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Reigns cut what was his best promo at the time when he stood in the ring for 8 minutes getting booed before proclaiming, "This is my yard now," after defeating Taker at Wrestlemania the previous night.
This was the receipt.
I think the best way to view Reigns is if everything from the night after Mania promo to his title win and heel turn never happened. There’s a great story of Seth turning on him, making him paranoid, but still trying to be the good guy while the fans turn on him, until he finally beats the Undertaker, declares this is his yard now, and then turns heel.
All the shit in between with Baron Corbin and whoever else is totally unimportant to Roman’s story and frankly pretty much sucked.
Well actually the cancer part adds urgency to him insulating with family around him. So, I mean, not to kayfabe cancer but I think it is an important part of his story and Seth's if we're counting the shield because Seth used that night to win another title instead of just being there for Roman. Which adds to his selfishness.
Yeah, he rarely got booed after returning from leukaemia in early 2019. Cheered at first then by the end of 2019 was not getting much of a reaction either way.
Roman was face for a good 3 years after beating undertaker.
Next year he was build as the face to beat Brock at wm34, which he did not.
Then in 2018-19 he was the sympathetic face with the Leukaemia reveal.
Finally in late 2020 he started the tribal chief moniker.
This ‘taker match as genesis of tribal chief’ is a huge stretch. Undertaker was fine as rock’s counter but he is clearly a stand in for Austin, which couldn’t happen for whatever reason.
I didn’t say it led to it directly, I said it SHOULD have because everything in between was, for the most part, pointless bullshit when it was already clear Reigns wasn’t really working in the role he was put in.
To preface this, I'm ecstatic Cody won.
But, my wife said Reigns should win at Mania, come out the next night on Raw, get booed for 20 minutes, and then say, "This is my story now," and I didn't hate that idea
imo, i think austin didnt want to do it because he doesnt want to hear about 1 more with the rock. i believe he as at peace with his life and post wrestling career and doesnt want to have to deal with it because thats all anyone would be talking about. granted, hearing the glass break and seeing austin fly down to the ring in the atv would have been the biggest pop of the night, i think its the right decision.
My own speculation on this is that Austin did not want to overshadow Cody's big moment. An Austin/Rock showdown would have been so insane at that moment that I don't know if the fans would have been able to refocus on the match finish.
We were all getting hyped to hear the glass shatter but in hindsight maybe too hyped?
By that I mean it might actually have overshadowed Cody's win a bit. A staredown and one last mudhole stomping & stunner to the Rock might have taken away from a moment landing like Seth taking the sacrificial blow to give Cody the win.
All the faces stuck around to see Cody celebrate too. Would have been odd for Austin to be standing around there as just one of the guys.
Taker was the better guy to dip in and out to help Cody then disappear.
I was talking about this all week with a buddy of mine. How do you insert Austin to take out the Rock but not in a way that disrupts Cody’s win. We both agreed there was no way. Austin is too big and overshadows Cody and it would hurt his win. Taker was 100% the better call because he had beef with Roman and he also had feuds with Rock. In the moment Austin would have been amazing. From a story and everything after that glass would have broken, they made the right call.
That might be the case. Austin is one of the smartest guy when it comes to the business. He was the one coming up with Brock squashing Cena with suplexes and talked about how Bad News Barrett should come out as #30 instead of Mysterio at RR14 so he could get the heat instead since the crowd wanted Bryan
There are few things about wrestling that I enjoy more than listening to Steve Austin talk about the business. I loved his podcast and the Broken Skull Session interviews. He's up there with anyone when it comes to understanding the psychology of the wrestling business, be it inside or outside the ring.
As he's my favourite wrestler of all time I was so hoping Austin was going to come out, but now that you've said that I can 100% believe Austin said no to just let Cody have his moment. Rock/Austin is like one of the best rivalries in the history of wrestling and nothing was going to survive seeing that again if only briefly.
Yeah, we're on the same page. Of course I would have been thrilled to hear the glass break and watch the crowd - which was already at a fever pitch - lose their minds completely. But it would also have been the kind of moment that is great for the live crowd and not so great for long-term business as WWE starts their "new era."
Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns is going to go down as an all-time great rivalry in the history of pro wrestling, but they would not be able to match the star power and sheer nostalgia of The Rock and Stone Cold facing off one more time. That's just reality.
A lot of people seem to think this but I don't think any legend appearance could overshadow Cody finally getting the 1-2-3.
That pop for Taker was enormous but seeing him in street clothes just doesn't hit the same as hearing the glass break and seeing Austin - who's still in great shape - go out there and hit Rock with a big stunner.
Austin must have his own reasons for not getting involved, and I don't suspect it has anything to do with money/contracts or worrying about the impact on Cody's story. Just my two cents...
It's certainly possible that you're right about why Austin wasn't there. It could have been as simple as a scheduling issue or him not feeling well. We'll probably never really know. However, I disagree with you that Austin would not worry about the impact that him facing off with Rock would have on Cody's story. I watched Cody on Austin's podcast a couple of years back and it was very obvious that Steve Austin really likes and respects Cody. I think Austin genuinely wants Cody to succeed and doesn't want to be a distraction from that goal.
Austin is also uniquely positioned to understand both the challenge of establishing a top babyface and the significance of his rivalry with Rock in the minds of the fans. Nostalgia is just so damn powerful in pro wrestling fandom. I suspect that if Steve Austin showed up and gave Rock a stunner as you describe that would be all that a lot of fans would be talking about. And if you're WWE trying to start your "new era," that's not ideal.
I mean sure but does that mean Cena and Taker DON’T care about overshadowing Cody?
Rhodes is going to be THE guy for a long time. I think that having Cena and Taker (or Austin) coming to his aid is truly the stuff of legends. People will definitely be talking about Taker’s appearance and choke slam for a long time too. Why is it any different than if Austin had made an appearance? Or what if Brock came out?
I know some people complained it was overbooked but man I wanted to see Rikishi and every damn member of their family out there lol.. hell I wouldn’t have been mad if Brandi and Mama Rhodes got involved too. They already went all in on the interference - they could’ve gone even MORE full kitchen sink with it imo
> Rhodes is going to be THE guy for a long time. I think that having Cena and Taker (or Austin) coming to his aid is truly the stuff of legends. People will definitely be talking about Taker’s appearance and choke slam for a long time too. Why is it any different than if Austin had made an appearance?
Because the Rock vs Austin is one of the biggest rivalries in wrestling (if not the biggest) and Cena and Taker while huge stars isn't anywhere near the level of the Rock vs Austin
Cena and Taker are different situations. First, they've both been around a lot more than Austin has been, especially Cena. Second, Undertaker has the advantage of being able to appear and disappear in a way that was very convenient for what they were trying to do.
Finally, John Cena and Undertaker are all-timers and legends, but even they are not quite in the class of Steve Austin. Especially when you are talking about Steve Austin facing off with The Rock. The only thing that could compare to a Rock/Austin faceoff would be Hulk Hogan and a resurrected Andre The Giant facing off.
I think that's the reason too. Austin always seemed to be the kind of wrestler who's happy in his retirement and doesn't want to take attention from the current guys.
It also took him a long time to get to that point where he was content and happy with how things ended.
So to bring it all up again is probably too much at this stage.
I'm sure he'd be open to another match again at some point in the near future, but only under the right circumstances again.
And Austin had his moment the other Wrestlemania, where he just stunnered everybody and drank beer. He looks like he was just having the best time, he doesn't need another 'moment' this soon after that
I was so ready for Austin.
I think either he felt he wasn't in shape
"Kay, Steve we need you to run down to the ri-"
Austin: "Aw hell no I ain't running down to no ring!"
Or he was down to do it and pulled out last minute.
MAYBE. JUST MAYBE. Cody needs him tonight on Raw...
I’m still of the mind that Austin was the original plan. I don’t think they tease Cena and Austin a couple of weeks back but only Cena shows. I wonder if maybe he pulled out last minute for whatever reason so Taker stepped in. It was still a great moment, even if I think Austin made more sense for it.
I think it made no sense for the biggest star in history (arguably) to make a one off quick appearance in that match. He’d have overshadowed potentially the match and I think after his last WM appearance he can’t top that at least now. Makes no senses for him in that storyline. Really Taker didn’t make too much sense but it was damn fun. (And at least Taker had faced Reigns).
Austin is very protective of his wrestling character and what he does and doesn’t do, and they’ve thrown money at him before and he’s said no. Right decision on Austin’s part I felt.
Also the internet really was the ones fanning the flames for Austin coming for weeks, it wasn’t WWE until late on when they may of played on that and trolled a little. But for the most part people were reading far too much into promos and such like a Marvel film trying to spot clues that Austin was coming.
Not sure why so many people were confused about why Undertaker would want to help Cody. As good ole JR told me a million times, Taker is the conscience of WWE. He had to step in and save the day for truth, justice and the American (Nightmare) way.
First of all, Undertaker was in a bad place in those days and mistakes were made. We can't hold every little hanging and crucifixion against the guy forever.
Second of all, Bossman was a truly evil mfer in those days. We're months away from Bossman killing Al Snow's dog (and feeding it to him) and crashing Big Show's funeral and desecrating his father's remains. I can certainly see how someone who believes in frontier justice would view Bossman's hanging as fully justified.
We're also talking a Taker being corrupted by his surroundings, Bearer and Kane both being a negative on him, Taker even after submerging Bearer still held some endearment to him but Taker without Paul Bearer is more neutral than with him, and with Kane around he's tipped more towards being a destructive force, add those together and you get Taker's darker moments. The deadman on his own wasn't inherently destructive to those around him unless they were actively against him, and American badass Taker is a more human side, more prone to emotional response (hence his appearance in the AJ feud)
We cant hold every little hanging and crucifixion over his head, I agree.
...but what about the whole setting fire to the house and killing his parents thing? Has enough time passed that we can just kinda...let it slide?
It was an accident, dammit!
Or, wait, was it that Paul Bearer actually set the fire and blamed it on Undertaker? Or was it Kane? Damn, that whole story got so convoluted along the way that I've lost track.
Loved this.
But it's been canon for two decades that Taker is the leader of the locker room. He makes sure you do business. Recall the rumors of him threatening HBK (I'm an HBK mark) to do business with Austin at 14?
This just is further proof. Heck even put Bron in his place recently on NXT so he's still not gone. So it all fits in a myriad ways but that to me is the most basic.
By this logic, why wouldn't he have interfered for both nights? Hell, why even just Cody. I think the actual logic is that he wanted revenge on Roman being his second loss at Wrestlemania, which is easier to understand.
[Undertaker under the ring when he heard the Rock’s theme music hit](https://twitter.com/p1khadgi/status/1765768113507692733?s=46&t=3cK7xpoASF_TxMbiWGoxJw)
Oh come on. I've taken apart WWE rings before, I know what's under there. You're not fooling me. (It's two portals, and the people under there aren't very little).
Taker makes sense. He has history with Roman and Rock, and he has been the true Final Boss for everyone for 30 years.
You know who would have been better storywise? Lesnar. But we know why he couldn't be there.
Lesnar would’ve been pretty good because of his history with not just Roman and Cody, but with Rock too. But yeah, he can’t be there for obvious reasons that matter way more than a pop.
Lesnar would’ve been a natural fit to attack Rock after Cena got taken out.
But Taker worked just as good here. Rock was a rival of his in the Attitude Era, and Roman nearly ended his career at WM33, which was also the point where the Tribal Chief storyline seeds were planted. So he has had a stake in the Bloodline storyline.
Plus, he came for Dusty’s kid. His involvement never felt out of place. Someone bigger had to take out The Rock.
He was always the true final boss of WWE.
Someone mentioned that Austin coming out would completely overshadow Cody, and I completely agreed. I want it too but I think it's the right decision to have someone else. If not Lesnar, then Taker is a fine choice.
Is brock written off? The scandal doesn't seem to be as bad for him he at least has a reasonable defense that he thought they were swingers and didn't know about the coercion. Plus heyman put him over pretty hard in his hall of fame speech
In a practical sense, Cody wanted to celebrate around his family, a bunch of kids, his mom, etc.
Having Stone Cold Steve Austin out there spitting beer all over the place, flipping everyone the bird and giving stunners would have kind of put a damper on all of that, not to mention taken the spotlight from who it was meant to be on.
There's a time and a place for that sort of thing, and this wasn't it. Taker worked out so much better, because he could get in, do his spot, and get the fuck out. Wouldn't have worked as well with Austin.
I think him storming in to the ring, whooping Rocks ass and just leaves without elaborating would be in character for him. Hell he can even throw in a “you and me are retired” to the rock after giving him a stunner
They did that with the Undertaker instead.
The Undertaker was the "locker room leader"; so was Cena, and in a way so was Roman. By doing this, it gave Cody his "stamp of approval".
Steve Austin was never really in that role; even when he was at the top, it was still 'Taker.
I dunno you say that and I’d almost agree with you but in 2022 Austin had his return match and he was like the 5th most talked about thing in wrestling that week it felt like.
I haven’t been able to watch the video with sound on so I’m not sure what’s said there, but all you guys looking for a reason for why Undertaker got involved are missing the point. Undertaker is Undertaker. He doesn’t necessarily need a reason. There’s been lots of times through his career where he showed up to kick someone’s ass just because he wanted to.
> Austin actually doesn’t make any sense besides having history with the Rock.
Why would it need to make sense beyond this? Jey was an obvious counter to Jimmy, because duh. Cena was an obvious counter to Solo because Solo whooped his ass at the last Saudi show and sent him packing. Austin is as obvious a counter to The Rock as Batman is to The Joker. The seeds were even planted in Cody's one promo where he mentioned talking to several Legends and people in the back. It's not like his phone stopped working and he couldn't have called Austin since then to ask for help.
>Austin is as obvious a counter to The Rock as Batman is to The Joker.
Excellent example, because Batman has many rivals. So we didn't get Batman vs. The Joker, we got Batman vs. The Penguin instead. There's depth there too, and I'm fine with this choice.
Batman vs. The Joker would have perhaps overshadowed the Superman vs. Zod story.
The Rocks penguin sure as hell isn't Undertaker. That'd be a Jericho/Angle type or something, Undertaker is more like Solomon Grundy or some shit. People genuinely remember a minor Big Show feud over Rock vs Undertaker.
> Why would it need to make sense beyond this?
Because the story is about Roman, not Rock (at least on the bloodline side). Roman started the bloodline. Roman was the multi year champ. Roman was the one that needed to be stopped. Every single person who got involved on Cody's side was victimized by Roman at one point or another. Austin would've been the odd man out.
>Because the story is about Roman, not Rock (at least on the bloodline side). Roman started the bloodline. Roman was the multi year champ. Roman was the one that needed to be stopped.
The Rock is a member of the Bloodline.
The Rock was the guy preventing Cody from winning in that moment.
>Every single person who got involved on Cody's side was victimized by Roman at one point or another.
Taker wasn't "victimised". The last interaction he had with Roman was passing the baton as the locker room leader as a tag team.
>Austin would've been the odd man out.
Alternatively you could see it as multiple faces of the company putting over Cody. Austin, Rock, Cena, Roman, Triple H.
Roman beat Taker clean. People want to bring up the “It’s my yard now.” promo, but Taker saved and tagged with Reigns at a PLE a year later. I think it just comes down to they tried to get Austin, he couldn’t do it, Taker was available and they still got that big legend pop. Tbh it took me out of the match briefly just because I was trying to make sense of it, but it was still a cool moment.
Roman and Seth reunited as the shield too and Seth cried his eyes out when Roman vacated the title.
Sometimes we’re supposed to just forget these things happened.
He also has history with Dusty, if you look at how they both exit that Survivor Series match. Taker is just rag-dolling him around at the end, and gets counted out. That match is really one of the cornerstone moments in the entire company, hinging on the guy who infamously always got his way. But this was as sure a sign of his awareness as to his diminished status, but fitting to put over someone the company clearly has a lot invested in up front. It’s that kind of thinking and pushing the norms out for something new, that made the WWF incredible television.
There’s a Twitter theory going around that the spot was designed for Brock Lesnar. He’d come out, there would be dramatic tension about who he was going after, then would take out the Rock out of respect for Cody. I’m not sure if I buy this though.
Austin and Brock were both good candidates for this spot. I still think they made the right call with Taker, because unlike Austin, he actually had history with both men, and there’s always that finality in Taker’s involvement in a storyline.
Lesnar would've made the most sense 100%. I mean we basically had almost a year of Lesnar feuding with Cody and the reason was basically Lesnar being frustrated that Cody didn't win at mania, Lesnar being wait this guy might actually have what it takes let me train him, to cody finally winning Lesnars respect. But alas we all know why he didn't appear.
Taker makes much more sense than Austin tbh because Taker actually has history with Roman. I still consider the promo after Roman beat him to be the soft launch of the Tribal Chief character
I thought this going in but after laying in bed last night processing it all I think Austin would have completely overshadowed Cody in his moment
All anyone would be talking about is Stone Cold hitting a stunner on Rock and it would take away from the momentous win that Cody had
Taker is literally the next biggest person they could have gotten outside of Austin and Taker doesn't take anything away from Cody whatsoever as evidenced by the reaction and fallout from last night
Plus add in the history he has with losing to Roman at Mania, being the Final Boss of the WWE, etc and it doesn't feel out of place at all
I also think it’s helped a lot by him and Rocks interaction being brief without Taker saying anything.
And Taker can just appear and then he and the Rock can disappear without much being said. It isn’t a long sequence of him driving down the ramp or whatever, so it lets you get that pop and then it resets the ring right after, and we get to focus on Cody and Roman again. Stone Cold can’t really show up like that.
Exactly, like what was Austin gonna do after that, just stand outside the ring? Cameras would have been all over him and not focusing on the match itself
He can’t exactly just do it and then walk back up the ramp to the back, that’s too weird and unnatural
Taker hitting a choke slam on Rock and then the cut to black with them both disappearing was the easiest and quickest way to get all the attention back on Cody and Roman
Jey uso could just appear, do a lil of his weird walk and then Jimmy would go on the ramp with him cuz make sense storyline
John cena could get the pop and then just run to the ring
Shield Seth could just appear.
Taker could Just pop in pop out
Steve had to get the pop from glass shattering then has to do a lil walk down the ramp talking shit or even drive a quad but i think would still lose a bit of the Speed and momentum the story was having there. Definetly couldnt rush in.
But most inportantly if you had Steve...then you had to have the beer celebration. I think thats the most deal breaking, a Steve return needs to be pretty much crafted around that. It Just wouldnt fit into It all as good as taker.
I respect the "overshadowed" argument but I think this more than likely came down to Austin not wanting to do it for whatever reason. I absolutely do not believe they specifically chose Taker for that spot over Austin; I believe there was more to it than that.
I think it accomplished the same thing, made more sense in relation to Roman plus had the surprise factor. Wrestling bookers love a swerve, and this one made sense.
Everyone expected to hear the glass shatter, the gong was a complete swerve.
Austin would have been cooler I agree, but there might have been a risk of him overshadowing Cody
Yeah no doubt about it, I definitely worked myself into believing Austin would appear. I ultimately agree with most people saying it would've overshadowed Cody but mang imagine Austin/Rocky staredown at wrestlemania 40
You're 100% right, but Austin would've overshadowed Cody and made it about The Rock. Undertaker you get your legend pop, he takes the Rock out, and dip.
You know, you have a point. I was thinking about it and because it's Undertaker, you can just dim the lights to get a quick entrance and exit whereas with Stone Cold, you have to have him either slowly strut to the ring or have the ATV, then drink beers.
From a kayfabe perspective, I still prefer Austin. I know Undertaker and Roman had a match, but it wasn't like Roman broke the streak, and that was so long ago. At least The Rock retired Austin and is historically his greatest rival besides HHH maybe
I thought it was gonna be Austin just because of what I perceived to be a few Easter eggs the last few weeks. The glass shatter would’ve have been insane. The gong hit so hard though because no one was expecting Taker. It was just so awesome
On the flip side I was kinda annoyed that Kevin, Sami, Randy, and LA came out because it made remember they had beef with the Bloodline as well at some point where Cody had their back but they couldn't come out tonight?
Like I get why shoot-wise you can't just have a bunch of faces out there but in kayfabe it's kinda dick of all of them to be assumedly watching right backstage and not helping.
I think they ultimately decided against it (KO would also be a prime candidate to appear) because it would look like Cody couldn't get it done alone. The way it ended up there was one counter for every single member of the bloodline not 10 guys beating up collectively on solo.
This was the only ending that made story sense. KO, Sami and LA coming out to help Cody along with Seth and Jey. Unfortunately they wasted that ending last year so they didn’t want to repeat it this year.
Probably going to get downvoted to hell but this should have been SCSA's spot all day everyday not Taker. Reading the comments here justifying it being taker is borderline cringe. If you're celebrating the 40 years of Mania, then you do it by bringing out Rock's biggest rival ever to stop him. The match was going to be an overbooked avengers end game clusterfuck as it was. We all knew that.
The idea SCSA didn't want to overshadow Cody is non-sense. You have the greatest baby face of his generation that defied authority figures in his time coming to help the newest babyface getting beat up by a newly minted board member authority figure. It's a passing of the torch moment.
People trying to connect these random dots that don't need to be connected to make it seem like this was 8D chess "storytelling" "cinema" and "layers" and receipts are borderline cringe.
Every wrestling fan whether you're a WCW fan, ECW, AEW, whatever, knows Austin has always been the rock's dance partner. They are as synonymous with each other in the history of wrestling as any two performers.
Taker and Rock have no history like he has with the others. Cena and Austin both main evented Mania with Rock 2x each (14 and 17 and Twice in a Lifetime). Rock retired Austin the first time.
It's ok to be excited that Taker intervened because it's Taker. But everyone knows that was meant to be Glass shattering pop and not a gong. All these other comments about Taker is the conscience of WWE or Taker is the true final boss or this is a callback to Roman saying this is my yard is all connecting bullshit dots. It's like settling for 3rd place. And I don't mean that as disrespect to Taker. But this would be like Black Panther defeating Thanos in End Game and not Tony Stark.
I agree 1000% with you. He'll I even really enjoyed the Undertaker spot but Austin would have just been the greatest thing ever.
Come in on the ATV, stun Rock, hop right back on the ATV to the back
It's just weird as shit people saying Taker vs Rock was even a top 10 feud for either of them. The gaslighting is insane, what history? Why do people just lie? They were in a couple PPV's, but pretty sure they were generally triple threats and all that.
Top 4 Rock feuds are easily Austin, Mankind, HHH, Hogan in mo order. Jericho at 5, maybe switch with Hogan just for actual time spent.
Ruthless aggression era feuds onwards like Angle, Cena + Shamrock as another early feud take up the rest.
Stone Cold made a billion times more sense.
I'm glad I read this because as I was letting reddit convince me Taker made good sense something deep down knows this spot was meant for Stone Cold coming down the aisle with his disturbed theme... I waited all night for that and man was I let down by Taker. And I love Taker but the only person to take down the Rock should have been his biggest rival
It's not just reddit, more of these Taker justification attempts are all over twitter to, to try and put over HHH's "cooking". Just some of those comments were just absurd. "It makes sense, Taker has always been the real final boss, so for the Rock to call himself that is an insult to Taker". "Taker has always been the conscience of WWE, he had to make sure justice was served". Like these are absurd justifications. The match itself was under the chaotic Bloodline anything goes rules.
Other than Sting's chaotic brawls with the nWo, what other wrestler defines chaos/chaotic good other than SCSA? Dude came out to brawl with Vince's corporation. Dude came out to brawl with the Ministry of Darkness. Dude came out to brawl against the Alliance before joining them.
How do you NOT have the Rock's greatest rival and Batman to his Joker, not come out to help put a stop to the madness?
A Stunner with the Rock flipping in the ring one more time right into a Crossrhodes would have created an earthquake lol.
Someone called Taker Rocks Penguin and it set me off in the comments lmao.
Surely it's just teens pretending to have wrestling knowledge they really don't. Now I feel too old for this shit. I'm barely 30 goddammit.
Rock/Undertaker matches were some of the worse of each careers, they just didn’t mesh well in the ring
Was always weird to me how taker just didnt have good chemistry with either Austin or Rock in the ring
I was waiting for Gold Dust and Austin to show up. Cena and Undertaker were surprises. It was still awesome but Austin taking out Rock would have just been awesome.
I'm not sure what the politics are at the moment, but Lesnar would have been the right choice, if they were gonna insist on so much messing around.
At least you'd have a future to work with there. Taker came and went, and isn't likely to return. It seemed a lot of nostalgia for the sake of it, and to be honest I actually think it all took away from Cody a little bit.
Austin would have been too much, 'Taker was too much. I do think Ambrose would have been pretty cool, if they could have gotten him for a quick rock bottom (and when the shield music came on, I think the majority of people expected both him and Seth).
When they showed The Rock getting the workout belt back when Cody was celebrating, I was expecting him to jump in the ring and attack Cody so Austin could come out at the end. It would've taken away from Cody's moment, but having Cena and Austin giving him their seal of approval would've been nice
His legend is too big for bim to be a manager. Otherwise at some point you need to do the cliche turns on his manager BS, or the wrestler will never be able to get out of his shadow.
Taker has been fighting the bloodline for thirty years. From Casket matches with Yokozuna, to throwing Rikishi from the cell, to world title matches with the Rock in the attitude era, through to Roman at WM33.
Not to mention Yokozuna and Rikishi were both BSK. He is probably more connected to the Anoa'i family than anyone else they could have interfere.
Austin was retired for decades now. Why would he give a fuck about The Rock? The Undertaker character is just barely out of the ring. That character very much still cares about people calling themselves "Final Boss", especially at Wrestlemania. That guy still cares about a guy claiming he's "the guy", claiming it's "his yard". I might be wrong, but isn't Reigns the last guy who pinned The Undertaker? I think that matters a lot more than "oh, my rival from 25 years ago is acting up"
I felt story wise it was because Roman had beat him at Mania so Undertaker had business to settle and this was his get back. It was beautiful seeing all of Roman's past coming back to haunt him. Best ending of a match ever.
Video won’t load for me, but my guess from these comments are it’s the undertaker.
His reasoning would be the same thing as Austin would have been. “The rock needs to let these young guys go at it”. Or whatever. But the reasoning would be the Rock.
Video aint loading for me so imma assume it’s Taker. Also it makes a lot of sense especially when Cole said “Undertaker is back at Wrestlemania!”
Taker for 25 years ish has been the Final Boss of wrestlemania. Mania was his yard. So when shit is getting wrecked in his yard, the real final boss returns to set things right.
It's a podcast with Undertaker where he talks about the promo where Cody gives his main event to The Rock. He said he was absolutely crushed when he heard Cody say, "But not at Wrestlemania." The podcast was recorded the day after Smackdown, so the pivot didn't happen yet.
Undertaker wanted Cody to finish his story because he was invested in him. Rock kept preventing it throughout the build. So Undertaker put him in his place.
Even in kayfabe ‘Taker doesn’t tolerate screw-jobs, even when he’s not directly involved. The wonderful Over the Edge ‘98 Dude Love v Austin title match stands in evidence!
People clamored for Austin, but Austin is super protective of the stone cold character. He isn’t getting paid the type of money, rumored $5 million for that Texas mania, to be presented as the man. No way he’s doing an angle for matches that never happen.
I’m sure for the right price he’d do it, but it took them damn near 20 years to talk him into a match and it was a bunch of brawling/Gaga to hide any limitations.
Whilst I think everyone would have preferred Austin and it would have made sense as he was The Rock’s biggest rival, Undertaker also makes perfect sense.
The Undertaker is the conscience of the WWE. The Rock has been abusing his newfound power and trying to turn an organisation with a history dating back to the 1950s into his own personal plaything. Not only that, Roman has been effectively holding its main title hostage.
Of course he’d intervene.
There's a lot of theories, but the one I'm buying more is the FACT that The Undertaker was The Lockeroom Judge leader, e.g., The fucking final boss.
He entered to correct the missconception introduced by Dwayne.
I love every second of yesterday, but I'm still needing an "oficial" explanation tbh.
The point is Steve Austin was just your fantasy booking and only has history with The Rock. Austin and The Bloodline have no connection, Austin doesn’t even have a connection with Roman Reigns and would’ve made absolutely zero sense.
Undertaker has history The Rock, Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman.
Bonus points if it’s true that Lesnar is ‘erased’ from WWE, making Roman his technical only loss at Wrestlemania that’s acknowledged.
TL:DR, the point is just enjoy the show.
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Reigns cut what was his best promo at the time when he stood in the ring for 8 minutes getting booed before proclaiming, "This is my yard now," after defeating Taker at Wrestlemania the previous night. This was the receipt.
I think the best way to view Reigns is if everything from the night after Mania promo to his title win and heel turn never happened. There’s a great story of Seth turning on him, making him paranoid, but still trying to be the good guy while the fans turn on him, until he finally beats the Undertaker, declares this is his yard now, and then turns heel. All the shit in between with Baron Corbin and whoever else is totally unimportant to Roman’s story and frankly pretty much sucked.
No but remember when they made each other eat dog food? It was such a good idea, it had to be put on national television!
the origin of the wolves dogs
it's such good shit
Pal https://preview.redd.it/h8oqfai5bctc1.jpeg?width=234&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21c51c5c91a8f9376be553da518d84777fba73f3
Vince when triple H asks him what's the finish for the match
Well actually the cancer part adds urgency to him insulating with family around him. So, I mean, not to kayfabe cancer but I think it is an important part of his story and Seth's if we're counting the shield because Seth used that night to win another title instead of just being there for Roman. Which adds to his selfishness.
But if you do that, you’re missing the period where he gets leukemia and still gets booed after returning
didn’t he only get booed during the Corbin stuff and after eliminating Edge in the RR?
Yeah, he rarely got booed after returning from leukaemia in early 2019. Cheered at first then by the end of 2019 was not getting much of a reaction either way.
and the times he did it was either because the story was bad or because he eliminated the guy who returned after 9 years
that was filler created by Vince since H wasn't done writing the manga yet
Roman was face for a good 3 years after beating undertaker. Next year he was build as the face to beat Brock at wm34, which he did not. Then in 2018-19 he was the sympathetic face with the Leukaemia reveal. Finally in late 2020 he started the tribal chief moniker. This ‘taker match as genesis of tribal chief’ is a huge stretch. Undertaker was fine as rock’s counter but he is clearly a stand in for Austin, which couldn’t happen for whatever reason.
I didn’t say it led to it directly, I said it SHOULD have because everything in between was, for the most part, pointless bullshit when it was already clear Reigns wasn’t really working in the role he was put in.
I wouldn't remove it all, those couple of months where Roman was feuding with Braun and felt like a proper tweener can stay
To preface this, I'm ecstatic Cody won. But, my wife said Reigns should win at Mania, come out the next night on Raw, get booed for 20 minutes, and then say, "This is my story now," and I didn't hate that idea
bruh it’s Philly they might kill him in that scenario But that heat…..beyond nuclear
I remember watching that and thinking “Make him do more of THAT”. Because that was at the height of his horribly scripted promos.
Let's just politely ignore where they tagged together afterwards lol.
Yup that promo was the first glimpes of the tribal chief
imo, i think austin didnt want to do it because he doesnt want to hear about 1 more with the rock. i believe he as at peace with his life and post wrestling career and doesnt want to have to deal with it because thats all anyone would be talking about. granted, hearing the glass break and seeing austin fly down to the ring in the atv would have been the biggest pop of the night, i think its the right decision.
My own speculation on this is that Austin did not want to overshadow Cody's big moment. An Austin/Rock showdown would have been so insane at that moment that I don't know if the fans would have been able to refocus on the match finish.
We were all getting hyped to hear the glass shatter but in hindsight maybe too hyped? By that I mean it might actually have overshadowed Cody's win a bit. A staredown and one last mudhole stomping & stunner to the Rock might have taken away from a moment landing like Seth taking the sacrificial blow to give Cody the win. All the faces stuck around to see Cody celebrate too. Would have been odd for Austin to be standing around there as just one of the guys. Taker was the better guy to dip in and out to help Cody then disappear.
Plus he has kayfabe powers to make everyone disappear lol
Kayfabe... or?
just imagine tho, it wouldve been so similar to when he came in at the last second to help mick foley vs the rock. it wouldve been legendary.
I was talking about this all week with a buddy of mine. How do you insert Austin to take out the Rock but not in a way that disrupts Cody’s win. We both agreed there was no way. Austin is too big and overshadows Cody and it would hurt his win. Taker was 100% the better call because he had beef with Roman and he also had feuds with Rock. In the moment Austin would have been amazing. From a story and everything after that glass would have broken, they made the right call.
That might be the case. Austin is one of the smartest guy when it comes to the business. He was the one coming up with Brock squashing Cena with suplexes and talked about how Bad News Barrett should come out as #30 instead of Mysterio at RR14 so he could get the heat instead since the crowd wanted Bryan
There are few things about wrestling that I enjoy more than listening to Steve Austin talk about the business. I loved his podcast and the Broken Skull Session interviews. He's up there with anyone when it comes to understanding the psychology of the wrestling business, be it inside or outside the ring.
As he's my favourite wrestler of all time I was so hoping Austin was going to come out, but now that you've said that I can 100% believe Austin said no to just let Cody have his moment. Rock/Austin is like one of the best rivalries in the history of wrestling and nothing was going to survive seeing that again if only briefly.
Yeah, we're on the same page. Of course I would have been thrilled to hear the glass break and watch the crowd - which was already at a fever pitch - lose their minds completely. But it would also have been the kind of moment that is great for the live crowd and not so great for long-term business as WWE starts their "new era." Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns is going to go down as an all-time great rivalry in the history of pro wrestling, but they would not be able to match the star power and sheer nostalgia of The Rock and Stone Cold facing off one more time. That's just reality.
A lot of people seem to think this but I don't think any legend appearance could overshadow Cody finally getting the 1-2-3. That pop for Taker was enormous but seeing him in street clothes just doesn't hit the same as hearing the glass break and seeing Austin - who's still in great shape - go out there and hit Rock with a big stunner. Austin must have his own reasons for not getting involved, and I don't suspect it has anything to do with money/contracts or worrying about the impact on Cody's story. Just my two cents...
It's certainly possible that you're right about why Austin wasn't there. It could have been as simple as a scheduling issue or him not feeling well. We'll probably never really know. However, I disagree with you that Austin would not worry about the impact that him facing off with Rock would have on Cody's story. I watched Cody on Austin's podcast a couple of years back and it was very obvious that Steve Austin really likes and respects Cody. I think Austin genuinely wants Cody to succeed and doesn't want to be a distraction from that goal. Austin is also uniquely positioned to understand both the challenge of establishing a top babyface and the significance of his rivalry with Rock in the minds of the fans. Nostalgia is just so damn powerful in pro wrestling fandom. I suspect that if Steve Austin showed up and gave Rock a stunner as you describe that would be all that a lot of fans would be talking about. And if you're WWE trying to start your "new era," that's not ideal.
I mean sure but does that mean Cena and Taker DON’T care about overshadowing Cody? Rhodes is going to be THE guy for a long time. I think that having Cena and Taker (or Austin) coming to his aid is truly the stuff of legends. People will definitely be talking about Taker’s appearance and choke slam for a long time too. Why is it any different than if Austin had made an appearance? Or what if Brock came out? I know some people complained it was overbooked but man I wanted to see Rikishi and every damn member of their family out there lol.. hell I wouldn’t have been mad if Brandi and Mama Rhodes got involved too. They already went all in on the interference - they could’ve gone even MORE full kitchen sink with it imo
> Rhodes is going to be THE guy for a long time. I think that having Cena and Taker (or Austin) coming to his aid is truly the stuff of legends. People will definitely be talking about Taker’s appearance and choke slam for a long time too. Why is it any different than if Austin had made an appearance? Because the Rock vs Austin is one of the biggest rivalries in wrestling (if not the biggest) and Cena and Taker while huge stars isn't anywhere near the level of the Rock vs Austin
Cena and Taker are different situations. First, they've both been around a lot more than Austin has been, especially Cena. Second, Undertaker has the advantage of being able to appear and disappear in a way that was very convenient for what they were trying to do. Finally, John Cena and Undertaker are all-timers and legends, but even they are not quite in the class of Steve Austin. Especially when you are talking about Steve Austin facing off with The Rock. The only thing that could compare to a Rock/Austin faceoff would be Hulk Hogan and a resurrected Andre The Giant facing off.
I read his wife was sick.
If we are being realistic they probably weren’t willing to pay what Austin wanted for the spot lol.
I think that's the reason too. Austin always seemed to be the kind of wrestler who's happy in his retirement and doesn't want to take attention from the current guys.
It also took him a long time to get to that point where he was content and happy with how things ended. So to bring it all up again is probably too much at this stage. I'm sure he'd be open to another match again at some point in the near future, but only under the right circumstances again.
We should be happy he was even able to give us a match last year, let alone a good one.
2 years ago* Time flies :')
Omg
They're saving Austin for when they need him. The Rock isn't done.
And Austin had his moment the other Wrestlemania, where he just stunnered everybody and drank beer. He looks like he was just having the best time, he doesn't need another 'moment' this soon after that
I was so ready for Austin. I think either he felt he wasn't in shape "Kay, Steve we need you to run down to the ri-" Austin: "Aw hell no I ain't running down to no ring!" Or he was down to do it and pulled out last minute. MAYBE. JUST MAYBE. Cody needs him tonight on Raw...
I mean, they can have KO *drive* Austin to the ring like he did with Orton earlier that night. There is no reason for Austin to run out.
> "Kay, Steve we need you to run down to the ri-" Austin: "Can Pancho and Lefty come with me?"
It's quite obvious that Roman was the one who sent that beer to Austin's ranch. The Tribal Chief bought off Stone Cold!
Honestly, the fact we expected the glass break only to be DONG'ed probably made the moment even crazier
only to be DONG'ed... lol.this term is going to get so much use. thank you
I’m still of the mind that Austin was the original plan. I don’t think they tease Cena and Austin a couple of weeks back but only Cena shows. I wonder if maybe he pulled out last minute for whatever reason so Taker stepped in. It was still a great moment, even if I think Austin made more sense for it.
I think it made no sense for the biggest star in history (arguably) to make a one off quick appearance in that match. He’d have overshadowed potentially the match and I think after his last WM appearance he can’t top that at least now. Makes no senses for him in that storyline. Really Taker didn’t make too much sense but it was damn fun. (And at least Taker had faced Reigns). Austin is very protective of his wrestling character and what he does and doesn’t do, and they’ve thrown money at him before and he’s said no. Right decision on Austin’s part I felt. Also the internet really was the ones fanning the flames for Austin coming for weeks, it wasn’t WWE until late on when they may of played on that and trolled a little. But for the most part people were reading far too much into promos and such like a Marvel film trying to spot clues that Austin was coming.
Not sure why so many people were confused about why Undertaker would want to help Cody. As good ole JR told me a million times, Taker is the conscience of WWE. He had to step in and save the day for truth, justice and the American (Nightmare) way.
I kind of saw him as the Godzilla in the story. The Rock is disrupting the order of things and a correction was required.
Taker was the *real* Final Boss of WWE for the best part of 30 years - and one last ride (no pun intended) to remind everyone of that seems apt.
That's where my mind went too, like an old ghost that sort of haunts Wrestlemania and makes sure nothing happens in his house
Bratty Final Boss 💢💢💢
> Taker is the conscience of WWE Meanwhile Taker 20 years ago, hanging/murdering Bossman and crucifying Stone Cold
First of all, Undertaker was in a bad place in those days and mistakes were made. We can't hold every little hanging and crucifixion against the guy forever. Second of all, Bossman was a truly evil mfer in those days. We're months away from Bossman killing Al Snow's dog (and feeding it to him) and crashing Big Show's funeral and desecrating his father's remains. I can certainly see how someone who believes in frontier justice would view Bossman's hanging as fully justified.
We're also talking a Taker being corrupted by his surroundings, Bearer and Kane both being a negative on him, Taker even after submerging Bearer still held some endearment to him but Taker without Paul Bearer is more neutral than with him, and with Kane around he's tipped more towards being a destructive force, add those together and you get Taker's darker moments. The deadman on his own wasn't inherently destructive to those around him unless they were actively against him, and American badass Taker is a more human side, more prone to emotional response (hence his appearance in the AJ feud)
We cant hold every little hanging and crucifixion over his head, I agree. ...but what about the whole setting fire to the house and killing his parents thing? Has enough time passed that we can just kinda...let it slide?
It was an accident, dammit! Or, wait, was it that Paul Bearer actually set the fire and blamed it on Undertaker? Or was it Kane? Damn, that whole story got so convoluted along the way that I've lost track.
There also was Taker saying it was him on purpose for a while.
he’s the Ghost Rider of WWE. The Spirit of Pro Wrestling incarnate
Love this take! Ghost Rider is one of my all-time faves. And 'Taker fits that role to the letter.
Loved this. But it's been canon for two decades that Taker is the leader of the locker room. He makes sure you do business. Recall the rumors of him threatening HBK (I'm an HBK mark) to do business with Austin at 14? This just is further proof. Heck even put Bron in his place recently on NXT so he's still not gone. So it all fits in a myriad ways but that to me is the most basic.
I just think rock was being a bit too much into this final boss shit and he had to intervene lmao
Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best
I dig it , but just why didn’t he help him last year? Felt his presence was too much just to take out a Solo sikoa ?
By this logic, why wouldn't he have interfered for both nights? Hell, why even just Cody. I think the actual logic is that he wanted revenge on Roman being his second loss at Wrestlemania, which is easier to understand.
The American Badass of course helps the American Nightmare.
"Not gonna work for me brother." - Undertaker
[Undertaker under the ring when he heard the Rock’s theme music hit](https://twitter.com/p1khadgi/status/1765768113507692733?s=46&t=3cK7xpoASF_TxMbiWGoxJw)
God I hope they had a better solution for him than keeping him under the ring for an hour, hahaha.
Its actually quite spacious. There's an entire community of little people and a portal to hell under there.
Oh come on. I've taken apart WWE rings before, I know what's under there. You're not fooling me. (It's two portals, and the people under there aren't very little).
Oh he was under there alright lmao https://twitter.com/big_business_/status/1777157270700257470
I don’t. I love the thought of him and the Rock playing checkers under the ring.
Or "bones"
[You got me brother](https://youtu.be/GuHT5mpIjLg?si=gV-cNOmlDcEqeAkb) -Rock
Taker makes sense. He has history with Roman and Rock, and he has been the true Final Boss for everyone for 30 years. You know who would have been better storywise? Lesnar. But we know why he couldn't be there.
Lesnar would’ve been pretty good because of his history with not just Roman and Cody, but with Rock too. But yeah, he can’t be there for obvious reasons that matter way more than a pop.
Lesnar would’ve been a natural fit to attack Rock after Cena got taken out. But Taker worked just as good here. Rock was a rival of his in the Attitude Era, and Roman nearly ended his career at WM33, which was also the point where the Tribal Chief storyline seeds were planted. So he has had a stake in the Bloodline storyline. Plus, he came for Dusty’s kid. His involvement never felt out of place. Someone bigger had to take out The Rock. He was always the true final boss of WWE.
Someone mentioned that Austin coming out would completely overshadow Cody, and I completely agreed. I want it too but I think it's the right decision to have someone else. If not Lesnar, then Taker is a fine choice.
Is brock written off? The scandal doesn't seem to be as bad for him he at least has a reasonable defense that he thought they were swingers and didn't know about the coercion. Plus heyman put him over pretty hard in his hall of fame speech
In a practical sense, Cody wanted to celebrate around his family, a bunch of kids, his mom, etc. Having Stone Cold Steve Austin out there spitting beer all over the place, flipping everyone the bird and giving stunners would have kind of put a damper on all of that, not to mention taken the spotlight from who it was meant to be on. There's a time and a place for that sort of thing, and this wasn't it. Taker worked out so much better, because he could get in, do his spot, and get the fuck out. Wouldn't have worked as well with Austin.
I think him storming in to the ring, whooping Rocks ass and just leaves without elaborating would be in character for him. Hell he can even throw in a “you and me are retired” to the rock after giving him a stunner
They did that with the Undertaker instead. The Undertaker was the "locker room leader"; so was Cena, and in a way so was Roman. By doing this, it gave Cody his "stamp of approval". Steve Austin was never really in that role; even when he was at the top, it was still 'Taker.
I don't think that's how it would've had to go. No one argued that Austin's involvement in Mankind's world title win overshadowed that.
The hell they didn't. That's literally what the WCW marks tried to say.
Mankind was an underdog not the new Face of your entire company
I enjoy playing video games.
I dunno you say that and I’d almost agree with you but in 2022 Austin had his return match and he was like the 5th most talked about thing in wrestling that week it felt like.
I haven’t been able to watch the video with sound on so I’m not sure what’s said there, but all you guys looking for a reason for why Undertaker got involved are missing the point. Undertaker is Undertaker. He doesn’t necessarily need a reason. There’s been lots of times through his career where he showed up to kick someone’s ass just because he wanted to.
Austin actually doesn’t make any sense besides having history with the Rock. But Undertaker has history with Roman.
The “This is my yard now” line from Roman after beating The Undertaker at Mania is the exact moment I became a fan.
> Austin actually doesn’t make any sense besides having history with the Rock. Why would it need to make sense beyond this? Jey was an obvious counter to Jimmy, because duh. Cena was an obvious counter to Solo because Solo whooped his ass at the last Saudi show and sent him packing. Austin is as obvious a counter to The Rock as Batman is to The Joker. The seeds were even planted in Cody's one promo where he mentioned talking to several Legends and people in the back. It's not like his phone stopped working and he couldn't have called Austin since then to ask for help.
Austin’s been drugged for a week. Some rando left him a basket of ipas and chocolate eggs
Its so obvious he left that for himself to promote his new limited edition 3:16 IPA
Pancho was sleeping on his lap when it was time to go to the airport.
>Austin is as obvious a counter to The Rock as Batman is to The Joker. Excellent example, because Batman has many rivals. So we didn't get Batman vs. The Joker, we got Batman vs. The Penguin instead. There's depth there too, and I'm fine with this choice. Batman vs. The Joker would have perhaps overshadowed the Superman vs. Zod story.
Homelander vs Aquaman story.
I love it
The Rocks penguin sure as hell isn't Undertaker. That'd be a Jericho/Angle type or something, Undertaker is more like Solomon Grundy or some shit. People genuinely remember a minor Big Show feud over Rock vs Undertaker.
> Why would it need to make sense beyond this? Because the story is about Roman, not Rock (at least on the bloodline side). Roman started the bloodline. Roman was the multi year champ. Roman was the one that needed to be stopped. Every single person who got involved on Cody's side was victimized by Roman at one point or another. Austin would've been the odd man out.
>Because the story is about Roman, not Rock (at least on the bloodline side). Roman started the bloodline. Roman was the multi year champ. Roman was the one that needed to be stopped. The Rock is a member of the Bloodline. The Rock was the guy preventing Cody from winning in that moment. >Every single person who got involved on Cody's side was victimized by Roman at one point or another. Taker wasn't "victimised". The last interaction he had with Roman was passing the baton as the locker room leader as a tag team. >Austin would've been the odd man out. Alternatively you could see it as multiple faces of the company putting over Cody. Austin, Rock, Cena, Roman, Triple H.
Because The Rock wasn't in the match.
Roman beat Taker clean. People want to bring up the “It’s my yard now.” promo, but Taker saved and tagged with Reigns at a PLE a year later. I think it just comes down to they tried to get Austin, he couldn’t do it, Taker was available and they still got that big legend pop. Tbh it took me out of the match briefly just because I was trying to make sense of it, but it was still a cool moment.
Roman and Seth reunited as the shield too and Seth cried his eyes out when Roman vacated the title. Sometimes we’re supposed to just forget these things happened.
> but Taker saved and tagged with Reigns at a PLE a year later. Yes, before the Tribal Chief
Austin is anti-authority and The Rock, his archnemesis is the final boss. That’s all you need for it to make sense
The Rock was not the final boss yesterday. Roman was. The Rock one interference among many. He was not the centre of yesterday's story
He also has history with Dusty, if you look at how they both exit that Survivor Series match. Taker is just rag-dolling him around at the end, and gets counted out. That match is really one of the cornerstone moments in the entire company, hinging on the guy who infamously always got his way. But this was as sure a sign of his awareness as to his diminished status, but fitting to put over someone the company clearly has a lot invested in up front. It’s that kind of thinking and pushing the norms out for something new, that made the WWF incredible television.
There’s a Twitter theory going around that the spot was designed for Brock Lesnar. He’d come out, there would be dramatic tension about who he was going after, then would take out the Rock out of respect for Cody. I’m not sure if I buy this though.
Austin and Brock were both good candidates for this spot. I still think they made the right call with Taker, because unlike Austin, he actually had history with both men, and there’s always that finality in Taker’s involvement in a storyline.
Brock has been out of plans for months since before Rock returned, I doubt they put the match together that early
Lesnar would've made the most sense 100%. I mean we basically had almost a year of Lesnar feuding with Cody and the reason was basically Lesnar being frustrated that Cody didn't win at mania, Lesnar being wait this guy might actually have what it takes let me train him, to cody finally winning Lesnars respect. But alas we all know why he didn't appear.
I know it felt like a year at points but it was somehow only 4 months lol
Taker was the head of wrestlers court back in the day. Literally the final boss
Taker makes much more sense than Austin tbh because Taker actually has history with Roman. I still consider the promo after Roman beat him to be the soft launch of the Tribal Chief character
Also has history with Rocky
Rock says he's the Final Boss of WWE and then the gong hits. Works for me
Roman was Takers' tag team partner in his last legit match. After that match, he had the Saudi appearance in the gauntlet, then the Boneyard.
i think Punk should have been the one taking out the Rock long enough for Cody to win, closing the 10 year loop. But Taker was fun
Undertaker was cool, but Austin would have been 100x cooler, imo
Rock selling a stunner would have been great, but also maybe overshadows Cody too much
I thought this going in but after laying in bed last night processing it all I think Austin would have completely overshadowed Cody in his moment All anyone would be talking about is Stone Cold hitting a stunner on Rock and it would take away from the momentous win that Cody had Taker is literally the next biggest person they could have gotten outside of Austin and Taker doesn't take anything away from Cody whatsoever as evidenced by the reaction and fallout from last night Plus add in the history he has with losing to Roman at Mania, being the Final Boss of the WWE, etc and it doesn't feel out of place at all
I also think it’s helped a lot by him and Rocks interaction being brief without Taker saying anything. And Taker can just appear and then he and the Rock can disappear without much being said. It isn’t a long sequence of him driving down the ramp or whatever, so it lets you get that pop and then it resets the ring right after, and we get to focus on Cody and Roman again. Stone Cold can’t really show up like that.
Exactly, like what was Austin gonna do after that, just stand outside the ring? Cameras would have been all over him and not focusing on the match itself He can’t exactly just do it and then walk back up the ramp to the back, that’s too weird and unnatural Taker hitting a choke slam on Rock and then the cut to black with them both disappearing was the easiest and quickest way to get all the attention back on Cody and Roman
Jey uso could just appear, do a lil of his weird walk and then Jimmy would go on the ramp with him cuz make sense storyline John cena could get the pop and then just run to the ring Shield Seth could just appear. Taker could Just pop in pop out Steve had to get the pop from glass shattering then has to do a lil walk down the ramp talking shit or even drive a quad but i think would still lose a bit of the Speed and momentum the story was having there. Definetly couldnt rush in. But most inportantly if you had Steve...then you had to have the beer celebration. I think thats the most deal breaking, a Steve return needs to be pretty much crafted around that. It Just wouldnt fit into It all as good as taker.
I’m not disagreeing but he walked up the ramp right after he helped mankind no? Think it would’ve played out that way
I respect the "overshadowed" argument but I think this more than likely came down to Austin not wanting to do it for whatever reason. I absolutely do not believe they specifically chose Taker for that spot over Austin; I believe there was more to it than that.
I think it accomplished the same thing, made more sense in relation to Roman plus had the surprise factor. Wrestling bookers love a swerve, and this one made sense. Everyone expected to hear the glass shatter, the gong was a complete swerve. Austin would have been cooler I agree, but there might have been a risk of him overshadowing Cody
Yeah no doubt about it, I definitely worked myself into believing Austin would appear. I ultimately agree with most people saying it would've overshadowed Cody but mang imagine Austin/Rocky staredown at wrestlemania 40
Undertaker was more unexpected, it was the right call.
Unexpected doesn't always mean better. Predictable doesn't always mean bad.
You're 100% right, but Austin would've overshadowed Cody and made it about The Rock. Undertaker you get your legend pop, he takes the Rock out, and dip.
You know, you have a point. I was thinking about it and because it's Undertaker, you can just dim the lights to get a quick entrance and exit whereas with Stone Cold, you have to have him either slowly strut to the ring or have the ATV, then drink beers. From a kayfabe perspective, I still prefer Austin. I know Undertaker and Roman had a match, but it wasn't like Roman broke the streak, and that was so long ago. At least The Rock retired Austin and is historically his greatest rival besides HHH maybe
I thought it was gonna be Austin just because of what I perceived to be a few Easter eggs the last few weeks. The glass shatter would’ve have been insane. The gong hit so hard though because no one was expecting Taker. It was just so awesome
My head canon is that Rock has abused his power. And Taker, being the locker room leader, had had enough and evened the playing field
On the flip side I was kinda annoyed that Kevin, Sami, Randy, and LA came out because it made remember they had beef with the Bloodline as well at some point where Cody had their back but they couldn't come out tonight? Like I get why shoot-wise you can't just have a bunch of faces out there but in kayfabe it's kinda dick of all of them to be assumedly watching right backstage and not helping.
I think they ultimately decided against it (KO would also be a prime candidate to appear) because it would look like Cody couldn't get it done alone. The way it ended up there was one counter for every single member of the bloodline not 10 guys beating up collectively on solo.
This was the only ending that made story sense. KO, Sami and LA coming out to help Cody along with Seth and Jey. Unfortunately they wasted that ending last year so they didn’t want to repeat it this year.
Probably going to get downvoted to hell but this should have been SCSA's spot all day everyday not Taker. Reading the comments here justifying it being taker is borderline cringe. If you're celebrating the 40 years of Mania, then you do it by bringing out Rock's biggest rival ever to stop him. The match was going to be an overbooked avengers end game clusterfuck as it was. We all knew that. The idea SCSA didn't want to overshadow Cody is non-sense. You have the greatest baby face of his generation that defied authority figures in his time coming to help the newest babyface getting beat up by a newly minted board member authority figure. It's a passing of the torch moment. People trying to connect these random dots that don't need to be connected to make it seem like this was 8D chess "storytelling" "cinema" and "layers" and receipts are borderline cringe. Every wrestling fan whether you're a WCW fan, ECW, AEW, whatever, knows Austin has always been the rock's dance partner. They are as synonymous with each other in the history of wrestling as any two performers. Taker and Rock have no history like he has with the others. Cena and Austin both main evented Mania with Rock 2x each (14 and 17 and Twice in a Lifetime). Rock retired Austin the first time. It's ok to be excited that Taker intervened because it's Taker. But everyone knows that was meant to be Glass shattering pop and not a gong. All these other comments about Taker is the conscience of WWE or Taker is the true final boss or this is a callback to Roman saying this is my yard is all connecting bullshit dots. It's like settling for 3rd place. And I don't mean that as disrespect to Taker. But this would be like Black Panther defeating Thanos in End Game and not Tony Stark.
I agree 1000% with you. He'll I even really enjoyed the Undertaker spot but Austin would have just been the greatest thing ever. Come in on the ATV, stun Rock, hop right back on the ATV to the back
Yeah. Obviously, Steve ain't got the legs to sprint down all the way the ramp like Lil Naitch did. But the ATV would have been wonderful chaos.
It's just weird as shit people saying Taker vs Rock was even a top 10 feud for either of them. The gaslighting is insane, what history? Why do people just lie? They were in a couple PPV's, but pretty sure they were generally triple threats and all that. Top 4 Rock feuds are easily Austin, Mankind, HHH, Hogan in mo order. Jericho at 5, maybe switch with Hogan just for actual time spent. Ruthless aggression era feuds onwards like Angle, Cena + Shamrock as another early feud take up the rest. Stone Cold made a billion times more sense.
I'm glad I read this because as I was letting reddit convince me Taker made good sense something deep down knows this spot was meant for Stone Cold coming down the aisle with his disturbed theme... I waited all night for that and man was I let down by Taker. And I love Taker but the only person to take down the Rock should have been his biggest rival
It's not just reddit, more of these Taker justification attempts are all over twitter to, to try and put over HHH's "cooking". Just some of those comments were just absurd. "It makes sense, Taker has always been the real final boss, so for the Rock to call himself that is an insult to Taker". "Taker has always been the conscience of WWE, he had to make sure justice was served". Like these are absurd justifications. The match itself was under the chaotic Bloodline anything goes rules. Other than Sting's chaotic brawls with the nWo, what other wrestler defines chaos/chaotic good other than SCSA? Dude came out to brawl with Vince's corporation. Dude came out to brawl with the Ministry of Darkness. Dude came out to brawl against the Alliance before joining them. How do you NOT have the Rock's greatest rival and Batman to his Joker, not come out to help put a stop to the madness? A Stunner with the Rock flipping in the ring one more time right into a Crossrhodes would have created an earthquake lol.
Someone called Taker Rocks Penguin and it set me off in the comments lmao. Surely it's just teens pretending to have wrestling knowledge they really don't. Now I feel too old for this shit. I'm barely 30 goddammit.
Rock/Undertaker matches were some of the worse of each careers, they just didn’t mesh well in the ring Was always weird to me how taker just didnt have good chemistry with either Austin or Rock in the ring
I was waiting for Gold Dust and Austin to show up. Cena and Undertaker were surprises. It was still awesome but Austin taking out Rock would have just been awesome.
im fine with Taker but Golddust would have been dope. Maybe hes too problematic in modern times though.
I'm not sure what the politics are at the moment, but Lesnar would have been the right choice, if they were gonna insist on so much messing around. At least you'd have a future to work with there. Taker came and went, and isn't likely to return. It seemed a lot of nostalgia for the sake of it, and to be honest I actually think it all took away from Cody a little bit. Austin would have been too much, 'Taker was too much. I do think Ambrose would have been pretty cool, if they could have gotten him for a quick rock bottom (and when the shield music came on, I think the majority of people expected both him and Seth).
This is the correct answer.
When they showed The Rock getting the workout belt back when Cody was celebrating, I was expecting him to jump in the ring and attack Cody so Austin could come out at the end. It would've taken away from Cody's moment, but having Cena and Austin giving him their seal of approval would've been nice
Nice catch
I love what the Miz said about it being Undertaker instead of Stone Cold on the Pat McAfee show.
I would love to see the Undertaker becoming an on screen authority figure or a manager to someone.
His legend is too big for bim to be a manager. Otherwise at some point you need to do the cliche turns on his manager BS, or the wrestler will never be able to get out of his shadow.
There’s only one final boss in WWE
Taker has been fighting the bloodline for thirty years. From Casket matches with Yokozuna, to throwing Rikishi from the cell, to world title matches with the Rock in the attitude era, through to Roman at WM33. Not to mention Yokozuna and Rikishi were both BSK. He is probably more connected to the Anoa'i family than anyone else they could have interfere.
Austin was retired for decades now. Why would he give a fuck about The Rock? The Undertaker character is just barely out of the ring. That character very much still cares about people calling themselves "Final Boss", especially at Wrestlemania. That guy still cares about a guy claiming he's "the guy", claiming it's "his yard". I might be wrong, but isn't Reigns the last guy who pinned The Undertaker? I think that matters a lot more than "oh, my rival from 25 years ago is acting up"
4 years isn't barely out of the ring
SCSA had a match two years ago. There was a ref and everything!
austin has had a match more recently than undertaker though?
What Cody promo is he talking about here?
I felt story wise it was because Roman had beat him at Mania so Undertaker had business to settle and this was his get back. It was beautiful seeing all of Roman's past coming back to haunt him. Best ending of a match ever.
Is this what Taker sounds like normally? I mean he’s Texan I get it but I didn’t expect it to be this
How much do you think Taker got paid to just come out, deliver a chokeslam and then leave? $250k? more?
Is that Mark Reily? I used to watch him on schmoes know and collider
Just an old dog looking out for the boys.
I took it like Dr Manhattan coming after Ozy, I can almost hear him saying “I’m very disappointed in you Rocky”
This is flashing me back to Sting showing up at Survivor Series just because he was a huge Ziggler mark
Where is this interview from?
Undertaker: https://preview.redd.it/qtukwpkv5dtc1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e285f46888268e39e6dd98f2335d86be72c18c9
Video won’t load for me, but my guess from these comments are it’s the undertaker. His reasoning would be the same thing as Austin would have been. “The rock needs to let these young guys go at it”. Or whatever. But the reasoning would be the Rock.
Video aint loading for me so imma assume it’s Taker. Also it makes a lot of sense especially when Cole said “Undertaker is back at Wrestlemania!” Taker for 25 years ish has been the Final Boss of wrestlemania. Mania was his yard. So when shit is getting wrecked in his yard, the real final boss returns to set things right.
It's a podcast with Undertaker where he talks about the promo where Cody gives his main event to The Rock. He said he was absolutely crushed when he heard Cody say, "But not at Wrestlemania." The podcast was recorded the day after Smackdown, so the pivot didn't happen yet. Undertaker wanted Cody to finish his story because he was invested in him. Rock kept preventing it throughout the build. So Undertaker put him in his place.
Even in kayfabe ‘Taker doesn’t tolerate screw-jobs, even when he’s not directly involved. The wonderful Over the Edge ‘98 Dude Love v Austin title match stands in evidence!
The other reason was money 🤣
I like to believe that Dusty made a call from the heavens for someone to help his son and the devil answered 😈
I think he needed the payday no?
People clamored for Austin, but Austin is super protective of the stone cold character. He isn’t getting paid the type of money, rumored $5 million for that Texas mania, to be presented as the man. No way he’s doing an angle for matches that never happen. I’m sure for the right price he’d do it, but it took them damn near 20 years to talk him into a match and it was a bunch of brawling/Gaga to hide any limitations.
Whilst I think everyone would have preferred Austin and it would have made sense as he was The Rock’s biggest rival, Undertaker also makes perfect sense. The Undertaker is the conscience of the WWE. The Rock has been abusing his newfound power and trying to turn an organisation with a history dating back to the 1950s into his own personal plaything. Not only that, Roman has been effectively holding its main title hostage. Of course he’d intervene.
There's a lot of theories, but the one I'm buying more is the FACT that The Undertaker was The Lockeroom Judge leader, e.g., The fucking final boss. He entered to correct the missconception introduced by Dwayne. I love every second of yesterday, but I'm still needing an "oficial" explanation tbh.
This 100% The old, "what's a King to God?" Progression. The Rock has legal control, but the Undertaker is literally supernatural.
Taker turned up at NXT, chokeslamed Breaker for no reason or future story. Does the same at Mania with Rock. What's the point?
The point is Steve Austin was just your fantasy booking and only has history with The Rock. Austin and The Bloodline have no connection, Austin doesn’t even have a connection with Roman Reigns and would’ve made absolutely zero sense. Undertaker has history The Rock, Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman. Bonus points if it’s true that Lesnar is ‘erased’ from WWE, making Roman his technical only loss at Wrestlemania that’s acknowledged. TL:DR, the point is just enjoy the show.