The Piledriver Report 10.28.10: Brock vs. The Undertaker

It was the stare down to end all stare downs. Shortly after Brock Lesnar’s devastating first round loss to new UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez, MMA reporter Ariel Helwani interviewed WWE Superstar the Undertaker.

Half way through the interview, the defeated Brock Lesnar walked by the two men. The Undertaker asked Lesnar, “You want to do it?” That’s all it took for the rumor mill to start buzzing. Ariel picked up on the tension and asked the Undertaker if everything was cool between the “Deadman” and the “Baddest Man on the Planet.” All the Undertaker would say was that “it’s personal.”

LET THE RUMOMRS FLY

To most people watching, “it’s personal” meant “it’s business.” On David Meltzer’s “Wrestling Observer Live” post-UFC radio show, Meltzer announced that Vince McMahon would love to have a Brock Lesnar/Undertaker match headline next year’ WrestleMania extravaganza. He dropped a bombshell that Vince actually approached Lesnar about the possibility of wrestling the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII just a few weeks ago.

The biggest question on everyone’s mind following the stare down asked if this was a shoot or were the two working the fans. The whole situation puzzled me. I didn’t think there was any real life heat between Brock and Taker. The Undertaker goes to a lot of Brock’s fights. If memory serves me correctly, wasn’t Taker disappointed when he couldn’t attend the Lesnar/Carwin fight, because he was selling the fact that he was in a “vegetative state?”

The other thing that I found strange was the Undertaker actually giving an “out of character” interview. More than any performer in the business, Mark Calaway protects his character outside of the ring. To see him conduct an interview with a Southern accent, and minus any Taker-isms was just odd.

I’m not saying that the two were not attempting to work an angle. However, I do not think this was the likely scenario. Perhaps Brock and the Undertaker planned to do this little post-fight stare in order to get people talking. However, I don’t buy it. The reason has to do with circumstances. If Brock would have won the fight, I would have been the first one to scream that their stare down was a work. However, Brock just lost his match. Think about it for a moment. If you were in the Brock Lesnar role, and you just got your ass handed to you, wouldn’t you be super pissed off? Would you really be thinking about beginning some professional wrestling angle? Probably not. Plus, I would like to think that the Undertaker would have more decorum, and realize that starting an angle after Brock just suffered his most devastating loss wouldn’t be the classiest thing in the world to do. This is why I can’t believe that the stare down was the beginning of some elaborate “Road to WrestleMania.”

Whether or not the stare down was the beginning of a pre-WrestleMania storyline, it doesn’t matter at the moment. The truth is that Vince WAS trying to book a Lesnar/Undertaker WrestleMania match-up

WOULD BROCK LEAVE THE UFC FOR THE WWE?

The next question would be “will the Brock Lesnar/Undertaker match actually take place?” Some of the comments that I have read on different message boards throughout the week have suggested that Brock would go back to the WWE full time. Personally, I can’t see that happening. One of the reasons that Lesnar left the WWE in the first place is because he didn’t like the professional wrestling lifestyle. Why would he want to go back full time? What could Vince McMahon offer Brock Lesnar that Dana White can’t?

The UFC offers Brock a lighter road schedule. While he trains for two months before each fight, Lesnar only has to fight two to three times a year. By fighting in the UFC, Brock gets something that no wrestling company in the world can offer- competition! I didn’t even mention the salary differential between his UFC deal compared with a potential WWE contract.

THE BENEFITS

A full-time deal may be out of the question. However, that doesn’t mean that Lesnar wouldn’t want to do a one shot deal at WrestleMania. It would make perfect sense for Lesnar to participate in WrestleMania. First, he would probably make an easy seven figures for minimal amount of work. As former professional wrestler, who would be in his prime had he not left the business, it would probably only take Brock a few weeks to get back into “ring shape.”

Brock is arguably the biggest name in the mixed martial arts industry right now. The WWE is the biggest wrestling organization in the United States, if not the world. Whenever WrestleMania rolls around, the WWE always gets its fair share of publicity. However, when the WWE has a celebrity like Donald Trump or Mike Tyson, the WWE is all over the different sports and entertainment outlets. A match-up between the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar would be sure to garner a ton of publicity on ESPN and other sports outlets. That publicity would help Brock become a bigger star. It would help the WWE gain the publicity they are looking for leading up to their biggest event of the year. This publicity would also benefit the UFC. Sure the UFC already brings in killer pay per view numbers. However, how truly significant is the UFC throughout pop culture in the United States? In the WWE’s biggest days, they had a huge effect on pop culture. The UFC hasn’t been close to having that impact yet. They are getting there, but they still have a ways to go.

THE RISKS

A Brock Lesnar/Undertaker showdown at WrestleMania would be beneficial for all thee parties. However, there is a couple of huge risks that the three sides would have to deal with. First, what if Brock Lesnar got injured. Despite being “fake,” injuries occur on a weekly basis in the professional wrestling industry. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at Triple H, John Cena, Edge, or the Undertaker’s list of injuries. You could fill a medical book with all of the injuries that forced each man to take time away from the squared circle. What would happen if Brock’s adrenalin kicked in, and he decided to try another WrestleMania Shooting Star Press, but this time he really messed up is neck to the point that he needed surgery? A situation like this would cost Brock millions of dollars, and the UFC hundreds of millions of dollars. I’m sure Dana White would be very skeptical of taking that risk.

Another risk would be just the idea of the UFC having one of their highest profile fighters in the WWE. This isn’t like Dan Severn fighting on the indies while performing in the UFC, or wrestling in the WWF without barely a mention of his fighting career. It’s even different then when Ken Shamrock, who was pushed as an MMA fighter while in the WWF. Back then, the UFC was in it’s infancy. They were lucky to get more then a cult following to talk about them.

Today, Dana White pushes UFC as mixed martial arts fighting. While few and far between, there still are some people out there that believe the fights are fixed. If Dana White allowed Brock to involve himself with professional wrestling, the naysayers will be out in full force saying that the UFC is staged like the WWE.

Another risk that would have to be looked at is the decision regarding who would win the match. If Brock wrestled any other opponent, there would be no question that Brock would win. Even if he fought one of the WWE’s World Champions, they could make it a non-title match and end the bout with some kind of outside interference. The problem lies in the fact that the Undertaker has never lost at WrestleMania. The Undertaker’s winning streak is the single most important thing in wrestling right now. It’s like Cal Ripken, Junior’s consecutive games streak, or the Home Run record until steroids killed it. The streak is one of the main selling points of WrestleMania ever year. The streak is special, and fans look at the record as such. If you have the Undertaker lose, you have the risk of fans getting turned off by the WWE. Not to mention that WrestleMania, while still the biggest show of the year, would still lose some luster.

Could you really have Brock Lesnar lose that match? IF, and that’s a BIG IF, Dana White did allow Brock to work WrestleMania, do you really think he would allow his biggest pay per view drawing card lose in a high profile professional wrestling match? I can’t see it happening. After all, mixed martial arts is a legitimate sport. How could an MMA fighter lose to a “fake” wrestler? That would be a HUGE sticking point. Although, they could get around it by having Frank Mir interfere.

THE REALITY

I would love to see Brock and the Undertaker fight each other at WrestleMania. It would be this generation’s “Boxer vs. Wrestler” match-up. I remember when there were rumors that Mike Tyson would fight Hulk Hogan in a “Boxer vs. Wrestler” match. I was really excited to see how the WWF would pull that off. I feel the same way regarding a Brock/Undertaker match. WWE vs. UFC. How awesome would that be?

Unfortunately, I can’t see that happening. After all, Dana White already came out publicly to announce that he wouldn’t allow Brock Lesnar to fight anybody at WrestleMania, or any other non-UFC event. Too bad, as the promos between Dana White and Vince McMahon, if they were to get involved, would be must-see-TV all by themselves.