Hey everybody, and welcome to the Wrestling Nostallenger portion of the WWE podcast,
and tonight we are taking a look at HBK versus The Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five.
So we're going back twelve years to take a look and listen to one
of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. This is gonna be awesome.
Guys. Audio is on the way as well. We're gonna have a ton
of fun. Let's get everything going right after this, it's time for your
weekly fix of wrestling nostalgia. When we look at wrestling's past eras from the
Attitude era, this is the reality era. I'd like to think then maybe
this company will be better after Vince McMahon's dead, But the fact is it's
it's gonna get taken over by his idiotic daughter and his dufest son in law
and the rest of his stupid family. To today, here thee Montdast welcome
to You're wrestling the Styalgia Show for this February third, twenty twenty one.
And I have to say it's February, which means we're a month closer to
Spring. Every day, every second here in the Northeast, we are counting
the minutes until we can see a patch of grass. I mean right now.
As far as how much snow you have on the ground here in upstate
New York, I mean, we're talking like at least probably two feet just
covering the ground. And it's been this way. We've had snow on the
ground for several months now. It's not like we've seen grass and then we've
had a snowstorm. It's pretty darn tough, especially come February. March can
even be brutal, but hopefully wherever you are it is maybe sunnier, maybe
warmer. Maybe you have it worse, but it is February, and once
you get through February, which is a short month, March can be very
back and forth. If you live in the northern half of the United States,
March can be very brutal and very sweet. It's got a very skitzo
personality. But I take that over just constant depression and snow and cold.
So we have that to look forward to. How'd you like that for the
weather report on the Wrestling Nostalgia Podcast. But guys, there's a ton to
talk about tonight. Of course, we're going to get to HBK versus the
Undertakert WrestleMania twenty five. And let me just say, I believe we have
covered this in the past. I look through my recent show over the last
couple of months and I don't see it there. Okay, I have done
so many of these shows that I don't know exactly when we've done it,
but I am almost positive that we've covered it. So obviously this is a
different take given that it's not the same show, But you know, I
want to give you guys different thoughts, different unique perspectives other than just maybe
what I presented before. So either way, it's worthy of a second show.
It is just that good of a match. And for God's sakes,
if you haven't seen HBK Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five, I feel sorry for you.
You need to. It's you know, I say that all the time
about nostalgia. This one from a wrestling purist standpoint, from a storyline,
from an in ring pacing to just everything A to Z characters, absolute professionals,
the decades of experience in the ring. Jim Ross on commentary, it
really single handedly saved WrestleMania twenty five. And we'll get to the card and
what it looked like and what the build up to this WrestleMania twenty five match
was, and obviously they met at WrestleMania twenty six. I don't think I've
ever covered WrestleMania twenty six, which was the streak versus the career, but
I think that WrestleMania twenty five overshadowed it and they tried to duplicate it at
twenty six, which was it was a hell of an effort, But you
can't duplicate magic. Magic just kind of happens, you know, when you
try to, when you try to make magic happen again, it it just
doesn't. And nonetheless, we'll talk about Wrestling E twenty five and a couple
of short minutes. But first there's a couple of things that I want to
address that I did not address in my past shows, of which I'm losing
count many I've done over the last couple of weeks, especially with Rumble number
one Lars Sullivan gone from WWE, I have not touched on this. Lars
Sullivan is no more in WWE, to the surprise of exactly zero people.
I'm pretty sure mathematically I'm correct on that that exactly zero people, zero points
zero. I want to make sure I get the math right. Are surprised
about Lars Sullivan exiting WWE? And do I have reasons? No? Do
I need reasons to know why he was probably released? No? I think
we can all draw the just smart estimation that he was released due to the
fact that he is a liability, that he cannot be trusted. I mean,
he has been given a chance after chance and he continues to blow it.
So maybe he'll go back to the playground and get bullied, you know,
maybe he'll go back to Instagram and just continue to message married women on
Instagram. You know, he certainly has got a lot of or at least
a couple of options two's from for a long term career. But honestly,
I do wish him well. You know, I think that he had a
lot of potential in WWE. I think WWE also saw that potential, which
is why they gave him several chances. The locker room was not in support
of him. The only one that was in support of him, the one
that was in his corner fighting for him, was Vince. And it seems
as if Vince has even kind of come to the conclusion that he cannot be
trusted now again, do I know of a latest incident that led to this.
No, maybe it'll come to light over the next several weeks and then
we'll go, oh, that's why he was let go. Or they just
kind of looked at this and said, guys, are we going to pull
the trigger on this and roll the dice, you know, and hope that
he cleans himself up and doesn't become a pr nightmare, or are we just
got to cut bait and uh, just cut our losses and let him go
and and uh, you know, say no future indev you And they took
the latter. They took the safer road of deciding to not have to worry
about him messaging people that she shouldn't be or having anxiety attacks, which was
one of the reasons he didn't make a debut at one point and actually lost
out on a big opportunity, or you know, become injured or whatever.
The number of things that he's had happened bad timing, just bad behavior,
bad luck over the last several years in w W, we could never get
going. Regardless of the reason, it's probably this smart decision. Even though
he does certainly have a lot of potential, and he had it. Did
have a lot of a lot of untapped potential. There's no there's no doubt
about it. He did, and it's it's it's a shame from a professional
standpoint, not personal. It seems personally he's got a lot of issues going
on there. But professionally it is a bit disappointing because I did. I
was mildly interested in Larsolovan. I really was. You know, we didn't
get a lot of time to learn about him other than he was beating up
bullies, which then he became the bully and we're all supposed to feel sympathetic
for that. I don't know, but who knows. Just check check for
him at your local playground, guys. You know, if you see the
big bearded man sitting there, just make sure there's a fence between you and
him, and just, you know, yell freak and then you know,
get in your car and drive off. Okay, or just watch your Instagram
feeds. Be careful. If you're married and you're attractive, be careful,
watch your dms. He might slide right on him. Okay, I think
I made my silly point, but Lars Sullivan has gone guys. Secondly that
I wanted to talk about is Edges promo that he cut on NXT tonight.
Now normally, normally I do not comment on an XT. I do not
comment on NXT because that is Zack Smith's tear. I do not encroach on
Zack Smith's territory. He does an excellent job of covering NXT every week,
and his podcast, by the way, will be dropping tomorrow night or tomorrow
morning and maybe afternoon on NXT. But it came to my attention that I
should do this, and it was from one of our listeners, and I'll
just say her name is Lauren, and she DM me on Instagram, which,
by the way, you can do so at WWE Underscore podcast, and
she kind of said the same thing. You know, Look, Zach does
his podcast, but I'm curious of what your thoughts are on the promo that
Edge cut with Pete Dunn and Finn Balor on NXT. So I watched it
and here are my thoughts, which, by the way, if you haven't
seen NXT and you don't want to have me spoil it, fast forward the
next couple of minutes. You're still here, Okay, you've been warned.
So Edge came out, and I mean this only was a few minutes,
but he came out, and the first thing he said was just so magic
to my ears, just pure, pure harmony, like an angel stroking a
harp. And he said that, you know, the other shows, there's
a lot of emphasis put on the E, where an NXT the emphasis is
put on the second W in WWE referring to wrestling. I've been saying that
for many years. Okay, I don't know if he listens to this show,
very unlikely, but I've been saying that WWE often forgets that they have
a W in their WWE, and simply, I mean, they honestly should
just be changing their acronym to E because they forgot about the W. So
Edge comes out and he says that, and I'm like, this is beautiful,
this is great. This is clearly something that Triple H would allow and
something that Vince would not allow on his main shows, as he kind of
heads up SmackDown and Raw and leaves the NXT's redheaded step child behind and leaves
that to Triple H. But he came out and said that to Pete Dunn
and to Finn Balor, and he, you know, looked at Pete Dunn
and said he sees a lot of him himself and Pete Donn, both good
and bad. And Pete Dunn shrugged his shoulders at Edge. And he also
then got to Finn Balor and said that Finn Balor is operating on a whole
new level. And then NXT is what really gave him his passion back,
wanting to get back into the ring. And I think there's a lot of
truth in that. I honestly believe anything Edge says is insane. How often
we hear promos today and we simply don't believe what they're saying because it feels
very scripted, it feels very forced, And Edge is the opposite Edge has
made. Edge could make me believe the sky isn't blue, He really could,
and water's not wet. I'd say, yes, sir, okay.
Edge, He's so convincing. But regardless of whether he's lying to me about
that or not, which I actually don't think he is, he started talking
about Finn Balor operating on a whole new level and that he won the Royal
Rumble, he got his fire back, and that gives him the right to
challenge any champion in WWE at WrestleMania, and he looked at Finn Balor and
said that, you know, it's intriguing because he's never had that, and
he points to the NXT Championship and think about that, guys. You know,
I don't think many of us, including myself admittedly, have not looked
at the possibility of Edge versus s Finn Balor, because let's be honest,
I don't think pet Dunn is going to capture the or the NXT Championship.
I don't think it's going to happen. I think Finn Balor is truly operating
on another level. I am somewhat familiar with the product. As much as
I say that I hand it off to Zax Smith, I do try to
keep up as best I can. And Finn Balor is as good as Edge
says he is and has found a home beautifully in NXT. And I don't
think that many podcasters fans have really considered Edge versus Finn Balor at WrestleMania because
we always think it's the raw or a SmackDown option that there's no yeah,
NXT's there, but it's not really a third option. It's not a realistic,
plausible third option. And I think that maybe we need to consider maybe
we do need to need to consider Edge versus Finn Ballot WrestleMania. That'd be
awesome, It'd be I think it'd be great. And Edge has clearly moved
on, by the way from Orton, so that that's both disappointing because of
the way it ended, but also they had such great matches in chemistry.
At the same time, it is nice to see as move on, to
see what he can do with other people. I mean, since he's been
back of the rumble, he hasn't done anything with anybody since he started with
Randy Orton and and he r Kiyotam and they were off to the races and
Edge got injured and COVID happened. So would Orton or I'm sorry, would
Edge versus Finn Balor be something that would interest you guys. I mean,
I'm on board because we're all thinking it's either it's Drew McIntyre, Roman reigns
Now. If you're gonna put a gun in my head and you're gonna say
it's got you gotta pick one. You gotta pick one of the three.
I'm still going with Roman reigns. Now, am I saying that very confidently?
No, I'm not. It just makes the most sense. I think
Drew McIntyre is the least likely because you don't want Babyface versus baby Face in
a massive baby Face return and having forcing the fans to choose you know,
an awesome legacy star that is about ninety percent of what he was versus their
resident champion that has done an excellent job since really holding onto the championship since
last WrestleMania outside of three weeks, or having to choose between you know,
Finn Balor and Edge. While I think that might be the best, highest
quality match, the money might be in Roman reigns the hot heel, hot
really hot heel versus the hot Edge baby Face. To me, I think
that that's probably where they go. Now does that mean Edge wins? Who
knows? I mean, we'll talk about that when the match actually becomes official.
I think Edge is going to wait until maybe elimination Chamber to make his
pick, which is also another hook for you to get the network, which
would be smart and WWE's part. And there's only two and a half weeks
until the Elimination Chamber so those are just my thoughts. I still ultimately think
he's going to choose Roman Reigns. But my point about the promo and NXT
tonight, if you haven't seen it, YouTube it. That's how I watched
it. It may be third, third party bootleg, but you'll still be
able to see it. Of course, if you have Hulu or whatever you
know that streams n XT, you can also of course watch it in real
time. So just a couple of thoughts there. All right, Well,
let's get into the heart of the matter here, and that is WrestleMania twenty
five, which let's get the stats on. It took place on April fifth,
two thousand and nine, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The
by rate was nine hundred and sixty thousand buys. The attendance was seventy two
thousand and seven forty four. Obviously headlined by HBK versus Undertaker. Now HBK
Undertaker was not the main event, though I know it is saying it was
headline, but it's headlined in our minds. On paper, what actually headlined
this show was Triple H versus Randy Orton. So think about that when you
think about WrestleMania at twenty five. It's insane, right you think about HBK
Taker, Yet it was actually headlined by Triple H Randy Orton. So here
we go. Here's what the match card was. It was the Colognes,
Carlito and Primo defeating John Morrison and the Mizz. Sounds almost like it's a
twenty twenty one card, doesn't it. I'm serious in a lumberjack match to
unify the WWE World Tag Team Championships into the unified w Tag Team Championship Number
one. I love this. Can we do this again? Carlito's back?
I think Primo is Premo gone. I think Premom would be gone, but
obviously we still have John Morrison in them is and guys, this is two
thousand and nine. This is what I'm talking about. This is absurd.
We still have this tag team happening. I'm not gonna go on that ran,
but this was I think a smart move to unify the championships. I
also think it's a smart move to unify the championships today. Not that we
should do is brand split combination like, in other words, undo the brand
split, but have fewer championships that have them float between brands makes sense to
me. But okay, then we get a money in the Bank ladder match
when the Money in the Bank Ladder Match was just a part of WrestleMania and
not its own pay per view. CM punk one here he defeated Christian Finley,
Cain, Kobe Kingston, Mark, Henry Montel, Vontavius Porter, MVP,
and Shelton Benjamin. This is like, this is very striking right now.
We still have active competitors. We have Christian, we have MVP,
we have Shelton Benjamin, we have I guess i'd say Cain. I don't
know Cain on a very temporary, awkward basis. So it's just funny.
I mean, MVP and Shelton have been intertwined, not even knowingly. I
didn't know that they were. Okay, this one, my god, imagine
that this happened this year. Oh my god? Are you ready for this?
And this has actually happened during the PG era. Don't forget this is
p G Okay. Santina Morella won Miss WrestleMania the Miss Mess WrestleMania Battle Royal
with May Young as the special guest timekeeper. Santina Morella won by last eliminating
Beth Phoenix in seven minutes and twenty five seconds. Imagine if Santina Morella won
a women's match at WrestleMania this you know today twenty twenty one. Imagine the
outrage. I mean, people lost their minds when we had James Elsworth show
up again and to help somebody. So, my god, imagine the outrage.
Okay, just twelve years ago. It feels longer, but it's only
twelve years. Chris Jericho defeated Jimmy Snooker, Ricky Steamboat, and Roddy Piper
in a handicap elimination match. It was Chris Chris Jericho versus the Legends,
and I remember saying to myself, you know, this would be a great
time for stone Asa to come back, because that would have been awesome to
see him stand up for the Legends. And it didn't happen. I was
not happy. I don't know. I was disappointed in that match. Matt
Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an extreme rules match. Raymys Stereo defeated John Bradshaw
Layfield for the WWE Intercontinental Championship in twenty seconds twenty the Undertaker, Here we
Go defeated Sean Michaels. I don't think that I'm spoiling anything here. Defeated
Sean Michaels in thirty minutes and forty four seconds. Who John Cena defeated Big
Show and Edge in a triple threat for the World Heavyweight Championship. And in
the main event, Triple H defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. And
in this match, the stipulation was if Triple H had been counted out or
disqualified, he would have lost the championship. I remember this, and I
know this. This is not about this match, but my one comment will
be that was a very, very very heated rivalry. If you remember,
Triple H actually invaded Randy Orton's home. He threw him through his living room
window. Randy Orton, in turn, also handcuffed Triple H while he ended
up ddteing Stephanie and you know, kissing her while Triple H had to watch
like really really intense stuff, especially for the newly implemented PG era. And
this was a singles match with no extra stipulations. If there was ever a
time to do stipulation, WrestleMania is not the time to hold back WrestleMania is
the time to let go make stipulations, you know, go, I mean
make stipulations happen, because that's when you need them, is when you have
heated rivalries like this. And I think it was a huge miss even at
the time. This is in twenty twenty hindsight, many people have said this,
But during the time, during this time, during the match, I'm
like, why the hell is this not? No DQ it should have been
and it was just a straight up wrestling match. It's not a good payoff.
It's not a good payoff. But Triple H ended up winning. I
was still not happy about that. I think they could have done a whole
lot more, would have made a whole lot of more storyline sense to not
just have a straight up wrestling match. But all right, well it is
time to take one quick break. But on the other side of this break,
guess what's gonna happen. We're getting immediately to some audio, and that
audio is gonna be beautiful, you know why, because it's gonna have the
sounds of real people, real live human beings in an arena to react in
the moment to what's going on in the ring. And as a bonus,
you get to hear the beautiful pipes of none other than the good old j
R. Jim Ross. So a lot is coming on the other side of
this break, guys, hang tight, giving them a little love to our
sponsor, and we'll be right back. Welcome back to the WWE podcast.
Let's get back to more great wrestling audio. All right, and welcome back
to the show. One comment, and I am about to press play here
on our audio. I didn't realize how big Bad Bunny was. Okay,
I got a lot of you saying, what are you talking about? Bad
Bunny's huge. He's got you know, millions and millions of followers. I'm
unaware, Okay, I am unaware about how a large Big Bad Bunny was.
So if they're trying to reach a Latino audience, cool, except for
the fact that he's not an active competitor. He's there as a well I
was gonna say a one off, but for a very very short period of
time. He's not going to be in an active in ring week to week
competitor. And by the way, if you're you know, concerned about reaching
your for your your your compadres speaking Spanish, well guess what you're gonna be
able to understand what Bad Bunny is singing and saying, and then you know,
the other ninety nine percent of the time, you're not gonna be able
to understand if you don't understand English. So I don't know if they're trying
to appeal to the Latino audience and feel like there's an untapped market there.
Maybe, But I will just say I didn't realize how big Bad Bunny was,
and some of you were like, what are you talking about? It's
huge. So look, maybe it's just my age, my preference in music.
I don't know, but you know I don't I don't sit here and
listen to in sync, okay, Backstreet Boys. I mean, I don't
know. I'm not sure, not sure. It just completely to me was
irrelevant when I saw Bad Bunny. To me, it was channel changing.
To me, it was just flat out uninteresting and it disconnected from me big
time. But maybe that was the point and it was to reach a different
audience. So I just want to say that about Bad Bunny regardless. I
don't care how many followers he has. I don't care how you know how
big he is is. The fact is I still don't want him on my
screen. I find him uninteresting. I don't feel he's a good part of
the show because I feel like he's there kind of as a guest. I
don't feel like he's there as a true contributor to the product. He's there
to promote something. He's there as a collaborative effort. He's not there to
truly, you know, be a part of WWE just to really sell something.
Oh he's you know, he has an a new album dropping or something.
It feels very superficial. I mean ww has done this forever. I
mean even the Rock at times has come back just to promote a movie,
and I hate that. So either way, I'm not interested in seeing him.
I understand how big he is now I'm getting I'm starting to get that.
So maybe they're reaching a bigger audience. The ratings will tell the tale,
but I don't think it's a good retention rate. Considering that he's gone
right after last week. I don't think he's gonna be there every week.
Okay, let's get two. Here's the promotion, guys, here's the promo
for the build for HBK Undertaker, and let's listen to god, it's so
nice to hear your Jim Ross in a live crowd. Just take a breath
of fresh air on this one, guys, right, I am no longer
Sean Michael's employee of the month. You are looking at the heartbreak kids,
Sewn Michaels. The hell that shs Don Hoday. As I stand here today
looking at my life, seeing WrestleMania on the horizon, I realize I am
living heaven on earth. There's anybody that ought to face the Undertaker at the
twenty fifth anniversary of WrestleMania music, You're looking at him, Shawn Michaels.
Sometimes it is hell trying to get into heat. Sixteen now a WrestleMania,
A feats so extraordinary, no one could ever think of replicating it up to
a different let's go up costs. I know under Piper Streak continues you maybe
sixteen to WrestleMania by mister WrestleMania. So I don't think I've ever seen that
big. There's a main revolution of the latter map under the Man and Wrestles
drove over and watch out the Champion to miles to that I never out and
ran the stage of them all. You believe this guy that I never will
I expect the Undertaker. I'm pra the Undertaker, Sawn Michaels. Good time
for prayer has just begun, all right, so I'll pause it there There
is more, but that was the first part of the promo. I don't
want to subject you to many, many minutes of it. It's just again,
it's one thing to hear it, it's another thing to see it.
So I wanted to give you the promo here before we get into the match.
But essentially, Sean Michaels was beholden to JBL as he had run into
financial issues, as the storyline would go, and JBL was making him do
things he didn't want to do for like a couple of months, and people
were waiting for HBK to just finally break free, and he did. He
was able to, I guess again, storyline wise, financially break free,
and that JBL paid him out there, so the contract idiot him And so
that's the story and HBK finally was able to superkick JBL. JBL one of
the most just one of the greatest heels of all time. I don't like
JBL on a personal level from the things he's done and said on Twitter but
from a performance perspective, for everything he's contributed to the business, everything he
did is SmackDown Champion, one of the you know, really one of the
rags to riches stories in WWE. Certainly the guy is deserving of credit,
but that was the story, and we had HBK versus Undertaker, and it
was just a brilliant sight to see guys in two guys in their prime,
or at least late prime, not in their I guess true prime, and
they're not thirty thirty five years old, but they're still more than capable at
this point twelve years ago to put on one of the greatest main events that
we will ever see. And I consider this the main event of WrestleMania.
I understand it wasn't on paper the actual main event of WrestleMania, but to
me, this was the true rest main event of WrestleMania twenty five and really
the match that saved the entire show. I think. So, all right,
well, let's uh, let's take a little bit of audio from the
match itself, and let's uh, let's let's dive run in. Guys.
This is oh, it's just awesome. Here we go. That's it's shaking
his hand with me while the Undertaker sits up in the ring on the nine
gets darker. Don't stop there, I don't do that to look at this.
Let's just think till the caravan under taking his curst into the paperman.
I don't know how much a man took good you wouldn't taken after the school
school first, oh man, And I just wanted to share that bump with
you. If you guys, remember you talk about scary bumps, You talk
about moments that take your breath away in actual concern for the health of the
wrestlers. This was one of those moments. This is one of those moments
that you you you you're really watching, You're you're you know, you're you're
taking a look to see if you know Undertaker's moving, if he's conscious,
And what had happened was if you didn't I mean obviously you didn't, duh,
since you didn't see it, or if you don't remember and you've seen
it. Undertaker dove on the outside of the ring into Shawn Michaels. But
the problem was he over rotated and Michael's put the cameraman in front of him.
But that really wasn't the problem. The problem was the Undertaker, as
I said, kind of angled himself, over rotated a little bit too much
where he almost he literally did go head first into the ground and he hit
kind of the side of his head and face, and he protected him himself
as best as he could and broke his fall really with his face and his
shoulders and his hands. But it was a scary dive for Undertaker one that
again I thought, you know, you think the worst in those moments,
you know, like, let's call it like it is. I thought he
might be dead or paralyzed. But luckily, somehow, some way, it
didn't do anything to him. All that weight coming down on that part of
his body. It really was. It was one of those moments that again
it takes your breath away. You are worried for the actual wrestler themselves,
the person behind the wrestler, and it takes you out of the moment and
in a way that is of concern for the actual person. Again. So
okay, let's let's take a listen to some more stuff than that isn't as
scary in the match. So well, here we go too, to make
up and turn on the groups. You know, I got them. It
didn't end on the counter, John Michael, It's gonna end it with some
sweet Jim music. Will it be strict three with sweet season? You say,
come on, the Morney walks up, says I'm gonna get drunk.
That I've ever seen or trying her? Could he do it here? Cops?
But the resilience and then well and sound, Michaels is unrelabable, the
disbelief in the eyes of the dead. There you under taking on all that
cup slide and look it was a slim dum I can really do, Sam
Michael, zam, there's some seing feet on the floor. I've never seen
a her devastating, and it really was that devastating. I know. Jim
Ross called it a close line, obviously misspeaking and meant to say choke slam,
not clothesline. Kind of funny, but yeah, it was a perfectly
executed choke slam. I mean, you couldn't have had a better chokeslam.
There's been some pretty bad choke slams in our time. I mean just bad.
If you want to see embarrassingly bad, look no further than Goldberg or
Goldbergen Undertaker this past year, last year, two years ago, whatever the
heck it was. I put that out of my brain, like most fans,
look no further than that. Or Hulk Hogan versus Undertaker. I think
that was in two thousand and two when they faced each other when he was
the American badass under Hulk Hogan took some really really bad choke slam Say the
same with DDP when he did the whole Stalker angle with Undertaker in the early
two thousands. So there's been some very very bad ones. This was probably
as good of a choke slam as you'll ever see. And I know it's
again we're talking about the selling of a move, but it was the perfect
backbump and it I love the way the announcers sold it, right, Jim
Ross, Jerry the King Lawler, Michael Cole, the best of the best
on commentary at that time, and they sold it as it should have been
sold, talking about how he got all of it, and it's true,
right, they didn't just talk about it as one and just another choke slamb
because it was perfectly executed, and the announcers jumped on that and they should
have. It was just a very very smart move on their part. And
you also hear if you didn't notice or will notice in terms of audio.
Obviously, the referees count was very nicely paced. It was one, two
and a kickout. It's really been sped up times two, if you've noticed
in today's product. And I don't need to have every count go as slow
as molasses. I'm just asking that the counts are actually three seconds. I
can guarantee you the counts today for the three times they hit their hand on
the mat is probably two seconds in real time. I don't like how quickly
the counts go today. I don't know what it is. It's just the
way things are done. And nobody's even noticed or cared to bring this up.
And I'm not looking for slow motion. I'm looking for more drama.
Those three seconds are the slowest or the most I guess observed three seconds in
the match because you're watching the referees hand that determines the outcome hit the mat.
And so to me, it's like this, and I'm not going to
try to clap into the microphone here, but it's this is how quick today's
counts are. And I'm not exaggerating. Go look any match and you just
pick one, pick one of the last like ten years. It's one two
kick out right, one two? How fast was that? I'll clap three
times and try it yourself, right, This is a do it at home
experiment. Seriously, so it's it's this one two three. I'm serious.
It is stupid fast, and I think that takes a lot of drama away,
those fractions of a second meeting so much in a match, and so
this it meant even more obviously in a high stakes match like this. So
let's continue on in this just brilliance, just really Michaelangelo of a match.
So here we go. What can choose? It goes counter wit for sweet
two music again sleep stood music, that's its street. Just tempalize, that
is the question. We saw the screep two music. You see the result
someone's gonna do is he's a streak over here here. That's just super And
just listen to the crowd. My god, that still gives me chills twelve
years later. It doesn't matter. I mean, just really, any live
crowd. I'll take anybody. I mean I'll take anything. I'll take any
live human beings in an arena to hear what their reaction is compared to the
pumped in crowd music crowd noise, and again not ww's fault just to rall
just victims of the circumstance, but just God. The pacing of this match
too, which I know that I've talked about a couple of times in the
past and I will continue to talk about. Is the pacing of the match
was so easy to digest. Yes, you have the amazing crowd. Okay,
you have have the greatest commentary team of all time announcing this match,
Thatt WrestleMania. You have seventy eight thousand people screaming. But the pacing,
meaning this match doesn't go one hundred miles an hour. You feel every punch,
every kick, every maneuver. There's a sense of urgency. It's not
just oh well it'll be reverse reverse, you know. And it's this very
fast paced you can't keep up. It's just a fireworks show. It's not
an emotional investment. And these two had the pacing that a lot of people,
by today's standards would feel like it's slow motion. I love it.
I e fing love the pace of this match. This is the pacing of
a match that I think is the best way really for people, human beings
to be able to dissect what's going on in the ring and understand and feel
it and be able to follow along. It's like speed reading versus reading at
your leisure, and that's the difference. So okay, let's continue on with
this match. H m hm. Turning a counter into the counter. Let's
have stuck the tennis. This is the last Let's take impassible to Astacium is
the undertaker? How the name of that's decent? Then let's take out of
this. Listen to the same. Are you intact? Ither talker cannot believe
anyone to take out of the last ride as we have just seen, Sho'm
not Let's do well. I do have to believe that Seawn Michaels has the
undertakers. Okay, so Undertaker again in shock Michaels is able to kick out
of the last ride. And you'll notice the finishing maneuvers here. It starts
kind of with your signature moves, the ones that you know aren't ever don't
usually finish a match, but you give it a shot anyway, and then
you work up to the finishers. It's just again it's great, great storytelling.
So here we go. We're going to continue with the audio as things
escalate to the finish toast the experience. Tucker's eye let me shut Slaves of
slaves, two stoves kick kick kicking shown. Michael seems to be unconscious.
How did he do that? He just will his show up instincts, maybe
to burn an intervention. Michael, Oh god, I mean I literally got
chills watching this. I mean, you get sucked right back in. This
reminds me and should remind all of us why we love wrestling. It certainly
it drags you right back in to whatever's going on in your life, doesn't
matter. You are just completely emotionally invested in what is happening. And this
was twelve years ago and I still still love every second. And then this
beautiful, like this is all the stars aligning for one of the greatest matches
of all time. And here we go. We'll get to the finish in
just a minute. Here, but take a listen. It's like his body's
a lot of pilot. It's like he doesn't even know what he's doing,
but he's he's doing its trash body or body, all right. So Michael's
hits his his elbow from the top rope and then we get to me one
of the most believable finishes up to this point. Of course, there were
more believable false finishes. The Undertaker could lose at WrestleMania after this with to
me, the most believable, to me, the most believable false finish of
Undertaker having his streak broken. Obviously, before Brock did at WrestleMania thirty was
WrestleMania twenty eight with HBK as a special guest referee with Triple H facing undertake,
where he hit the Sweet Chin music which went into a pedigree, and
I thought that was the end of the streak. That was to me the
most like chilling moment that I said, oh my god, it's over and
he kicked out. But this, up to this point, this moment is
that I'm just gonna listen, make you listen to right now, or let
you listen. I gonna make you. Of course you don't have to,
but this moment right now is the moment up till this point that I thought
it really could be over. So let's take a listen. Is he had
one big move left? It Seawan Michael's tune up the band one more time
to the underticker, was stand any more Sweet ten music? No? He
may not get it. The figure almost fell out of the ring. I'm
gonna turn put him himself up. Damn's done them, didn't The live is
talmasing, is the streak about? It's totainer lot's this plusser, this contain
away. Can you believe that? Is into the mo we are godnessing,
You're took under tonight the worldless mot nights passion so fitting for the twenty fifth
Animals wee of WrestleMania. The legendary undertaker, the legendary Shawn Michaels. This
this capacity, proud of shitty, this is awesome? Are they all right?
So I will say this, and it did make me believe that that's
one that the second sweet in music that made me believe that, oh my
god, it could be over. And then of course you get the interjection
the cardinal sin from announcers that always have to say kiss the streak goodbye in
this case, or he's going to lose the championship, which immediately draws your
mind to okay, wait, never mind, he's not going to It's the
cardinal sin. Out of everything that I may complain about with announcers and things
that they do and all of that. The number one sin that they have,
that they project and that they commit sometimes on a weekly basis, is
the this this on just this desire, this whatever, it is, this
habit of always trying to swerve the audience to make you believe something could happen
in the moment that you know is not going to happen, especially at the
end of matches or when somebody hits a finish and the announcer that never gets
anything right is suddenly saying, yeah, he's gonna win the championship. You've
got he's got it won, and you know, immediately you go, gee,
thanks, Now I know he doesn't. Can we move away from that?
It's just been a it's been a just a cardinal unforgivable sin as long
as I've been listening to wrestling. So Jerry Lawler really did that one here.
I'm not a fan, but hey, that's the only complaint I've got.
It's not even about the match, it's the damn commentary. Okay.
So then, of course we get to the finish of the match, which
I was rooting for Michaels here, I really was. I wanted to see
Sean Michaels beat the streak and well he obviously didn't. So let's take a
listen to that. Underts T was talking him to the test Superta septeen SAPs,
ladies and gentlemen, sho Michael's crew time, that he was indeed mister
WrestleMania. What the Undertaker through, that he is WrestleMania's feet up with Yes,
the Undertaker through, and that he is in the seventh feet and all.
And look at you and it's a fans on centertainer. I am murdered
you to have the opportunity the Sea Green sign will see this. This is
one wrestle you miss all about what it absolutely you wouldn't believeable. Ask what's
the end? Though? I have the entertainers to do this crashing at the
sweep set music instead be can what less too much to persevere gives part?
Can beating that is to the pun Oh gosh, this is again. I've
put over this match like I don't know how to put it over anymore.
So I know you've heard it now, but to see it as another thing,
to watch it start to finish, it's certainly another thing. Uh So
you will you will certainly be you will be happy that you spend thirty minutes
doing this. I mean you could spend thirty minutes on TikTok and blink and
you look up and you know it's you haven't real accomplished any This will make
you remember why you love wrestling. If you have maybe fallen out of love
with wrestling, or you have your issues with wrestling, and you may not
think you're a fan anymore, you're not sure what you know, if you're
kind of on the fence, but watching you're just maybe gonna spend your time
doing something else on a Monday and a Friday night. And I would encourage
you to watch this. It may rejuvenate your soul with wrestling. It is
that good this, You know again, to say this is my favorite match
of all time is it's one of I don't think that saying or answering that
question is easy. It's not easy for anybody. What's your favorite match of
all time? It's kind of like, well, I have a lot of
favorite matches. This is certainly one of them. On you know, Undertaker,
HBK Hit to Helena Seale is another one at ninety seven for a lot
of nostalgic reasons, but HBC Undertaker accommodation is just it's a match made in
heaven. Undertaker HBK. There's styles there, their personas, everything matches up
in interlocks perfectly. I've loved everything about these two when they hook up since
they first did. And so anyway, okay, I think I've made my
point about go watch the damn match. Go to the network, go on
YouTube wherever you can find it, don't care. You'll spend thirty minutes loving
wrestling and remembering why you love love this sport that we all do. And
you'll also love the fact that, hey, fans are in an arena,
Seventy some thousand of them are in an arena live. There's no people wearing
masks, people aren't socially distancing. Socially distancing wasn't even a thing. We
didn't even know what that meant. One of these days it'll be back,
We'll be all those restrictions will be gone, and we can go back to
our lives as we knew them. But it's nice to take you out of
it. If you want to get out of the moment and get back into
some fun and remember why you loved wrestling, there's no better place to look
than HBK Versus Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five. All right, well, guys,
thank you so much as always for joining me here on the WWE podcast.
I will be recording the mail bag portion of the show. You guys got
a ton for me. My god, you guys got a lot, So
I'll see if I can squeeze it in one show. If I can't squeeze
it in one show, I will be doing a separate show. Maybe I'll
put it in the Sunday Review or something like that. But anyway, guys,
thank you as always. Please give us a five star rating interview on
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