It Begins - Vignette

[LaGoosh]

It wasn't really a spotfest though. The story of the match was that Undertaker is old and broken down and holding onto his streak because that's all he has left. Triple H on the other hand is a veteran but still in great condition, he's violent, sadistic and brutal in ways that HBK never could be. So he wasn't going to waste any time with submissions or slow attacks on the Dead Man, he's just going to fucking murder him and take his streak away from him. A spotfest is where a match is just a bunch of big moves with no story to them.

[SSJLogan]

ITS STING!!!!!!!11#~!~!!!~!~~!##!!!

 

Ok i kidd, my guess is Taker as he always returns at that point. Although it would be cool if it was Jericho as i miss him, but i cant see him doing anything important at Mania where as Taker has his streak.

[The Miz]

Didn't Taker return (with HHH) in like mid Feb last year? I can't see Taker returning a whole three months before Mania just to set up his match.

[CleetusVanDamme]

If you didn't enjoy HHH/Undertaker that's fine, but to label it a "spotfest" is completely wrong. You'd have to be blind to miss the story being told in the match.

 

 

To save me typing about it again, here's what I wrote about it in the Mania thread...

 

 

 

Fuck. HHH and Taker brought it, incredible match, even more so when you consider the shape Taker is in and that H hasn't wrestled for around a year. They played off the build-up perfectly, HHH IS more vicious than Shawn Michaels, and it showed, HHH dominated Taker to the point where the result was in doubt, and given that the result was a foregone conclusion going in proves how great these two are yet again, I must have looked like a right plonker during the 3rd Pedigree pin and then even more so after Hunter busted out the BurialDriver, I "knew" it was over, I swear, my mind had already drifted towards coming here to read the outrage, only for Takes to kick out, gutted.

 

 

 

Reading the posts comparing it to an "ROH match" may be the most offensive thing I've ever seen written online. The selling was out of this world!, how many times did Taker even get up to his feet after HHH took advantage?. The post-match stuff proves that "theory" wrong as well, this is the big time where moves actually matter, Taker had took 3 Pedigrees, a Tombstone, and landed on his bonce from a dive (again!), did people really just expect him to walk up the ramp fine?.

 

 

 

HHH's facial expressions were the icing on top of a beautiful cake. From his complete focus early on on ending the streak, to the utter bemusement on his face as Taker keeps kicking out and he slowly comes to realise what his best friend already knew, Undertaker just can't be beat at Wrestlemania, no matter what you do.

 

 

 

15 quid well spent.

 

 

 

Nothing that's come since has come close to topping it. So, yeah, it's still my match of the year.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

The finish was perfect as well. Undertaker was beat. He couldnt walk afterwards. His ONLY chance of pulling out a victory was by grabbing a hold on his back and hoping he had even in him to make Triple H tap. Thats why this match needs to happen again. Triple H had him, and a lapse in concentration cost him the match. It was perfect storytelling. A second match based on the fact that Triple H can beat him will be brilliant, I think. Nobody has come close to how good they were at controlling a match this year.

[neil's bitch]

To be honest it was the finish that put me off that match.

 

The story going in, and the actual match were ok (Not amazing but good), with some decent spots ,(although people are right in saying it was not a spotfest), but the Tap out just seemed a bit "Flat". He seemed to be in the hold to long before he tapped out, but other than that i enjoyed that match.

 

Again i wouldnt go far as to say it was best match of the year, but it was good.

[NEWM]

I've droned on about this in other threads I know, but just as the chatter has steered to it again, I'll admit that I didn't like Taker/HHH at the time, and have rewatched it and still don't. There's a busy first 10 minutes or so, but then it it's big spot, rest, big spot, rest. Admittedly, it's full of drama and a hot enough crowd to get them through the rests, but the match didn't do it for me at all. I'm not the type to be overly cynical about these sort of things either, but I felt these two were capable of telling a better tale than they did. Still grating to me was the way HHH sat back for minutes after each big move over-egging his part trying to be shocked that Taker wasn't staying down. And I've been the cunt to say it before, but I wasn't buying the Tombstone spot - simply because I wasn't buying HHH winning. The finish was decent as it left a window for a rematch as Ian described, but I'm not sure it's one I'd personally relish sitting through again.

 

The match had its moments, and both guys have got enough history and gradure to pull off the sort of match they had, but it didn't do it for me on the night and doesn't now. I'd have to call it (for me) one of the most universally overrated matches in some time too, as people on here love it as much as Power Slam and the general IWC set. Maybe I'll get it in a few years or something. As far as Match of the Year standings go, I think Cena/Punk murdered it in every single measurable attribute.

[LaGoosh]

I enjoyed Taker/HHH alot, but I can think of atleast 10 other matches so far this year I have enjoyed alot more. Punk/Cena from MITB is without a doubt the best match of the year and for something to beat it, it's going to have to be something fucking spectacular.

[Whiskey_Jim]

I found it very hard to get into, Cena and Punk from MITB has my MOTY vote. Calling it a spotfest was far too harsh but, in my opinion, they did do far too much early on. I did enjoy the finish, well 'Taker having locked on Hells Gate and Hunter frantically scraping for the sledge hammer to get himself out of it. But after the spinebuster through the Cole Mine (~), the back body drop off the announce table, three pedigrees and a tombstone the finish just didnt grip me like it probably should of done. Fair enough to anyone who enjoyed it but they lost me about half way through.

I personally enjoyed Orton/Punk a lot more to be honest, though I wasnt satisfied with Wrestlemania at all this year. Perhaps my expectations are a little too high for it.

[King Pitcos]

Re: Taker/HHH at maina

 

Really? It wasnt a terrible match, but it was pretty bad.

 

 

Again i wouldnt go far as to say it was best match of the year, but it was good.

 

 

 

????????????????????????????????

[King Jon]

I dont understand how anyone can say it was a spotfest. Its laughable to think that was a spotfest. It had emotion, drama, crown reaction and selling. That alone doesnt make it a spotfest. Did it have loads of spots in it? Yes. Doesnt make it a spotfest though.

 

 

Agreed. You only have to look at the crowd reactions throughout to know it was NOT a borefest.

[Arch Stanton]

Interesting how that match divided opinion so much. I'm in the 'didn't like it' camp. Pretty much agree entirely with NEWM's post above. Cena vs. Punk is my MOTY by a long way.

[Devon Malcolm]

Re: Taker/HHH at maina

 

Really? It wasnt a terrible match, but it was pretty bad.

 

 

Again i wouldnt go far as to say it was best match of the year, but it was good.

 

 

 

????????????????????????????????

 

[fye]

surely the Taker HHH finish was ad libbed as Taker couldnt stand, I always assumed that was the case and wasnt the planned finish

 

the pair are brilliant together, I watched Mania X7 this year and popped for a Taker kick out after the sledgehammer shot as I was that engrossed that I thought Hunter had won for a split second, even though ten years on Taker's streak stands

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Undertaker could stand. He was only selling after the match. I imagine it would take more than that to put the Undertaker down. He's a fucking machine, that bloke.