May 23, 2024 • 52 mins
Originally aired on February 3rd, 2021, we take a look back at one of the most widely regarded best matches in WrestleMania history. HBK vs The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey everybody, and welcome to theWrestling Nostallenger portion of the WWE podcast,
and tonight we are taking a lookat HBK versus The Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five.
So we're going back twelve years totake a look and listen to one
of the greatest wrestling matches of alltime. This is gonna be awesome.
(00:22):
Guys. Audio is on the wayas well. We're gonna have a ton
of fun. Let's get everything goingright after this, it's time for your
weekly fix of wrestling nostalgia. Whenwe look at wrestling's past eras from the
Attitude era, this is the realityera. I'd like to think then maybe
(00:45):
this company will be better after VinceMcMahon's dead, But the fact is it's
it's gonna get taken over by hisidiotic daughter and his dufest son in law
and the rest of his stupid family. To today, here thee Montdast welcome
(01:07):
to You're wrestling the Styalgia Show forthis 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 secondhere in the Northeast, we are counting
the minutes until we can see apatch of grass. I mean right now.
(01:27):
As far as how much snow youhave on the ground here in upstate
New York, I mean, we'retalking like at least probably two feet just
covering the ground. And it's beenthis way. We've had snow on the
ground for several months now. It'snot like we've seen grass and then we've
had a snowstorm. It's pretty darntough, especially come February. March can
even be brutal, but hopefully whereveryou are it is maybe sunnier, maybe
(01:49):
warmer. Maybe you have it worse, but it is February, and once
you get through February, which isa short month, March can be very
back and forth. If you livein the northern half of the United States,
March can be very brutal and verysweet. It's got a very skitzo
personality. But I take that overjust constant depression and snow and cold.
(02:10):
So we have that to look forwardto. 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 letme just say, I believe we have
covered this in the past. Ilook through my recent show over the last
couple of months and I don't seeit there. Okay, I have done
(02:32):
so many of these shows that Idon't know exactly when we've done it,
but I am almost positive that we'vecovered it. So obviously this is a
different take given that it's not thesame show, But you know, I
want to give you guys different thoughts, different unique perspectives other than just maybe
what I presented before. So eitherway, it's worthy of a second show.
(02:55):
It is just that good of amatch. And for God's sakes,
if you haven't seen HBK Undertaker WrestleManiatwenty five, I feel sorry for you.
You need to. It's you know, I say that all the time
about nostalgia. This one from awrestling purist standpoint, from a storyline,
(03:15):
from an in ring pacing to justeverything 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 thebuild up to this WrestleMania twenty five match
(03:36):
was, and obviously they met atWrestleMania twenty six. I don't think I've
ever covered WrestleMania twenty six, whichwas the streak versus the career, but
I think that WrestleMania twenty five overshadowedit and they tried to duplicate it at
twenty six, which was it wasa hell of an effort, But you
can't duplicate magic. Magic just kindof happens, you know, when you
try to, when you try tomake magic happen again, it it just
(04:00):
doesn't. And nonetheless, we'll talkabout Wrestling E twenty five and a couple
of short minutes. But first there'sa couple of things that I want to
address that I did not address inmy past shows, of which I'm losing
count many I've done over the lastcouple of weeks, especially with Rumble number
one Lars Sullivan gone from WWE,I have not touched on this. Lars
(04:21):
Sullivan is no more in WWE,to the surprise of exactly zero people.
I'm pretty sure mathematically I'm correct onthat that exactly zero people, zero points
zero. I want to make sureI get the math right. Are surprised
about Lars Sullivan exiting WWE? Anddo I have reasons? No? Do
(04:43):
I need reasons to know why hewas probably released? No? I think
we can all draw the just smartestimation 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 afterchance and he continues to blow it.
(05:04):
So maybe he'll go back to theplayground and get bullied, you know,
maybe he'll go back to Instagram andjust continue to message married women on
Instagram. You know, he certainlyhas got a lot of or at least
a couple of options two's from fora long term career. But honestly,
I do wish him well. Youknow, I think that he had a
(05:25):
lot of potential in WWE. Ithink 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 thatwas in support of him, the one
that was in his corner fighting forhim, was Vince. And it seems
as if Vince has even kind ofcome to the conclusion that he cannot be
trusted now again, do I knowof a latest incident that led to this.
(05:46):
No, maybe it'll come to lightover the next several weeks and then
we'll go, oh, that's whyhe 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 thedice, you know, and hope that
he cleans himself up and doesn't becomea pr nightmare, or are we just
got to cut bait and uh,just cut our losses and let him go
(06:10):
and and uh, you know,say no future indev you And they took
the latter. They took the saferroad of deciding to not have to worry
about him messaging people that she shouldn'tbe or having anxiety attacks, which was
one of the reasons he didn't makea debut at one point and actually lost
out on a big opportunity, oryou know, become injured or whatever.
(06:32):
The number of things that he's hadhappened bad timing, just bad behavior,
bad luck over the last several yearsin 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 ofpotential, and he had it. Did
have a lot of a lot ofuntapped potential. There's no there's no doubt
(06:55):
about it. He did, andit's it's it's a shame from a professional
standpoint, not personal. It seemspersonally he's got a lot of issues going
on there. But professionally it isa bit disappointing because I did. I
was mildly interested in Larsolovan. Ireally was. You know, we didn't
get a lot of time to learnabout him other than he was beating up
(07:15):
bullies, which then he became thebully 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, justmake 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'remarried and you're attractive, be careful,
(07:39):
watch your dms. He might slideright on him. Okay, I think
I made my silly point, butLars Sullivan has gone guys. Secondly that
I wanted to talk about is Edgespromo that he cut on NXT tonight.
Now normally, normally I do notcomment on an XT. I do not
comment on NXT because that is ZackSmith's tear. I do not encroach on
(08:01):
Zack Smith's territory. He does anexcellent 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 wasfrom one of our listeners, and I'll
(08:22):
just say her name is Lauren,and she DM me on Instagram, which,
by the way, you can doso at WWE Underscore podcast, and
she kind of said the same thing. You know, Look, Zach does
his podcast, but I'm curious ofwhat your thoughts are on the promo that
Edge cut with Pete Dunn and FinnBalor 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 tohave me spoil it, fast forward the
(08:46):
next couple of minutes. You're stillhere, Okay, you've been warned.
So Edge came out, and Imean this only was a few minutes,
but he came out, and thefirst 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
(09:09):
a lot of emphasis put on theE, where an NXT the emphasis is
put on the second W in WWEreferring to wrestling. I've been saying that
for many years. Okay, Idon't know if he listens to this show,
very unlikely, but I've been sayingthat WWE often forgets that they have
(09:30):
a W in their WWE, andsimply, I mean, they honestly should
just be changing their acronym to Ebecause 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 clearlysomething that Triple H would allow and
something that Vince would not allow onhis main shows, as he kind of
heads up SmackDown and Raw and leavesthe NXT's redheaded step child behind and leaves
(09:54):
that to Triple H. But hecame 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 ofhim himself and Pete Donn, both good
and bad. And Pete Dunn shruggedhis shoulders at Edge. And he also
then got to Finn Balor and saidthat Finn Balor is operating on a whole
(10:16):
new level. And then NXT iswhat 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 believeanything Edge says is insane. How often
we hear promos today and we simplydon't believe what they're saying because it feels
very scripted, it feels very forced, And Edge is the opposite Edge has
(10:37):
made. Edge could make me believethe sky isn't blue, He really could,
and water's not wet. I'd say, yes, sir, okay.
Edge, He's so convincing. Butregardless of whether he's lying to me about
that or not, which I actuallydon't think he is, he started talking
about Finn Balor operating on a wholenew level and that he won the Royal
(10:58):
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'sintriguing because he's never had that, and
he points to the NXT Championship andthink about that, guys. You know,
I don't think many of us,including myself admittedly, have not looked
(11:22):
at the possibility of Edge versus sFinn Balor, because let's be honest,
I don't think pet Dunn is goingto 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 somewhatfamiliar with the product. As much as
I say that I hand it offto Zax Smith, I do try to
keep up as best I can.And Finn Balor is as good as Edge
(11:43):
says he is and has found ahome beautifully in NXT. And I don't
think that many podcasters fans have reallyconsidered Edge versus Finn Balor at WrestleMania because
we always think it's the raw ora SmackDown option that there's no yeah,
NXT's there, but it's not reallya third option. It's not a realistic,
(12:05):
plausible third option. And I thinkthat maybe we need to consider maybe
we do need to need to considerEdge versus Finn Ballot WrestleMania. That'd be
awesome, It'd be I think it'dbe great. And Edge has clearly moved
on, by the way from Orton, so that that's both disappointing because of
(12:26):
the way it ended, but alsothey had such great matches in chemistry.
At the same time, it isnice to see as move on, to
see what he can do with otherpeople. I mean, since he's been
back of the rumble, he hasn'tdone anything with anybody since he started with
Randy Orton and and he r Kiyotamand they were off to the races and
(12:46):
Edge got injured and COVID happened.So would Orton or I'm sorry, would
Edge versus Finn Balor be something thatwould interest you guys. I mean,
I'm on board because we're all thinkingit's either it's Drew McIntyre, Roman reigns
Now. If you're gonna put agun in my head and you're gonna say
it's got you gotta pick one.You gotta pick one of the three.
(13:07):
I'm still going with Roman reigns.Now, am I saying that very confidently?
No, I'm not. It justmakes the most sense. I think
Drew McIntyre is the least likely becauseyou don't want Babyface versus baby Face in
a massive baby Face return and havingforcing the fans to choose you know,
an awesome legacy star that is aboutninety percent of what he was versus their
(13:33):
resident champion that has done an excellentjob 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 Ithink that might be the best, highest
quality match, the money might bein Roman reigns the hot heel, hot
(13:54):
really hot heel versus the hot Edgebaby Face. To me, I think
that that's probably where they go.Now does that mean Edge wins? Who
knows? I mean, we'll talkabout that when the match actually becomes official.
I think Edge is going to waituntil maybe elimination Chamber to make his
pick, which is also another hookfor you to get the network, which
(14:16):
would be smart and WWE's part.And there's only two and a half weeks
until the Elimination Chamber so those arejust 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
(14:39):
know that streams n XT, youcan also of course watch it in real
time. So just a couple ofthoughts there. All right, Well,
let's get into the heart of thematter here, and that is WrestleMania twenty
five, which let's get the statson. It took place on April fifth,
(15:01):
two thousand and nine, at ReliantStadium in Houston, Texas. The
by rate was nine hundred and sixtythousand buys. The attendance was seventy two
thousand and seven forty four. Obviouslyheadlined by HBK versus Undertaker. Now HBK
(15:24):
Undertaker was not the main event,though I know it is saying it was
headline, but it's headlined in ourminds. On paper, what actually headlined
this show was Triple H versus RandyOrton. 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 headlinedby Triple H Randy Orton. So here
(15:48):
we go. Here's what the matchcard was. It was the Colognes,
Carlito and Primo defeating John Morrison andthe 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 Championshipsinto the unified w Tag Team Championship Number
(16:12):
one. I love this. Canwe 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 inthem is and guys, this is two
thousand and nine. This is whatI'm talking about. This is absurd.
We still have this tag team happening. I'm not gonna go on that ran,
(16:34):
but this was I think a smartmove to unify the championships. I
also think it's a smart move tounify the championships today. Not that we
should do is brand split combination like, in other words, undo the brand
split, but have fewer championships thathave them float between brands makes sense to
me. But okay, then weget a money in the Bank ladder match
(16:56):
when the Money in the Bank LadderMatch 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.
(17:18):
We still have active competitors. Wehave Christian, we have MVP,
we have Shelton Benjamin, we haveI guess i'd say Cain. I don't
know Cain on a very temporary,awkward basis. So it's just funny.
(17:41):
I mean, MVP and Shelton havebeen intertwined, not even knowingly. I
didn't know that they were. Okay, this one, my god, imagine
that this happened this year. Ohmy god? Are you ready for this?
And this has actually happened during thePG era. Don't forget this is
p G Okay. Santina Morella wonMiss WrestleMania the Miss Mess WrestleMania Battle Royal
(18:07):
with May Young as the special guesttimekeeper. Santina Morella won by last eliminating
Beth Phoenix in seven minutes and twentyfive seconds. Imagine if Santina Morella won
a women's match at WrestleMania this youknow today twenty twenty one. Imagine the
(18:29):
outrage. I mean, people losttheir 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 JimmySnooker, Ricky Steamboat, and Roddy Piper
(18:51):
in a handicap elimination match. Itwas 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
(19:11):
Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an extremerules match. Raymys Stereo defeated John Bradshaw
Layfield for the WWE Intercontinental Championship intwenty seconds twenty the Undertaker, Here we
Go defeated Sean Michaels. I don'tthink that I'm spoiling anything here. Defeated
(19:33):
Sean Michaels in thirty minutes and fortyfour seconds. Who John Cena defeated Big
Show and Edge in a triple threatfor the World Heavyweight Championship. And in
the main event, Triple H defeatedRandy Orton for the WWE Championship. And
(19:56):
in this match, the stipulation wasif Triple H had been counted out or
disqualified, he would have lost thechampionship. I remember this, and I
know this. This is not aboutthis match, but my one comment will
be that was a very, veryvery heated rivalry. If you remember,
Triple H actually invaded Randy Orton's home. He threw him through his living room
(20:18):
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, especiallyfor the newly implemented PG era. And
(20:38):
this was a singles match with noextra stipulations. If there was ever a
time to do stipulation, WrestleMania isnot 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 whenyou need them, is when you have
heated rivalries like this. And Ithink it was a huge miss even at
(21:00):
the time. This is in twentytwenty hindsight, many people have said this,
But during the time, during thistime, during the match, I'm
like, why the hell is thisnot? No DQ it should have been
and it was just a straight upwrestling match. It's not a good payoff.
It's not a good payoff. ButTriple H ended up winning. I
was still not happy about that.I think they could have done a whole
lot more, would have made awhole lot of more storyline sense to not
(21:22):
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 gettingimmediately to some audio, and that
audio is gonna be beautiful, youknow why, because it's gonna have the
sounds of real people, real livehuman beings in an arena to react in
(21:48):
the moment to what's going on inthe ring. And as a bonus,
you get to hear the beautiful pipesof none other than the good old j
R. Jim Ross. So alot 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.
(22:12):
Let's get back to more great wrestlingaudio. All right, and welcome back
to the show. One comment,and I am about to press play here
on our audio. I didn't realizehow big Bad Bunny was. Okay,
I got a lot of you saying, what are you talking about? Bad
(22:33):
Bunny's huge. He's got you know, millions and millions of followers. I'm
unaware, Okay, I am unawareabout how a large Big Bad Bunny was.
So if they're trying to reach aLatino audience, cool, except for
the fact that he's not an activecompetitor. He's there as a well I
was gonna say a one off,but for a very very short period of
(22:56):
time. He's not going to bein 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 speakingSpanish, well guess what you're gonna be
able to understand what Bad Bunny issinging and saying, and then you know,
the other ninety nine percent of thetime, you're not gonna be able
to understand if you don't understand English. So I don't know if they're trying
(23:18):
to appeal to the Latino audience andfeel like there's an untapped market there.
Maybe, But I will just sayI 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'sjust my age, my preference in music.
I don't know, but you knowI don't I don't sit here and
listen to in sync, okay,Backstreet Boys. I mean, I don't
(23:38):
know. I'm not sure, notsure. It just completely to me was
irrelevant when I saw Bad Bunny.To me, it was channel changing.
To me, it was just flatout uninteresting and it disconnected from me big
time. But maybe that was thepoint and it was to reach a different
audience. So I just want tosay that about Bad Bunny regardless. I
don't care how many followers he has. I don't care how you know how
(23:59):
big he is is. The factis 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'sthere kind of as a guest. I
don't feel like he's there as atrue contributor to the product. He's there
to promote something. He's there asa collaborative effort. He's not there to
truly, you know, be apart of WWE just to really sell something.
(24:23):
Oh he's you know, he hasan a new album dropping or something.
It feels very superficial. I meanww has done this forever. I
mean even the Rock at times hascome back just to promote a movie,
and I hate that. So eitherway, I'm not interested in seeing him.
I understand how big he is nowI'm getting I'm starting to get that.
So maybe they're reaching a bigger audience. The ratings will tell the tale,
(24:44):
but I don't think it's a goodretention rate. Considering that he's gone
right after last week. I don'tthink he's gonna be there every week.
Okay, let's get two. Here'sthe 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 ina live crowd. Just take a breath
of fresh air on this one,guys, right, I am no longer
(25:07):
Sean Michael's employee of the month.You are looking at the heartbreak kids,
Sewn Michaels. The hell that shsDon Hoday. As I stand here today
looking at my life, seeing WrestleManiaon the horizon, I realize I am
(25:33):
living heaven on earth. There's anybodythat 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 getinto heat. Sixteen now a WrestleMania,
(26:03):
A feats so extraordinary, no onecould ever think of replicating it up to
a different let's go up costs.I know under Piper Streak continues you maybe
(26:34):
sixteen to WrestleMania by mister WrestleMania.So I don't think I've ever seen that
big. There's a main revolution ofthe latter map under the Man and Wrestles
drove over and watch out the Championto miles to that I never out and
(26:57):
ran the stage of them all.You believe this guy that I never will
I expect the Undertaker. I'm prathe Undertaker, Sawn Michaels. Good time
for prayer has just begun, allright, so I'll pause it there There
(27:22):
is more, but that was thefirst 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 thepromo here before we get into the match.
But essentially, Sean Michaels was beholdento JBL as he had run into
financial issues, as the storyline wouldgo, and JBL was making him do
(27:45):
things he didn't want to do forlike a couple of months, and people
were waiting for HBK to just finallybreak 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 wasable to superkick JBL. JBL one of
(28:07):
the most just one of the greatestheels of all time. I don't like
JBL on a personal level from thethings he's done and said on Twitter but
from a performance perspective, for everythinghe's contributed to the business, everything he
did is SmackDown Champion, one ofthe you know, really one of the
rags to riches stories in WWE.Certainly the guy is deserving of credit,
(28:29):
but that was the story, andwe had HBK versus Undertaker, and it
was just a brilliant sight to seeguys in two guys in their prime,
or at least late prime, notin 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 puton one of the greatest main events that
we will ever see. And Iconsider this the main event of WrestleMania.
(28:52):
I understand it wasn't on paper theactual main event of WrestleMania, but to
me, this was the true restmain 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 takea little bit of audio from the
match itself, and let's uh,let's let's dive run in. Guys.
(29:15):
This is oh, it's just awesome. Here we go. That's it's shaking
his hand with me while the Undertakersits up in the ring on the nine
gets darker. Don't stop there,I don't do that to look at this.
(29:49):
Let's just think till the caravan undertaking his curst into the paperman.
I don't know how much a mantook good you wouldn't taken after the school
school first, oh man, AndI just wanted to share that bump with
you. If you guys, rememberyou talk about scary bumps, You talk
(30:15):
about moments that take your breath awayin actual concern for the health of the
wrestlers. This was one of thosemoments. 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 youknow Undertaker's moving, if he's conscious,
And what had happened was if youdidn't I mean obviously you didn't, duh,
(30:37):
since you didn't see it, orif you don't remember and you've seen
it. Undertaker dove on the outsideof the ring into Shawn Michaels. But
the problem was he over rotated andMichael'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
(31:00):
where he almost he literally did gohead first into the ground and he hit
kind of the side of his headand face, and he protected him himself
as best as he could and brokehis fall really with his face and his
shoulders and his hands. But itwas a scary dive for Undertaker one that
(31:22):
again I thought, you know,you think the worst in those moments,
you know, like, let's callit like it is. I thought he
might be dead or paralyzed. Butluckily, somehow, some way, it
didn't do anything to him. Allthat 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. Youare worried for the actual wrestler themselves,
(31:45):
the person behind the wrestler, andit takes you out of the moment and
in a way that is of concernfor the actual person. Again. So
okay, let's let's take a listento some more stuff than that isn't as
scary in the match. So well, here we go too, to make
(32:07):
up and turn on the groups.You know, I got them. It
didn't end on the counter, JohnMichael, It's gonna end it with some
sweet Jim music. Will it bestrict three with sweet season? You say,
come on, the Morney walks up, says I'm gonna get drunk.
(32:28):
That I've ever seen or trying her? Could he do it here? Cops?
But the resilience and then well andsound, Michaels is unrelabable, the
disbelief in the eyes of the dead. There you under taking on all that
cup slide and look it was aslim dum I can really do, Sam
(32:53):
Michael, zam, there's some seingfeet on the floor. I've never seen
a her devastating, and it reallywas 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
(33:14):
executed choke slam. I mean,you couldn't have had a better chokeslam.
There's been some pretty bad choke slamsin our time. I mean just bad.
If you want to see embarrassingly bad, look no further than Goldberg or
Goldbergen Undertaker this past year, lastyear, two years ago, whatever the
heck it was. I put thatout of my brain, like most fans,
(33:35):
look no further than that. OrHulk Hogan versus Undertaker. I think
that was in two thousand and twowhen they faced each other when he was
the American badass under Hulk Hogan tooksome really really bad choke slam Say the
same with DDP when he did thewhole Stalker angle with Undertaker in the early
two thousands. So there's been somevery very bad ones. This was probably
as good of a choke slam asyou'll ever see. And I know it's
(33:59):
again we're talking about the selling ofa move, but it was the perfect
backbump and it I love the waythe announcers sold it, right, Jim
Ross, Jerry the King Lawler,Michael Cole, the best of the best
on commentary at that time, andthey sold it as it should have been
sold, talking about how he gotall of it, and it's true,
(34:21):
right, they didn't just talk aboutit as one and just another choke slamb
because it was perfectly executed, andthe announcers jumped on that and they should
have. It was just a veryvery smart move on their part. And
you also hear if you didn't noticeor will notice in terms of audio.
(34:43):
Obviously, the referees count was verynicely paced. It was one, two
and a kickout. It's really beensped up times two, if you've noticed
in today's product. And I don'tneed to have every count go as slow
as molasses. I'm just asking thatthe counts are actually three seconds. I
(35:07):
can guarantee you the counts today forthe three times they hit their hand on
the mat is probably two seconds inreal time. I don't like how quickly
the counts go today. I don'tknow what it is. It's just the
way things are done. And nobody'seven noticed or cared to bring this up.
And I'm not looking for slow motion. I'm looking for more drama.
(35:29):
Those three seconds are the slowest orthe most I guess observed three seconds in
the match because you're watching the refereeshand that determines the outcome hit the mat.
And so to me, it's likethis, and I'm not going to
try to clap into the microphone here, but it's this is how quick today's
(35:49):
counts are. And I'm not exaggerating. Go look any match and you just
pick one, pick one of thelast 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'sthis one two three. I'm serious.
(36:12):
It is stupid fast, and Ithink that takes a lot of drama away,
those fractions of a second meeting somuch in a match, and so
this it meant even more obviously ina 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 canchoose? It goes counter wit for sweet
(36:42):
two music again sleep stood music,that's its street. Just tempalize, that
is the question. We saw thescreep two music. You see the result
someone's gonna do is he's a streakover here here. That's just super And
(37:21):
just listen to the crowd. Mygod, that still gives me chills twelve
years later. It doesn't matter.I mean, just really, any live
crowd. I'll take anybody. Imean I'll take anything. I'll take any
live human beings in an arena tohear 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, butjust God. The pacing of this match
(37:45):
too, which I know that I'vetalked about a couple of times in the
past and I will continue to talkabout. Is the pacing of the match
was so easy to digest. Yes, you have the amazing crowd. Okay,
you have have the greatest commentary teamof all time announcing this match,
Thatt WrestleMania. You have seventy eightthousand people screaming. But the pacing,
(38:09):
meaning this match doesn't go one hundredmiles an hour. You feel every punch,
every kick, every maneuver. There'sa 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 twohad the pacing that a lot of people,
(38:31):
by today's standards would feel like it'sslow motion. I love it.
I e fing love the pace ofthis match. This is the pacing of
a match that I think is thebest way really for people, human beings
to be able to dissect what's goingon 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
(38:53):
this match. H m hm.Turning a counter into the counter. Let's
(39:14):
have stuck the tennis. This isthe last Let's take impassible to Astacium is
the undertaker? How the name ofthat's decent? Then let's take out of
(39:34):
this. Listen to the same.Are you intact? Ither talker cannot believe
anyone to take out of the lastride as we have just seen, Sho'm
not Let's do well. I dohave to believe that Seawn Michaels has the
(39:59):
undertakers. Okay, so Undertaker againin shock Michaels is able to kick out
of the last ride. And you'llnotice 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 yougive it a shot anyway, and then
you work up to the finishers.It's just again it's great, great storytelling.
(40:23):
So here we go. We're goingto continue with the audio as things
escalate to the finish toast the experience. Tucker's eye let me shut Slaves of
(41:07):
slaves, two stoves kick kick kickingshown. Michael seems to be unconscious.
How did he do that? Hejust will his show up instincts, maybe
to burn an intervention. Michael,Oh god, I mean I literally got
(41:32):
chills watching this. I mean,you get sucked right back in. This
reminds me and should remind all ofus why we love wrestling. It certainly
it drags you right back in towhatever's going on in your life, doesn't
matter. You are just completely emotionallyinvested in what is happening. And this
(41:53):
was twelve years ago and I stillstill love every second. And then this
beautiful, like this is all thestars aligning for one of the greatest matches
of all time. And here wego. We'll get to the finish in
just a minute. Here, buttake a listen. It's like his body's
a lot of pilot. It's likehe doesn't even know what he's doing,
(42:14):
but he's he's doing its trash bodyor body, all right. So Michael's
hits his his elbow from the toprope and then we get to me one
of the most believable finishes up tothis point. Of course, there were
(42:37):
more believable false finishes. The Undertakercould lose at WrestleMania after this with to
me, the most believable, tome, 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 aspecial guest referee with Triple H facing undertake,
(43:00):
where he hit the Sweet Chin musicwhich went into a pedigree, and
I thought that was the end ofthe 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, makeyou 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 themoment up till this point that I thought
(43:22):
it really could be over. Solet's take a listen. Is he had
one big move left? It SeawanMichael's tune up the band one more time
to the underticker, was stand anymore Sweet ten music? No? He
may not get it. The figurealmost fell out of the ring. I'm
(43:51):
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
(44:13):
away. Can you believe that?Is into the mo we are godnessing,
You're took under tonight the worldless motnights passion so fitting for the twenty fifth
Animals wee of WrestleMania. The legendaryundertaker, the legendary Shawn Michaels. This
(44:45):
this capacity, proud of shitty,this is awesome? Are they all right?
So I will say this, andit did make me believe that that's
one that the second sweet in musicthat 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 alwayshave to say kiss the streak goodbye in
(45:08):
this case, or he's going tolose the championship, which immediately draws your
mind to okay, wait, nevermind, he's not going to It's the
cardinal sin. Out of everything thatI 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 commitsometimes on a weekly basis, is
(45:35):
the this this on just this desire, this whatever, it is, this
habit of always trying to swerve theaudience to make you believe something could happen
in the moment that you know isnot going to happen, especially at the
end of matches or when somebody hitsa finish and the announcer that never gets
(45:58):
anything right is suddenly saying, yeah, he's gonna win the championship. You've
got he's got it won, andyou 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 ajust a cardinal unforgivable sin as long
as I've been listening to wrestling.So Jerry Lawler really did that one here.
(46:22):
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 getto 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 wellhe obviously didn't. So let's take a
(46:47):
listen to that. Underts T wastalking him to the test Superta septeen SAPs,
(47:23):
ladies and gentlemen, sho Michael's crewtime, that he was indeed mister
WrestleMania. What the Undertaker through,that he is WrestleMania's feet up with Yes,
the Undertaker through, and that heis in the seventh feet and all.
And look at you and it's afans on centertainer. I am murdered
(47:52):
you to have the opportunity the SeaGreen sign will see this. This is
one wrestle you miss all about whatit absolutely you wouldn't believeable. Ask what's
the end? Though? I havethe entertainers to do this crashing at the
(48:17):
sweep set music instead be can whatless too much to persevere gives part?
Can beating that is to the punOh gosh, this is again. I've
put over this match like I don'tknow how to put it over anymore.
(48:39):
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 youwill be happy that you spend thirty minutes
doing this. I mean you couldspend thirty minutes on TikTok and blink and
you look up and you know it'syou haven't real accomplished any This will make
(49:00):
you remember why you love wrestling.If you have maybe fallen out of love
with wrestling, or you have yourissues with wrestling, and you may not
think you're a fan anymore, you'renot sure what you know, if you're
kind of on the fence, butwatching you're just maybe gonna spend your time
doing something else on a Monday anda Friday night. And I would encourage
you to watch this. It mayrejuvenate your soul with wrestling. It is
(49:22):
that good this, You know again, to say this is my favorite match
of all time is it's one ofI don't think that saying or answering that
question is easy. It's not easyfor 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 oneof them. On you know, Undertaker,
(49:45):
HBK Hit to Helena Seale is anotherone at ninety seven for a lot
of nostalgic reasons, but HBC Undertakeraccommodation is just it's a match made in
heaven. Undertaker HBK. There's stylesthere, their personas, everything matches up
in interlocks perfectly. I've loved everythingabout these two when they hook up since
(50:09):
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 lovethis sport that we all do. And
you'll also love the fact that,hey, fans are in an arena,
(50:31):
Seventy some thousand of them are inan 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 begone, and we can go back to
our lives as we knew them.But it's nice to take you out of
(50:52):
it. If you want to getout of the moment and get back into
some fun and remember why you lovedwrestling, there's no better place to look
than HBK Versus Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five. All right, well, guys,
thank you so much as always forjoining me here on the WWE podcast.
I will be recording the mail bagportion of the show. You guys got
(51:13):
a ton for me. My god, you guys got a lot, So
I'll see if I can squeeze itin one show. If I can't squeeze
it in one show, I willbe doing a separate show. Maybe I'll
put it in the Sunday Review orsomething like that. But anyway, guys,
thank you as always. Please giveus a five star rating interview on
Apple Podcasts or anywhere that you havepodcasts or rating and review super it's a
(51:36):
super way to help us. Also, if you do shopping on Amazon,
go to wwepodcast dot com and clickon the Amazon banner and it'll redirect you
to Amazon. Kicks a little bita little bit back to the show and
helps with production costs and everything else. So thank you everybody, and I'll
talk to you next time. Thanksfor listening to the WWE podcast. Don't
(51:57):
forget to subscribe on your favorite podcastso you don't miss a show, or
head to wwepodcast dot com and forall of these shows add free head over
to Patreon dot com Slash WWE Podcast. Until then, we'll see you next time.
Hey everybody, and welcome to theWrestling Nostallenger portion of the WWE podcast,
and tonight we are taking a lookat HBK versus The Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five.
So we're going back twelve years totake a look and listen to one
of the greatest wrestling matches of alltime. This is gonna be awesome.
(00:22):
Guys. Audio is on the wayas well. We're gonna have a ton
of fun. Let's get everything goingright after this, it's time for your
weekly fix of wrestling nostalgia. Whenwe look at wrestling's past eras from the
Attitude era, this is the realityera. I'd like to think then maybe
(00:45):
this company will be better after VinceMcMahon's dead, But the fact is it's
it's gonna get taken over by hisidiotic daughter and his dufest son in law
and the rest of his stupid family. To today, here thee Montdast welcome
(01:07):
to You're wrestling the Styalgia Show forthis 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 secondhere in the Northeast, we are counting
the minutes until we can see apatch of grass. I mean right now.
(01:27):
As far as how much snow youhave on the ground here in upstate
New York, I mean, we'retalking like at least probably two feet just
covering the ground. And it's beenthis way. We've had snow on the
ground for several months now. It'snot like we've seen grass and then we've
had a snowstorm. It's pretty darntough, especially come February. March can
even be brutal, but hopefully whereveryou are it is maybe sunnier, maybe
(01:49):
warmer. Maybe you have it worse, but it is February, and once
you get through February, which isa short month, March can be very
back and forth. If you livein the northern half of the United States,
March can be very brutal and verysweet. It's got a very skitzo
personality. But I take that overjust constant depression and snow and cold.
(02:10):
So we have that to look forwardto. 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 letme just say, I believe we have
covered this in the past. Ilook through my recent show over the last
couple of months and I don't seeit there. Okay, I have done
(02:32):
so many of these shows that Idon't know exactly when we've done it,
but I am almost positive that we'vecovered it. So obviously this is a
different take given that it's not thesame show, But you know, I
want to give you guys different thoughts, different unique perspectives other than just maybe
what I presented before. So eitherway, it's worthy of a second show.
(02:55):
It is just that good of amatch. And for God's sakes,
if you haven't seen HBK Undertaker WrestleManiatwenty five, I feel sorry for you.
You need to. It's you know, I say that all the time
about nostalgia. This one from awrestling purist standpoint, from a storyline,
(03:15):
from an in ring pacing to justeverything 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 thebuild up to this WrestleMania twenty five match
(03:36):
was, and obviously they met atWrestleMania twenty six. I don't think I've
ever covered WrestleMania twenty six, whichwas the streak versus the career, but
I think that WrestleMania twenty five overshadowedit and they tried to duplicate it at
twenty six, which was it wasa hell of an effort, But you
can't duplicate magic. Magic just kindof happens, you know, when you
try to, when you try tomake magic happen again, it it just
(04:00):
doesn't. And nonetheless, we'll talkabout Wrestling E twenty five and a couple
of short minutes. But first there'sa couple of things that I want to
address that I did not address inmy past shows, of which I'm losing
count many I've done over the lastcouple of weeks, especially with Rumble number
one Lars Sullivan gone from WWE,I have not touched on this. Lars
(04:21):
Sullivan is no more in WWE,to the surprise of exactly zero people.
I'm pretty sure mathematically I'm correct onthat that exactly zero people, zero points
zero. I want to make sureI get the math right. Are surprised
about Lars Sullivan exiting WWE? Anddo I have reasons? No? Do
(04:43):
I need reasons to know why hewas probably released? No? I think
we can all draw the just smartestimation 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 afterchance and he continues to blow it.
(05:04):
So maybe he'll go back to theplayground and get bullied, you know,
maybe he'll go back to Instagram andjust continue to message married women on
Instagram. You know, he certainlyhas got a lot of or at least
a couple of options two's from fora long term career. But honestly,
I do wish him well. Youknow, I think that he had a
(05:25):
lot of potential in WWE. Ithink 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 thatwas in support of him, the one
that was in his corner fighting forhim, was Vince. And it seems
as if Vince has even kind ofcome to the conclusion that he cannot be
trusted now again, do I knowof a latest incident that led to this.
(05:46):
No, maybe it'll come to lightover the next several weeks and then
we'll go, oh, that's whyhe 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 thedice, you know, and hope that
he cleans himself up and doesn't becomea pr nightmare, or are we just
got to cut bait and uh,just cut our losses and let him go
(06:10):
and and uh, you know,say no future indev you And they took
the latter. They took the saferroad of deciding to not have to worry
about him messaging people that she shouldn'tbe or having anxiety attacks, which was
one of the reasons he didn't makea debut at one point and actually lost
out on a big opportunity, oryou know, become injured or whatever.
(06:32):
The number of things that he's hadhappened bad timing, just bad behavior,
bad luck over the last several yearsin 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 ofpotential, and he had it. Did
have a lot of a lot ofuntapped potential. There's no there's no doubt
(06:55):
about it. He did, andit's it's it's a shame from a professional
standpoint, not personal. It seemspersonally he's got a lot of issues going
on there. But professionally it isa bit disappointing because I did. I
was mildly interested in Larsolovan. Ireally was. You know, we didn't
get a lot of time to learnabout him other than he was beating up
(07:15):
bullies, which then he became thebully 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, justmake 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'remarried and you're attractive, be careful,
(07:39):
watch your dms. He might slideright on him. Okay, I think
I made my silly point, butLars Sullivan has gone guys. Secondly that
I wanted to talk about is Edgespromo that he cut on NXT tonight.
Now normally, normally I do notcomment on an XT. I do not
comment on NXT because that is ZackSmith's tear. I do not encroach on
(08:01):
Zack Smith's territory. He does anexcellent 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 wasfrom one of our listeners, and I'll
(08:22):
just say her name is Lauren,and she DM me on Instagram, which,
by the way, you can doso at WWE Underscore podcast, and
she kind of said the same thing. You know, Look, Zach does
his podcast, but I'm curious ofwhat your thoughts are on the promo that
Edge cut with Pete Dunn and FinnBalor 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 tohave me spoil it, fast forward the
(08:46):
next couple of minutes. You're stillhere, Okay, you've been warned.
So Edge came out, and Imean this only was a few minutes,
but he came out, and thefirst 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
(09:09):
a lot of emphasis put on theE, where an NXT the emphasis is
put on the second W in WWEreferring to wrestling. I've been saying that
for many years. Okay, Idon't know if he listens to this show,
very unlikely, but I've been sayingthat WWE often forgets that they have
(09:30):
a W in their WWE, andsimply, I mean, they honestly should
just be changing their acronym to Ebecause 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 clearlysomething that Triple H would allow and
something that Vince would not allow onhis main shows, as he kind of
heads up SmackDown and Raw and leavesthe NXT's redheaded step child behind and leaves
(09:54):
that to Triple H. But hecame 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 ofhim himself and Pete Donn, both good
and bad. And Pete Dunn shruggedhis shoulders at Edge. And he also
then got to Finn Balor and saidthat Finn Balor is operating on a whole
(10:16):
new level. And then NXT iswhat 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 believeanything Edge says is insane. How often
we hear promos today and we simplydon't believe what they're saying because it feels
very scripted, it feels very forced, And Edge is the opposite Edge has
(10:37):
made. Edge could make me believethe sky isn't blue, He really could,
and water's not wet. I'd say, yes, sir, okay.
Edge, He's so convincing. Butregardless of whether he's lying to me about
that or not, which I actuallydon't think he is, he started talking
about Finn Balor operating on a wholenew level and that he won the Royal
(10:58):
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'sintriguing because he's never had that, and
he points to the NXT Championship andthink about that, guys. You know,
I don't think many of us,including myself admittedly, have not looked
(11:22):
at the possibility of Edge versus sFinn Balor, because let's be honest,
I don't think pet Dunn is goingto 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 somewhatfamiliar with the product. As much as
I say that I hand it offto Zax Smith, I do try to
keep up as best I can.And Finn Balor is as good as Edge
(11:43):
says he is and has found ahome beautifully in NXT. And I don't
think that many podcasters fans have reallyconsidered Edge versus Finn Balor at WrestleMania because
we always think it's the raw ora SmackDown option that there's no yeah,
NXT's there, but it's not reallya third option. It's not a realistic,
(12:05):
plausible third option. And I thinkthat maybe we need to consider maybe
we do need to need to considerEdge versus Finn Ballot WrestleMania. That'd be
awesome, It'd be I think it'dbe great. And Edge has clearly moved
on, by the way from Orton, so that that's both disappointing because of
(12:26):
the way it ended, but alsothey had such great matches in chemistry.
At the same time, it isnice to see as move on, to
see what he can do with otherpeople. I mean, since he's been
back of the rumble, he hasn'tdone anything with anybody since he started with
Randy Orton and and he r Kiyotamand they were off to the races and
(12:46):
Edge got injured and COVID happened.So would Orton or I'm sorry, would
Edge versus Finn Balor be something thatwould interest you guys. I mean,
I'm on board because we're all thinkingit's either it's Drew McIntyre, Roman reigns
Now. If you're gonna put agun in my head and you're gonna say
it's got you gotta pick one.You gotta pick one of the three.
(13:07):
I'm still going with Roman reigns.Now, am I saying that very confidently?
No, I'm not. It justmakes the most sense. I think
Drew McIntyre is the least likely becauseyou don't want Babyface versus baby Face in
a massive baby Face return and havingforcing the fans to choose you know,
an awesome legacy star that is aboutninety percent of what he was versus their
(13:33):
resident champion that has done an excellentjob 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 Ithink that might be the best, highest
quality match, the money might bein Roman reigns the hot heel, hot
(13:54):
really hot heel versus the hot Edgebaby Face. To me, I think
that that's probably where they go.Now does that mean Edge wins? Who
knows? I mean, we'll talkabout that when the match actually becomes official.
I think Edge is going to waituntil maybe elimination Chamber to make his
pick, which is also another hookfor you to get the network, which
(14:16):
would be smart and WWE's part.And there's only two and a half weeks
until the Elimination Chamber so those arejust 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
(14:39):
know that streams n XT, youcan also of course watch it in real
time. So just a couple ofthoughts there. All right, Well,
let's get into the heart of thematter here, and that is WrestleMania twenty
five, which let's get the statson. It took place on April fifth,
(15:01):
two thousand and nine, at ReliantStadium in Houston, Texas. The
by rate was nine hundred and sixtythousand buys. The attendance was seventy two
thousand and seven forty four. Obviouslyheadlined by HBK versus Undertaker. Now HBK
(15:24):
Undertaker was not the main event,though I know it is saying it was
headline, but it's headlined in ourminds. On paper, what actually headlined
this show was Triple H versus RandyOrton. 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 headlinedby Triple H Randy Orton. So here
(15:48):
we go. Here's what the matchcard was. It was the Colognes,
Carlito and Primo defeating John Morrison andthe 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 Championshipsinto the unified w Tag Team Championship Number
(16:12):
one. I love this. Canwe 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 inthem is and guys, this is two
thousand and nine. This is whatI'm talking about. This is absurd.
We still have this tag team happening. I'm not gonna go on that ran,
(16:34):
but this was I think a smartmove to unify the championships. I
also think it's a smart move tounify the championships today. Not that we
should do is brand split combination like, in other words, undo the brand
split, but have fewer championships thathave them float between brands makes sense to
me. But okay, then weget a money in the Bank ladder match
(16:56):
when the Money in the Bank LadderMatch 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.
(17:18):
We still have active competitors. Wehave Christian, we have MVP,
we have Shelton Benjamin, we haveI guess i'd say Cain. I don't
know Cain on a very temporary,awkward basis. So it's just funny.
(17:41):
I mean, MVP and Shelton havebeen intertwined, not even knowingly. I
didn't know that they were. Okay, this one, my god, imagine
that this happened this year. Ohmy god? Are you ready for this?
And this has actually happened during thePG era. Don't forget this is
p G Okay. Santina Morella wonMiss WrestleMania the Miss Mess WrestleMania Battle Royal
(18:07):
with May Young as the special guesttimekeeper. Santina Morella won by last eliminating
Beth Phoenix in seven minutes and twentyfive seconds. Imagine if Santina Morella won
a women's match at WrestleMania this youknow today twenty twenty one. Imagine the
(18:29):
outrage. I mean, people losttheir 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 JimmySnooker, Ricky Steamboat, and Roddy Piper
(18:51):
in a handicap elimination match. Itwas 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
(19:11):
Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an extremerules match. Raymys Stereo defeated John Bradshaw
Layfield for the WWE Intercontinental Championship intwenty seconds twenty the Undertaker, Here we
Go defeated Sean Michaels. I don'tthink that I'm spoiling anything here. Defeated
(19:33):
Sean Michaels in thirty minutes and fortyfour seconds. Who John Cena defeated Big
Show and Edge in a triple threatfor the World Heavyweight Championship. And in
the main event, Triple H defeatedRandy Orton for the WWE Championship. And
(19:56):
in this match, the stipulation wasif Triple H had been counted out or
disqualified, he would have lost thechampionship. I remember this, and I
know this. This is not aboutthis match, but my one comment will
be that was a very, veryvery heated rivalry. If you remember,
Triple H actually invaded Randy Orton's home. He threw him through his living room
(20:18):
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, especiallyfor the newly implemented PG era. And
(20:38):
this was a singles match with noextra stipulations. If there was ever a
time to do stipulation, WrestleMania isnot 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 whenyou need them, is when you have
heated rivalries like this. And Ithink it was a huge miss even at
(21:00):
the time. This is in twentytwenty hindsight, many people have said this,
But during the time, during thistime, during the match, I'm
like, why the hell is thisnot? No DQ it should have been
and it was just a straight upwrestling match. It's not a good payoff.
It's not a good payoff. ButTriple H ended up winning. I
was still not happy about that.I think they could have done a whole
lot more, would have made awhole lot of more storyline sense to not
(21:22):
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 gettingimmediately to some audio, and that
audio is gonna be beautiful, youknow why, because it's gonna have the
sounds of real people, real livehuman beings in an arena to react in
(21:48):
the moment to what's going on inthe ring. And as a bonus,
you get to hear the beautiful pipesof none other than the good old j
R. Jim Ross. So alot 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.
(22:12):
Let's get back to more great wrestlingaudio. All right, and welcome back
to the show. One comment,and I am about to press play here
on our audio. I didn't realizehow big Bad Bunny was. Okay,
I got a lot of you saying, what are you talking about? Bad
(22:33):
Bunny's huge. He's got you know, millions and millions of followers. I'm
unaware, Okay, I am unawareabout how a large Big Bad Bunny was.
So if they're trying to reach aLatino audience, cool, except for
the fact that he's not an activecompetitor. He's there as a well I
was gonna say a one off,but for a very very short period of
(22:56):
time. He's not going to bein 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 speakingSpanish, well guess what you're gonna be
able to understand what Bad Bunny issinging and saying, and then you know,
the other ninety nine percent of thetime, you're not gonna be able
to understand if you don't understand English. So I don't know if they're trying
(23:18):
to appeal to the Latino audience andfeel like there's an untapped market there.
Maybe, But I will just sayI 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'sjust my age, my preference in music.
I don't know, but you knowI don't I don't sit here and
listen to in sync, okay,Backstreet Boys. I mean, I don't
(23:38):
know. I'm not sure, notsure. It just completely to me was
irrelevant when I saw Bad Bunny.To me, it was channel changing.
To me, it was just flatout uninteresting and it disconnected from me big
time. But maybe that was thepoint and it was to reach a different
audience. So I just want tosay that about Bad Bunny regardless. I
don't care how many followers he has. I don't care how you know how
(23:59):
big he is is. The factis 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'sthere kind of as a guest. I
don't feel like he's there as atrue contributor to the product. He's there
to promote something. He's there asa collaborative effort. He's not there to
truly, you know, be apart of WWE just to really sell something.
(24:23):
Oh he's you know, he hasan a new album dropping or something.
It feels very superficial. I meanww has done this forever. I
mean even the Rock at times hascome back just to promote a movie,
and I hate that. So eitherway, I'm not interested in seeing him.
I understand how big he is nowI'm getting I'm starting to get that.
So maybe they're reaching a bigger audience. The ratings will tell the tale,
(24:44):
but I don't think it's a goodretention rate. Considering that he's gone
right after last week. I don'tthink he's gonna be there every week.
Okay, let's get two. Here'sthe 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 ina live crowd. Just take a breath
of fresh air on this one,guys, right, I am no longer
(25:07):
Sean Michael's employee of the month.You are looking at the heartbreak kids,
Sewn Michaels. The hell that shsDon Hoday. As I stand here today
looking at my life, seeing WrestleManiaon the horizon, I realize I am
(25:33):
living heaven on earth. There's anybodythat 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 getinto heat. Sixteen now a WrestleMania,
(26:03):
A feats so extraordinary, no onecould ever think of replicating it up to
a different let's go up costs.I know under Piper Streak continues you maybe
(26:34):
sixteen to WrestleMania by mister WrestleMania.So I don't think I've ever seen that
big. There's a main revolution ofthe latter map under the Man and Wrestles
drove over and watch out the Championto miles to that I never out and
(26:57):
ran the stage of them all.You believe this guy that I never will
I expect the Undertaker. I'm prathe Undertaker, Sawn Michaels. Good time
for prayer has just begun, allright, so I'll pause it there There
(27:22):
is more, but that was thefirst 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 thepromo here before we get into the match.
But essentially, Sean Michaels was beholdento JBL as he had run into
financial issues, as the storyline wouldgo, and JBL was making him do
(27:45):
things he didn't want to do forlike a couple of months, and people
were waiting for HBK to just finallybreak 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 wasable to superkick JBL. JBL one of
(28:07):
the most just one of the greatestheels of all time. I don't like
JBL on a personal level from thethings he's done and said on Twitter but
from a performance perspective, for everythinghe's contributed to the business, everything he
did is SmackDown Champion, one ofthe you know, really one of the
rags to riches stories in WWE.Certainly the guy is deserving of credit,
(28:29):
but that was the story, andwe had HBK versus Undertaker, and it
was just a brilliant sight to seeguys in two guys in their prime,
or at least late prime, notin 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 puton one of the greatest main events that
we will ever see. And Iconsider this the main event of WrestleMania.
(28:52):
I understand it wasn't on paper theactual main event of WrestleMania, but to
me, this was the true restmain 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 takea little bit of audio from the
match itself, and let's uh,let's let's dive run in. Guys.
(29:15):
This is oh, it's just awesome. Here we go. That's it's shaking
his hand with me while the Undertakersits up in the ring on the nine
gets darker. Don't stop there,I don't do that to look at this.
(29:49):
Let's just think till the caravan undertaking his curst into the paperman.
I don't know how much a mantook good you wouldn't taken after the school
school first, oh man, AndI just wanted to share that bump with
you. If you guys, rememberyou talk about scary bumps, You talk
(30:15):
about moments that take your breath awayin actual concern for the health of the
wrestlers. This was one of thosemoments. 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 youknow Undertaker's moving, if he's conscious,
And what had happened was if youdidn't I mean obviously you didn't, duh,
(30:37):
since you didn't see it, orif you don't remember and you've seen
it. Undertaker dove on the outsideof the ring into Shawn Michaels. But
the problem was he over rotated andMichael'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
(31:00):
where he almost he literally did gohead first into the ground and he hit
kind of the side of his headand face, and he protected him himself
as best as he could and brokehis fall really with his face and his
shoulders and his hands. But itwas a scary dive for Undertaker one that
(31:22):
again I thought, you know,you think the worst in those moments,
you know, like, let's callit like it is. I thought he
might be dead or paralyzed. Butluckily, somehow, some way, it
didn't do anything to him. Allthat 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. Youare worried for the actual wrestler themselves,
(31:45):
the person behind the wrestler, andit takes you out of the moment and
in a way that is of concernfor the actual person. Again. So
okay, let's let's take a listento some more stuff than that isn't as
scary in the match. So well, here we go too, to make
(32:07):
up and turn on the groups.You know, I got them. It
didn't end on the counter, JohnMichael, It's gonna end it with some
sweet Jim music. Will it bestrict three with sweet season? You say,
come on, the Morney walks up, says I'm gonna get drunk.
(32:28):
That I've ever seen or trying her? Could he do it here? Cops?
But the resilience and then well andsound, Michaels is unrelabable, the
disbelief in the eyes of the dead. There you under taking on all that
cup slide and look it was aslim dum I can really do, Sam
(32:53):
Michael, zam, there's some seingfeet on the floor. I've never seen
a her devastating, and it reallywas 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
(33:14):
executed choke slam. I mean,you couldn't have had a better chokeslam.
There's been some pretty bad choke slamsin our time. I mean just bad.
If you want to see embarrassingly bad, look no further than Goldberg or
Goldbergen Undertaker this past year, lastyear, two years ago, whatever the
heck it was. I put thatout of my brain, like most fans,
(33:35):
look no further than that. OrHulk Hogan versus Undertaker. I think
that was in two thousand and twowhen they faced each other when he was
the American badass under Hulk Hogan tooksome really really bad choke slam Say the
same with DDP when he did thewhole Stalker angle with Undertaker in the early
two thousands. So there's been somevery very bad ones. This was probably
as good of a choke slam asyou'll ever see. And I know it's
(33:59):
again we're talking about the selling ofa move, but it was the perfect
backbump and it I love the waythe announcers sold it, right, Jim
Ross, Jerry the King Lawler,Michael Cole, the best of the best
on commentary at that time, andthey sold it as it should have been
sold, talking about how he gotall of it, and it's true,
(34:21):
right, they didn't just talk aboutit as one and just another choke slamb
because it was perfectly executed, andthe announcers jumped on that and they should
have. It was just a veryvery smart move on their part. And
you also hear if you didn't noticeor will notice in terms of audio.
(34:43):
Obviously, the referees count was verynicely paced. It was one, two
and a kickout. It's really beensped up times two, if you've noticed
in today's product. And I don'tneed to have every count go as slow
as molasses. I'm just asking thatthe counts are actually three seconds. I
(35:07):
can guarantee you the counts today forthe three times they hit their hand on
the mat is probably two seconds inreal time. I don't like how quickly
the counts go today. I don'tknow what it is. It's just the
way things are done. And nobody'seven noticed or cared to bring this up.
And I'm not looking for slow motion. I'm looking for more drama.
(35:29):
Those three seconds are the slowest orthe most I guess observed three seconds in
the match because you're watching the refereeshand that determines the outcome hit the mat.
And so to me, it's likethis, and I'm not going to
try to clap into the microphone here, but it's this is how quick today's
(35:49):
counts are. And I'm not exaggerating. Go look any match and you just
pick one, pick one of thelast 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'sthis one two three. I'm serious.
(36:12):
It is stupid fast, and Ithink that takes a lot of drama away,
those fractions of a second meeting somuch in a match, and so
this it meant even more obviously ina 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 canchoose? It goes counter wit for sweet
(36:42):
two music again sleep stood music,that's its street. Just tempalize, that
is the question. We saw thescreep two music. You see the result
someone's gonna do is he's a streakover here here. That's just super And
(37:21):
just listen to the crowd. Mygod, that still gives me chills twelve
years later. It doesn't matter.I mean, just really, any live
crowd. I'll take anybody. Imean I'll take anything. I'll take any
live human beings in an arena tohear 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, butjust God. The pacing of this match
(37:45):
too, which I know that I'vetalked about a couple of times in the
past and I will continue to talkabout. Is the pacing of the match
was so easy to digest. Yes, you have the amazing crowd. Okay,
you have have the greatest commentary teamof all time announcing this match,
Thatt WrestleMania. You have seventy eightthousand people screaming. But the pacing,
(38:09):
meaning this match doesn't go one hundredmiles an hour. You feel every punch,
every kick, every maneuver. There'sa 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 twohad the pacing that a lot of people,
(38:31):
by today's standards would feel like it'sslow motion. I love it.
I e fing love the pace ofthis match. This is the pacing of
a match that I think is thebest way really for people, human beings
to be able to dissect what's goingon 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
(38:53):
this match. H m hm.Turning a counter into the counter. Let's
(39:14):
have stuck the tennis. This isthe last Let's take impassible to Astacium is
the undertaker? How the name ofthat's decent? Then let's take out of
(39:34):
this. Listen to the same.Are you intact? Ither talker cannot believe
anyone to take out of the lastride as we have just seen, Sho'm
not Let's do well. I dohave to believe that Seawn Michaels has the
(39:59):
undertakers. Okay, so Undertaker againin shock Michaels is able to kick out
of the last ride. And you'llnotice 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 yougive it a shot anyway, and then
you work up to the finishers.It's just again it's great, great storytelling.
(40:23):
So here we go. We're goingto continue with the audio as things
escalate to the finish toast the experience. Tucker's eye let me shut Slaves of
(41:07):
slaves, two stoves kick kick kickingshown. Michael seems to be unconscious.
How did he do that? Hejust will his show up instincts, maybe
to burn an intervention. Michael,Oh god, I mean I literally got
(41:32):
chills watching this. I mean,you get sucked right back in. This
reminds me and should remind all ofus why we love wrestling. It certainly
it drags you right back in towhatever's going on in your life, doesn't
matter. You are just completely emotionallyinvested in what is happening. And this
(41:53):
was twelve years ago and I stillstill love every second. And then this
beautiful, like this is all thestars aligning for one of the greatest matches
of all time. And here wego. We'll get to the finish in
just a minute. Here, buttake a listen. It's like his body's
a lot of pilot. It's likehe doesn't even know what he's doing,
(42:14):
but he's he's doing its trash bodyor body, all right. So Michael's
hits his his elbow from the toprope and then we get to me one
of the most believable finishes up tothis point. Of course, there were
(42:37):
more believable false finishes. The Undertakercould lose at WrestleMania after this with to
me, the most believable, tome, 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 aspecial guest referee with Triple H facing undertake,
(43:00):
where he hit the Sweet Chin musicwhich went into a pedigree, and
I thought that was the end ofthe 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, makeyou 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 themoment up till this point that I thought
(43:22):
it really could be over. Solet's take a listen. Is he had
one big move left? It SeawanMichael's tune up the band one more time
to the underticker, was stand anymore Sweet ten music? No? He
may not get it. The figurealmost fell out of the ring. I'm
(43:51):
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
(44:13):
away. Can you believe that?Is into the mo we are godnessing,
You're took under tonight the worldless motnights passion so fitting for the twenty fifth
Animals wee of WrestleMania. The legendaryundertaker, the legendary Shawn Michaels. This
(44:45):
this capacity, proud of shitty,this is awesome? Are they all right?
So I will say this, andit did make me believe that that's
one that the second sweet in musicthat 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 alwayshave to say kiss the streak goodbye in
(45:08):
this case, or he's going tolose the championship, which immediately draws your
mind to okay, wait, nevermind, he's not going to It's the
cardinal sin. Out of everything thatI 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 commitsometimes on a weekly basis, is
(45:35):
the this this on just this desire, this whatever, it is, this
habit of always trying to swerve theaudience to make you believe something could happen
in the moment that you know isnot going to happen, especially at the
end of matches or when somebody hitsa finish and the announcer that never gets
(45:58):
anything right is suddenly saying, yeah, he's gonna win the championship. You've
got he's got it won, andyou 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 ajust a cardinal unforgivable sin as long
as I've been listening to wrestling.So Jerry Lawler really did that one here.
(46:22):
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 getto 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 wellhe obviously didn't. So let's take a
(46:47):
listen to that. Underts T wastalking him to the test Superta septeen SAPs,
(47:23):
ladies and gentlemen, sho Michael's crewtime, that he was indeed mister
WrestleMania. What the Undertaker through,that he is WrestleMania's feet up with Yes,
the Undertaker through, and that heis in the seventh feet and all.
And look at you and it's afans on centertainer. I am murdered
(47:52):
you to have the opportunity the SeaGreen sign will see this. This is
one wrestle you miss all about whatit absolutely you wouldn't believeable. Ask what's
the end? Though? I havethe entertainers to do this crashing at the
(48:17):
sweep set music instead be can whatless too much to persevere gives part?
Can beating that is to the punOh gosh, this is again. I've
put over this match like I don'tknow how to put it over anymore.
(48:39):
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 youwill be happy that you spend thirty minutes
doing this. I mean you couldspend thirty minutes on TikTok and blink and
you look up and you know it'syou haven't real accomplished any This will make
(49:00):
you remember why you love wrestling.If you have maybe fallen out of love
with wrestling, or you have yourissues with wrestling, and you may not
think you're a fan anymore, you'renot sure what you know, if you're
kind of on the fence, butwatching you're just maybe gonna spend your time
doing something else on a Monday anda Friday night. And I would encourage
you to watch this. It mayrejuvenate your soul with wrestling. It is
(49:22):
that good this, You know again, to say this is my favorite match
of all time is it's one ofI don't think that saying or answering that
question is easy. It's not easyfor 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 oneof them. On you know, Undertaker,
(49:45):
HBK Hit to Helena Seale is anotherone at ninety seven for a lot
of nostalgic reasons, but HBC Undertakeraccommodation is just it's a match made in
heaven. Undertaker HBK. There's stylesthere, their personas, everything matches up
in interlocks perfectly. I've loved everythingabout these two when they hook up since
(50:09):
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 lovethis sport that we all do. And
you'll also love the fact that,hey, fans are in an arena,
(50:31):
Seventy some thousand of them are inan 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 begone, and we can go back to
our lives as we knew them.But it's nice to take you out of
(50:52):
it. If you want to getout of the moment and get back into
some fun and remember why you lovedwrestling, there's no better place to look
than HBK Versus Undertaker WrestleMania twenty five. All right, well, guys,
thank you so much as always forjoining me here on the WWE podcast.
I will be recording the mail bagportion of the show. You guys got
(51:13):
a ton for me. My god, you guys got a lot, So
I'll see if I can squeeze itin one show. If I can't squeeze
it in one show, I willbe doing a separate show. Maybe I'll
put it in the Sunday Review orsomething like that. But anyway, guys,
thank you as always. Please giveus a five star rating interview on
Apple Podcasts or anywhere that you havepodcasts or rating and review super it's a
(51:36):
super way to help us. Also, if you do shopping on Amazon,
go to wwepodcast dot com and clickon the Amazon banner and it'll redirect you
to Amazon. Kicks a little bita little bit back to the show and
helps with production costs and everything else. So thank you everybody, and I'll
talk to you next time. Thanksfor listening to the WWE podcast. Don't
(51:57):
forget to subscribe on your favorite podcastso you don't miss a show, or
head to wwepodcast dot com and forall of these shows add free head over
to Patreon dot com Slash WWE Podcast. Until then, we'll see you next time.
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