title reign before retirement, in return to his contributions to the business as the most phenomenal wrestler on-stage, the longest tenuring athlete on the WWE roster, as well as his back-stage contributions in being the locker-room leader, holding the company on his shoulders during the 'lean' years, and mentoring other wrestlers, bringing them to popularity through rivalries and characters derived from his (e.g., Kane), etc - http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/raw15/exclusives/raw15pollresults/. A simple proof of the fact that the year was perhaps planned for him is that he won the Royal Rumble for the first time in his career, that too by defeating the other legend in the WWE roster right now, Shawn Michaels at his home-town. They made another record out of it, by making him the first entrant to win the Rumble by entering at # 30. If anybody watched the preview match of the Royal Rumble at Smackdown in the last week of March 2007, they would have known that Undertaker is going to win the Rumble, the way he interrupted the match and set the pace by cleaning house single-handedly. After that, it was too easy to predict that Undertaker will win the match against Batista (in what was my favourite match of 2007, and was voted so by the fans on WWE.com also), because if there is one thing which is the biggest truth of wrestling and the greatest record, it is that Undertaker has never lost at Wrestlemania, and I hope that he never will because if the WWE needs one name to enumerate in history which never lost at the grandest stage of them all, there is no better wrestler or character than the Dead-man, who cannot be hurt - http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/wwerecords/.
However, I guess the WWE made one slight mistake of giving Undertaker a lot of bloody matches immediately following his victory. Batista perhaps didn't perform very well according to the script in my estimation, and Undertaker ended up getting injured in their last-man-standing match. Now that Undertaker's long-title reign was not possible this time, it had to be taken out somehow. However, it will be against his character to forfeit the title or lose it 'cleanly'. So what does the WWE do now? Modify the story-line to make more story-lines. Enter Edge, challenging Kennedy for his money-in-the-bank title and winning it from him, and encashing it against Undertaker after his bloody steel-cage match with Batista, following which Mark Henry had also returned and assaulted the wounded Undertaker. This way, three Smackdown superstars - Batista, Mark Henry and Edge, got a chance to make a name for themselves and make themselves popular at the expense of the Undertaker, the way most other superstars also have in the past. Following this, when Undertaker was ready to return, it was obvious that he will finish off Mark Henry and turn his attention to the title again. Once again, Undertaker had delivered a tombstone piledriver to Batista (this time on the steel steps), but wait a second - the poster of "Survivor series" had featured Edge holding a chain-cutter or a saw - what does that mean? He was hidden inside the cell as a cameraman. He attacked the Undertaker and helped Batista win.
Why? Perhaps because the WWE thought it made sense that the Undertaker should win his next title at a Wrestlemania, and this would also give a chance to the Undertaker-Edge rivalry to gain some more momentum to help promote Edge. It was easy to predict that Edge will have some trick up his sleeve and win their triple-threat match at Armageddon to become the champion (though, perhaps because no better story-line was possible, they made Vickie the fiance of Edge and it made the whole thing look uglier than anything has in the past).
Heading upto Wrestlemania 24, the moment the Elimination chamber match for Smackdown was announced at No Way Out, it was obvious that the Undertaker will win it (because he did not win the Royal Rumble) so that he can avenge himself from Edge at Wrestlemania and win the title. That elimination chamber match was dominated by the Undertaker as he eliminated or helped eliminate all other 5 opponents, and it was my favourite match of 2008 looking at the brutality and wrestling-skill (the reversal of the head-bang to the cage into a tombstone to Batista was incomparable, and the choke-slam to MVP from the top of the chamber to the ring was memorable). It had to happen, and it happened. The streak became 16-0, and the Undertaker prevailed in Backlash as expected. However, you could make out that the Undertaker has become leaner and is not using the tombstone very often but true to his innovative nature, he has introduced a new submission move (gogoplata from mixed-martial arts). It was obvious that his knee is injured and he needs time off (I guess he had developed a cyst).
Once again, the Undertaker cannot be taken out cleanly. So what to do? The WWE made use of the Vickie-Edge relationship story-line to make a loser-leaves-town match, where Undertaker would fight Edge in a TLC (Edge's speciality), and that he will be banished from the WWE if he lost to Edge. That was sign enough that it is time for the Undertaker to take a vacation to heal his injuries, before being back with a bang. But as far as Undertaker goes, he has proved it in the past that any kind of match against any kind of opponent (regardless of how experienced the opponent is in that kind of match), the match eventually becomes dominated by the Undertaker and becomes his speciality. This time, Undertaker once again dominated and it was my second-favourite matche of 2008. However, they had to introduce outside interference and eventually make Edge win so that the Undertaker can take time off. While leaving, he had a depressed expression on his face to sell the banishment story-line to the fans.
But can the Undertaker be taken out that way? You must be kidding me. He is the most dominant force in the history of professional wrestling. When Edge dumped Vickie and made out with the wedding-planner, it was obvious that now the WWE is doing 2 things - 1) preparing for Undertaker's return because Edge/ Vickie were secondary players in the story-line who had come into it only to create chaos on Smackdown due to Undertaker's injury, until he is ready to come back and take his top-spot, 2) Vickie drew a lot of heat from the fans due to her bad acting skills and voice, so she was being turned "face" (good character).
The first thing which a lot of people asked was whether Undertaker will return in the same persona or a new persona? It is a question of high debate, because he has shown so many personas to the crowd, and he has maintained a link between all of them so well that it is by far the greatest and most recognizable gimmick of all time - http://wrestlingsgreatest.blogspot.com/2007/06/best-wrestling-gimmicks-of-all-time.html. The only reason why I feel that the persona will not change is that this current persona has not evolved out of just the last 1 or 2 personas but it has evolved out of "all" the earlier personas. It has traits of all the earlier personas including the wrestling moves (tombstone/ chokeslam from the mortician, last ride from the bad-a**), the attire (the big-evil vest attire inside with big-evil mark on the tights along with overcoat and hat from the mortician/ deadman), the mind-games from the ministry and lord of darkness, the entrance theme from the deadman and lord of darkness, the signature moves (cutting throat before the tombstone from the deadman and lord of darkness, raising the right hand after victory from the bad-a**).
That is why fans call this persona as the "Hybrid" persona. It is a very well thought-through persona and perhaps the Undertaker wanted to keep it as the last persona before retirement, that is why he made it as a culmination of all other personas. He is giving us a glimpse of all that we have seen of the Undertaker in the past. If you create a new persona now, what will happen to this one and the others? The link has to be maintained like it has been maintained over the last 18 years, and it cannot just be left out. I guess that is the reason why this persona has lasted the longest compared to all other personas. There were a lot of opportunities during this persona when he could have changed it. For example, when Randy Orton put him in a casket with fire or when Mark Henry/ Edge took him out last year when Edge cashed in his money-in-the-bank title. Those were opportunities which qualified for a persona-change considering the kinds of situations after which the Undertaker has changed his persona earlier (like Yokozuna and other heels putting him in a casket, Kane burying him alive, etc). However, in this case, nothing of that sort has happened and he did not "die" in the storyline, but he was just banished and is being brought back as he was. He should perhaps remain a fan-favourite until he retires instead of turning "heel" (evil character) like he did during the ministry to promote Stone Cold and Rock.
The WWE magazine also has Undertaker sitting on its cover and he seems to be in the same persona, however that is not proof enough. I guess we will have to wait and see, but due to the reasons I stated above, my guess is that his persona will not change. There could be slight changes in the attire and entrance, like there have been throughout in his present persona (the big-evil trousers with shoes changed to tights with boots, the big-evil mark came on his tights and its colour kept changing, the fire-effects were slowly added to his entrance).
Now that we have understood the Undertaker character and recent story-lines well, let us look at my predictions for the Hell in a Cell match. First of all, I think the WWE is at a great talent-crunch, that every Hell in a Cell match requires Undertaker. There is only one Hell in a Cell match every year, and Undertaker has already made the maximum number of entrances in them. This will add one more to his attendance in the same. It means there are very few wrestlers capable of managing inside the Hell in a Cell (Undertaker and HHH), and that in the recent past, every great rivalry has inevitably required Undertaker to be on one side of it (because the biggest rivalries are settled at Hell in a Cell). On a side note, so why didn't Stone Cold and Rock or Vince McMahon have a Hell in a Cell match? I don't call them rivalries - they were more of acting and showman-ship instead of real wrestling. If you want to see a real "wrestling" rivalry, see Undertaker vs Mankind - that Hell in a Cell match was unbelievable.
Undertaker has lost certain Hell in a Cell matches too, mostly through interference - he lost the first one to Shawn Michaels because Kane debuted and attacked him, he lost one to Brock Lesnar because he was injured and had a broken arm before starting the match, and he lost to Batista last year because Edge returned and attacked him, helping Batista win). Obviously, Undertaker will not lose two Hell in a Cell matches in a row, in 2 consecutive years. It is now time to take out Edge because he is done playing his role, which was assigned to him because Undertaker got injured and needed time off. Its obvious due to the break-up between Edge and Vickie, as they had been "related" only due to Undertaker's injury in the first place. Now it is time for these secondary characters to go home and let the real show-man, the Phenom, take center-stageonce more.
There could have been a better way of announcing the match, though. Instead of Vickie stating on Smackdown to Edge that she has re-instated Undertaker to take revenge from him, she could have just told Edge that he will have to face a mystery opponent of her choice at Summerslam and it will be a Hell in a Cell match. During the match, she could've announced that here comes the mystery opponent - "THE UNDERTAKER". The reaction of fright on Edge's face would've sold the story-line to the fans, and the crowd would've gone wild when they would've heard the name of the Undertaker. Anyway, I guess its not so easy to just announce a Hell in a Cell match without telling the opponent because it is usually meant for settling big rivalries (so you know who the opponent is) and because it is the most brutal match in WWE history - http://www.wwe.com/inside/listthis/mostextremematches/.
I would be surprised if any other match is the main-event for Summerslam. There could be other title matches scheduled for Summerslam, but just the fact that this match signals the return of the Undertaker is enough to make it a main-event. Plus, everyone is looking forward to it in anticipation because this the Undertaker's chance to take out everything on Edge for all the wrong he has done to him in more than the last one year. This would be my scripting for the match:
* Undertaker will dominate the match.
* When Undertaker is about to win, Umaga (if he is not in a match at Summerslam against Big Show) or Vladimir Kozlov will come out and attack Taker. Edge has got sufficient notice to prepare for this match, so I am sure he will have some plan for protection. However, Undertaker cannot lose a hell in a cell match yet *again* due to interference, that too on his much-awaited return. But this could be a way to furnish new rivalries and promote Umaga/ Kozlov to some extent because when you attack the Undertaker, you instantly become famous.
* It will look like Undertaker is about to lose but then Kane will show up with the mask :-) and this time, unlike the first Hell in a Cell match, he will help Undertaker win.
[I guess Kane is holding his old mask in the sack/ bag that he was carrying at Raw, which he had snatched from the impostor Kane (which I guess, was Festus). And when he said "Is he alive or dead" on Raw, he was perhaps referring to himself - in his old persona. This will perhaps be the last way to give Kane a 'push' before he retires so that he now stays the way he had initially debuted - perhaps hereafter until the day he calls it quits, he will remain with the mask, much to the delight of the fans. And no - don't blame me for discussing retirement now, we are not discussing the Undertaker's or Kane's retirement :-) I just mean that hereafter for the rest of the career, Kane might remain with the "mask", and this match will be a good chance to re-debut the "masked" Kane.]
HHH will most probably survive against Khali, though it is unbelievable (so was John Cena beating Khali and Batista beating Khali). Thereafter, Undertaker will win his title from HHH (it could be either HHH or some other wrestler who wins it from HHH). I personally don't want to see Undertaker vs HHH be a long rivalry because we have seen it before and it has already resulted in a Wrestlemania match which Undertaker had won. So the case is closed :-) if there is another Undertaker vs HHH rivalry, it could not result in anything bigger than a Wrestlemania match, which has already happened.... so there is no point in seeing another such match between the two and no use in having HHH listed as a double-victim in Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak (so far he has had 16 victims in his 16-0 streak - yes, Kane is there twice in the list, but Undertaker also had a handicap match against Big Show and A-Train, so there are 16 victims altogether. I guess it is better to have 17 different victim-names when he reaches 17-0).
Instead, Undertaker might be better off improving his Wrestlemania streak with more different names as victims - how about Shawn Michaels? Shawn has got the better of Undertaker on several occasions due to outside interference (from the unforgetable Hell in a Cell match where Kane debuted, to the casket match where Kane put Undertaker in a casket and lit it with fire to the Royal Rumble 2008 where Shawn kicked out Undertaker) - it is time for revenge from Michaels. It might be the best way to put an end to the show of the 'show-stopper', that too this time at Undertaker's home-town of Houston. They are creating a lot of hype with how Shawn ended the career of Flair. This time, maybe Shawn will claim to end the show of Taker, just like Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Batista and Edge claimed, but once again the opponent will be wronged and Undertaker's streak will continue.
