Thoughts From The Top Rope 8.13.08: Life After the Legends

Welcome to another edition of Thoughts From The Top Rope, finally, after three weeks, fantasy booking-free. Not that I didn’t enjoy that stuff, or the plethora of compliments regarding it, but it’s nice to be back to the normal stuff again.

Before we get to the main point of the column, let’s talk Summerslam!

• People seem to be dismissive of Shawn Michaels’ role at Summerslam, and while I don’t think he’s announcing any retirement, I do expect Chris Jericho to make an appearance and for it to result in some great promo work, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s another reason to buy the show.
• Khali vs. The Game could be horrific, or it could be a fun little match up. While I am dreading the three-minute nerve pinch resthold, I am kind of looking forward to the match.
• Creative sucks for dropping the Burchills vs. Mickie/Kofi feud to put Santino and Beth on the card. Why not do a triple threat tag match involving all three mixed teams?
• Cena vs. Batista should not be happening at a pay-per-view not named WrestleMania, but I’ll be damned if I won’t be on the edge of my seat anyway. I’m hoping for a Cena win, followed by Batista refusing a handshake and turning heel with a thunderous Batista Bomb.
• CM Punk’s promo on Monday night single-handedly managed to get me interested in he vs. JBL for the title, and maybe there’s hope that Punk’s title run won’t be such a flop after all.
• I’d be very surprised if Jeff Hardy and MVP didn’t manage to top their Judgment Day match. I have high hopes for this one.
• Does anyone think Edge stands a chance in Hell in a Cell?
• It should still be an awesome match though.
• Do you have any idea how unbearable Small will be if Khali wins the WWE Championship? Good job I don’t read his news report anyway.
• How is it that Santino Marella (awesome though he is) gets on the card, but the likes of Miz and Morrison, Kane, Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, Umaga and Big Show miss out. Consider me baffled.
• I was just kidding, Small.
• Maybe.

I shouldn’t think that there are too many people reading this article who were fans of professional wrestling before the debut of The Undertaker at Survivor Series 1990, and even less have followed “the biz” since Shawn Michaels broke into it during the mid-eighties.

Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker are two men who have done everything there is to do in the business, and through the highs and the lows, each of them have become legends, and not just because they’ve been around for as long as they have. Few men have had as many top quality matches as Shawn Michaels has. His career spans nearly twenty-four years and has seen him battle with all the top names to have come and go since then; Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, John Cena and more. Likewise, Taker has feuded with all of these legends and more, and also began his career in 1984 – twenty-four years ago.

On the surface, Undertaker and Michaels are two completely different characters. Taker is the dominant Deadman whose legacy lies in his gimmick and the fact that he has been able to sustain the character for so long. I don’t think anyone would deny that The Undertaker is the most successful gimmick in the history of professional wrestling. Shawn Michaels, on the other hand, is a comparatively small performer whose biggest asset is his hear and courage, and ability to out-perform anybody on any given night. He is, after all, the showstopper. But really, they’re the exact same kind of performer – one who goes out to the ring not just to have a match, but to put on a show – and I’ll go on record as saying no one has ever done that better than Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.

But the similarities don’t end there. Both men were born in 1965, both men were raised in the state of Texas, both men were key figures in ushering the Attitude Era and both men are shoe-ins for the Hall of Fame. Both men appeared on the very first episode of Monday Night Raw (the only two performers still with the company to do so), and both men have a legitimate claim as being the MVP of WrestleMania. Both men are multi-time world champions but are not best known for their title success. More importantly in regards to the whole point of this column, both men have been plagued by injuries in recent years and at forty-three years of age, in all likelihood, both men only have a few more years, if that, before it’s time to leave the ring for good.

Rewind about eighteen months, to the 2007 Royal Rumble. With Triple H out injured and both John Cena and Batista being world champions at the time, the two biggest names in the match were Michaels and Taker, and they were also the two favourites. But no one envisioned the conclusion to the match that we got. Michaels and Taker were the final two men in the match, and they went a good 7-8 minutes, producing some of the most exciting, enthralling and dramatic viewing the wrestling world has seen. Needless to say, it not only proved that these two old-timers still had it, whatever “it” is, but it whetted the appetite of millions of fans around the world who all of a sudden wanted to see Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker go at it one more time.

Shawn Michaels and Undertaker made Royal Rumble history in 2007
Of course, this was not the first time Undertaker and Michaels had met in a high-profile environment. Ten years earlier, Michaels and Taker feuded for several months before they finally met inside the first ever Hell in a Cell match. Eleven years later and Undertaker is preparing to enter Hell again at Summerslam, while on the same night Shawn Michaels will reveal what his future entails after suffering a potentially career-ending injury at the hands of Chris Jericho.

Undertaker is no stranger to Hell in a Cell, having participated in the match more times than any one else and it being one of his many speciality matches. That brings up the point that more or less every rivalry that Taker has been involved him has followed the same pattern of a younger guy wanting to take out Taker, and eventually doing so, only for Taker to return a couple of months later to exact his revenge in one of his speciality matches, be it Hell in a Cell, a Casket match, a Last Ride match or any number of others. Most recently, we’ve seen it with Edge, but over the last few years they’ve gone the exact same route with the likes of Mr. Kennedy, Randy Orton, Kane, Heidenreich and Mark Henry. And while it’s a proven formula, few would deny that the act is pretty stale in 2008. Similarly, Shawn Michaels is not taking time off for his first kayfabe injury. The Heartbreak Kid has made more comebacks from injury then I care to remember or indeed write down, but on most occasions, he returns and exacts his revenge on those cocky, young upstarts.

The common denominator is that both men excel in these kinds of angles and more often than not they put on fantastic performances that help put their opponents over even if said opponents don’t score the one-two-three on either legend.

And that’s another complaint that many people have about Michaels and Taker: that they don’t put enough people over. I am here to tell you now that that theory is complete bullshit, because simply by being involved in a rivalry with either of these two legends any young performer is automatically elevated in the eyes of the fans. If the feuds were completely one-sided, you may have an argument, but they’re not. If the matches were really bad, you may have a point, but they aren’t. Taker and Michaels’ popularity ensures that their opponents get over as heels and that’s a wave that a talented performer can ride for a long time.

Shawn Michaels makes one of his many returns in October 2007
But even if you do think that the angles both men are involved in are tired retreads, and even you do think neither likes to put younger talent over, and even if you hold a grudge against Michaels for Montreal, one could never present a valid argument as to why the wrestling world would be a better place without Michaels and Taker. And while I don’t think anyone really believes that Shawn will retire at Summerslam, it does make you think about what life after HBK would be like. Undertaker may be returning from his hiatus this Sunday, but it’s worth thinking about, what happens when he finally does hang up his long coat and hat?

As I mentioned, some people have their grudges with both Michaels and Taker, but generally, both are accepted in the wrestling world for the icons that they are and I think we can all appreciate what each has done for this business that we are all fans of. This mentality is the exact opposite of most people’s opinion of the only man really ready to step into the role of “legend-who-can-still-deliver” once Taker and Michaels are gone. The man I am talking about is of course Triple H.

Any regular readers of mine will know that I am by no means one of those pesky little HHHaters. On the contrary, the guy was one of my favourites when I first started watching wrestling and I still have a ton of respect for the guy today, but even I am willing to admit that he is not quite on the level of Shawn Michaels or Undertaker, in regards to either his status as a legend or what he is capable of doing in the ring these days, or indeed in a few years time. Of course, it may be a moot point because despite his love for performing, when Triple H reaches the stage of his career that Shawn and Taker are currently, I can’t imagine him wanting to put his body through the rigors of wrestling on a regular basis when he has the advantages that he does.

The point is, once Shawn and Taker are gone, there really is no legend left to fill the void who is universally accepted by the wrestling fan base. And while there are four guys who are well on their way to legendary status, those four guys make up the core of today’s product and as such can’t really be looked in the same why that the Heartbreak Kid or the Phenom can be. If you’re wondering, the four men I am referring to are John Cena, Edge, Batista and Randy Orton.

There is, however, one guy who I think would nicely be able to fill the role of Shawn Michaels in a couple of years time; the kind of guy that has had title runs but steps aside for the younger talent to take over but at the same time, puts on some of the best matches year in year out. The only problem with this theory, the guy I’m thinking of is the main focus of TNA, Kurt Angle. If Angle ever did come back to WWE though, he’d only add to his legacy by filling the role of miracle-worker, getting good matches out of unlikely performers and stealing the show whenever he feels like it.

As far as replacement for The Undertaker, I don’t think it will ever happen, simply because his character is so unique and in this day and age, it is nearly impossible to sustain such a gimmick for so long. Although thinking about it, there was that rumour that Boogeyman was lined up to be the next Taker. I’m sure that will work out great.

Maybe I am over-thinking this, but to me it seems as though Michaels and Taker are pretty much irreplaceable, and that is obviously a testament to just how good each of them are.

With all of that in mind, I think it’s worth relishing in the fact that both men are still around and some might argue, still at their best. Shawn Michaels’s feuds with Ric, Jericho and Batista this year have been nothing short of incredible and Shawn has more than held up his end, cutting great promos and wrestling fantastic matches with each and every one of them. Similarly, Undertaker’s series of matches with Edge this year have been top notch, and I expect the pair of them to enter Hell in a Cell Sunday and deliver yet again. Thinking about each of their current feuds though, I think it’s safe to say that Chris Jericho and Edge have outshone Michaels and Taker respectively, carrying the bulk of the feud when their legendary foes haven’t been there and cutting some of the best promos a wrestling audience has seen in a long time. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come as the old guard begins to step away from the limelight in preparation for the inevitable that is their retirement.

To answer the question “what will life in pro wrestling be like after Michaels and Taker?”, I think that it will be very different, but at the same time, exactly the same. Because wrestling, like life, evolves and eventually we all move on. Sometimes, we do so begrudgingly. But in the grand scheme of things, something that we perceive as better at the time will eventually come along and at some moment in time, we’ll momentarily forget about the likes of Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. But that’s what legacies are for, and few have legacies as impressive as those two.

Essential Reading

As always, there’s a plethora of great articles floating around 411. Here’s just a few.

• Julian Williams looks at the 25 greatest wrestlers in the latest Top 10.
• Small and JP present a very special Hamilton Ave-For All Special News Report, looking at their trip to TNA Impact’s pre-release party.
• The Wrestling Doctor concludes his look at Clash of the Champions.
• Csonka has the 4R’s of Hard Justice.
• Find out if TNA’s Hard Justice was Worth Your Wealth with Ryan Merholz
• The 411 Staff name AJ Styles Wrestler of the Week.
• For some reason, Cook looks at The Shockmaster in the latest Cook’s Corner.
• JP brings you more Hidden Highlights.
• Lansdell has the Instant Analysis of Hard Justice.
• And finally, check out Dunn’s reviews of No Mercy 03 and Armageddon, as well as a giving us a Rawtopsy Classic.

Once you get through that lot, be sure to be on the look out for my ECW Palace Perspective.

That’s all for another edition of Thoughts From The Top Rope. Here’s hoping you enjoyed the ride, and if you didn’t, I’ll try harder next week.