Undertaker injured

Vince135792003

From pwinsider:

WWE World champion The Undertaker has suffered a torn bicep tendon and is scheduled to see a doctor (I'm guessing James Andrews, since they are in Birmingham, Alabama for TV tonight) today to have the injury examined. I was told by one person who has seen the injury that you can easily see where the torn muscle in his bicep has rolled up his arm towards his shoulder.

Doesn't sound good.

Fozzy

Ah no. That's ****. That sort of injury would mean he can't wrestle. If you can see the muscle torn it probably means he can't lift with that arm at all. Couldn't have come at a worse time for him

Bubs101

At least the WWE can use money in the bank to protect itself from having another champ relinquish the belt on Smackdown!. terrible shame for Taker though

Fozzy

I don't know if the MITB should be wasted like that. They probably have some sort of plan for Kennedy, I'm not sure if it'd be right to put the title on him right now. There's not much other choice though, unless you consider Batista a contender again

triple h

Taker is old and he was running around like a 20 year old for the past few weeks, thats what he gets now. Its a pity, looks like Batista will get the belt.

I reckon Matt Hardy should have it. I reckon he should have won money in the bank. I like kennedy, but as fozzy said, its too early for him.

Bubs101

I know it's early for him to win it but this happened a year or two ago with Batista when he had to relinquish. I just think it's very damaging for the title, especially when you know they'll win it back on their return from injury

Mr.Nice Guy

Update by the Wrestling Observer:

Mark "Undertaker" Calaway's expected long-term reign as World champion is in jeopardy, not because of a booking change, but because of a torn biceps suffered before Sunday's Backlash PPV match.

Calaway will be seeing Dr. James Andrews this afternoon, but is still scheduled to appear on tonight's television show which is conveniently in Birmingham, where Andrews' works out of.

He was in tremendous pain Monday morning after the match. Because of how the muscle has completely rolled up the air, the belief is he suffered a complete muscle tear off the bone, which will require surgery and he'll be out six to eight months.

The original booking plan was for a lengthy Undertaker title run this year, and him working far more house shows than in many years. That's one of the reason he trained himself into getting so lean, which gave him added stamina and quickness on this run.

If it is at all possible, Undertaker does want to drop the championship in the ring, but that decision won't be made until Andrews sees him today.

Sh*t to that anyway. Six to eight months? He's been amazing for Smackdown and that's a terrible loss for them.

I wouldn't want Kennedy to win the title at this moment in time as I don't feel he deserves it and Batista shouldn't get it either.

I don't think anyone on Smackdown would make for a worthy champion (Benoit has the US belt, Finlay hasn't been pushed hard as a top guy) so perhaps they'd be best looking to other brands like they did when Batista got injured and they put the strap on Angle. That would give them other options:

Lashley - They have been pushing him heavily and if he's fit he could conceivably be the head guy on Smackdown though I'd hate to see it.

Shawn Michaels - He's be a great champion but he's in a feud with Cena and HHH is expected back in a few months so it wouldn't make much sense.

Edge - This would be a decent move but would perhaps be seen as a step down to take the top heel off the top show.

Khali - Please God no.

Umaga - In my opinion this is the move they should go with. He's been pushed hard as a top contender and there's a ready-made feud with Rey Mysterio when he comes back since Umaga laid out Rey prior to WM23.

If Taker can't compete I hope they put the belt on Umaga.

ShawnRaven

This is exactly what i was talking about! Crippletaker is a liability as WWE champion! Give him more than a 2 day a month schedule and he's screwed.

So SD is now in the crapper, with both Taker and Booker T out, it's either Batista or Kennedy for the gold, and quite frankly, Batista bombed in his last reign.

Guess Kennedy is gonna cash in the MITB sooner than we all thought
VR!

Jonny Arson

Oh that is kick in the nuts for everyone! Taker has been doing unbelievable work of late, I was really looking forward to long Taker title run.

Batista and Benoit are the only 2 guys on Smackdown who are there and ready to carry the belt (Kane and Booker are having time off) but Batista has been poor as piss for a while now so Benoit I feel is the only guy on Smackdown now who can carry the belt but he's in the middle of a great US title fued with MVP. They need to build Kennedy up for his MITB title shot until Summerslam at the earliest and I don't think Finlay is on that title holding level. Rey Mysterio? He's due back very soon and if they've done it once they'll do it again but even though I love Rey, it just doesn't sell a guy as small as him coming back from months out and suddenly winning the belt.

Outside Smackdown, Edge is doing nothing on Raw, not in the picture there and it would be an ideal opportunity to send him to Smackdown and win the belt. He would make so many great fueds with the likes of Benoit, Finlay, Batista, Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Booker etc. and just imagine an Edge vs Kennedy fued for Summerslam! the segment on Backlash for them could be a great start

Knowing Vince, it'll probably be crap like Lashley, Umaga or Khali

Bubs101

I'd like to see Flair make the move and get the belt. Realistically the champion is gonna have to come from outside as without Booker T and Rey they are missing 2 of their 4 main eventers. He could easily carry the belt and it would be nice to see him with a title run
wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fozzy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

Lashley - They have been pushing him heavily and if he's fit he could conceivably be the head guy on Smackdown though I'd hate to see it.

I'm not sure if it's just an angle or not, but I saw on WWE.com that they said Lashley had to go see Dr Andrews because he has a shoulder injury

I think Finlay would be a decent champ, he could work a program with someone for 2 months and get them over well enough to be champ I think. Benoit would be my choice. Have him drop the US title to MVP and then later in the night have him win the world title. Orton probably would have been a prime contender if it weren't for him messing up

Bubs101

Fozzy wrote:

Orton probably would have been a prime contender if it weren't for him messing up

He's probably destroying a hotel room as we speak in frustration:D

Fozzy

A cage match between Taker and Batista has been made for next week's SD, or so I hear. I haven't seen any official SD spoilers yet

Cactus Col

So that's King Booker, Rey Mysterio, and Undertaker. I hope booker's back in time to defend his crown!

Batista just had the title, and I'd rather see him chase it for a while.

Benoit, is in a nice little feud with MVP, but I reckon he can easily rise to it, and it would be fantastic to see him with it again.

I think Finlay would be a great transitionary (sp?!) champ, carry it for two or three months, put on a great couple of matches with benoit, lose it to batista and summer slam.

But, my choice would be Kennedy, he's a good enough worker, and a great talker. He is the kind of old school champion that people would pay to see get beaten.

If Kennedy doesn't win it by cashing in on his money in the bank shot, then I'd love to see wwe do another battle royal for it.

If Matt Hardy wasn't a tag champ and cross promoting I'd consider him a dark horse for the title.

oneofakind32

If you ask me they should have taker vacate the tital and have a tournament on SD colminating at the next ppv which ever one that is. This is Takers last run and they shouldnt have end with a halfassed match with Batista. A tournament would also serve the purpose of putting over someother guys, makking them look like potential champions
Another senario- Have Kennedy buy his way into the final with his MITB contract, have him win, turning him heel and setting a fued with with who ever he beats in the final (Finnally, Benoit, either Hardy)

Fozzy

I was just thinkin, the best way I think they could deal with it is to have Kennedy win the title in some way, but without using his MITB contract. Then he could be stripped of the title shot as he'd already be champ, and someone else could gain the title shot. I just wouldn't waste the MITB on something like this, but Kennedy would be a useful champ

Bubs101

where does Kane feature in the discussion. I'd have thought he'd deserve a run

Fozzy

I don't think Kane's done anything of much use in a long time now. I wouldn't trust him to have any decent matches as champ

fatal

damn this is a shame for the undertaker since this will be one of his last runs as champ and after so long aswell......
I dont think that the WWE will make kennedy cash the MITB soon and so I think that Batista will regain the champ.There are a few possible contenders for the title at the moment but the only ones that have any sort of storyline to be in the main event is batista and thats why I think that he will become champ as opposed to bringing anyone else into the main event picture

Dickmcsavage

Yeah this is terrible news both for Undertaker and SD. I have an idea of what going to happen if the above spoiler is true:

Mark Henry gets into the cage (hopefully it wont take him 5 minutes to do it this time) and takes out taker in a similar fashion to how he took out Batista last year in the cage. Obviously Batista wins the title, Taker goes out injured putting heat on a returning Henry and a feud between Henry & Batista begins

nacho libre

Yes, that spoiler makes sense.

It's a great shame for 'Taker. Kinda going off topic but if people poke fun at you about wrestling being fake you can always cite instances like this where a man worked a match while injured. In most other sports he'd not have been been working with this injury. I'm gutted for Taker after all the work he has put in order to lose weight and get fitter- so as he could have parity in matches with younger guys- and this happens. It's disappointing. I was looking forward to him having a long title run too.

Fozzy

I'm very surprised that he was injured during the Backlash match. I didn't notice anything that would suggest he was injured at all. I even thought Batista had reinjured his own arm at one stage. Maybe that match only made it worse though. Fair play to him for working through it though. Now I'm off to watch United and Milan, with men screaming from things a fraction as painful as what Taker's worked through

krudler

nacho libre wrote:

Yes, that spoiler makes sense.

It's a great shame for 'Taker. Kinda going off topic but if people poke fun at you about wrestling being fake you can always cite instances like this where a man worked a match while injured. In most other sports he'd not have been been working with this injury. I'm gutted for Taker after all the work he has put in order to lose weight and get fitter- so as he could have parity in matches with younger guys- and this happens. It's disappointing. I was looking forward to him having a long title run too.

yeah like soccer players who get a bloody nose and are carted off on a stretcher,every sport has its risks but anyone who thinks wrestlers dont put their bodies on the line every time they step through those ropes is an ignorant moron,pisses me off when people say none of its real,tell that to mick foley

Furious-Red

quick question how do you put your post in the shade colour(eg when posting a spoiler)

Fozzy

Put whatever you want to be spoilerised between [ spoiler] and [ /spoiler], but leave out the spaces. It's explained in the charter

Furious-Red

Cool thanks Fozzy.

Spoiler

At the Smackdown tapings, they taped promo where the Undertaker challenged Batista to a steel cage match for the World Heavyweight title next week on Smackdown.

The plan is for Undertaker to drop the title at Tuesday's tapings and undergo surgery shortly thereafter.

While it seems obvious that Batista will defeat Undertaker and regain the WWE title, there is also the possibility that Undertaker retains the title and then Mr. Kennedy cashes in his Money in the Bank contract early. Kennedy is slated for a World Heavyweight title run this year and this unfortunate situation may have accelerated those plans.

Ph3n0m

A damn painful injury it is - apparantly some eagle eye people have spotted that his bicep has pretty much float up his arm, so it looks like its clean off the bone (ugh)

That said - I really really wished they hadnt done this cage match crap - this is exactly what Storm was bitching about.

My solution would have been damn simple - a tournament, with decent matches (say 15 minutes in length - very like KOTR) - the winner of which, is determined by crowd (whether the face is very over, or the heel is getting some great heat) - and backstage can tell the ref to let the guys in the ring know who wins.

This could be carried on for some weeks, culminating in a decent main event to decide the vacant title. The new champion could then feud with whomever.

Personally I would love to see Benoit as champ again - and having a best of 7 series with MVP - as they have consistantly entertained me in their matches so far.

This would also be a great time for WWE to try and get Jericho back in the ring for them - even gauranteeing a title reign at this stage wouldnt be too bad.

But thats just my pipe dream


EDIT: Hint of a SD spoiler for this week in there

Vince135792003

Just in case:

I just think with Undertaker being the Undertaker (the phenom, the dead man unstoppable bad ass etc....) that the WWE feel that the people wouldn't buy him just dropping him the belt due to injury without having a match.

The upside of doing the match is that they can play up on the fact that he's seriously injured which means they can put over that 'Taker is such a tough guy for taking the match which means he could almost gain more from losing instead of winning in terms of popularity.

Also you have a ready made re-match with Batista as he didn't "really" beat Undertaker because he was injured going in.

Mitch Connor

i would like to see 'Taker lose the title on SB next week to Batista, then have Mr K cash in (way) early and take the title off batista immediately. Don't know how they could play it though, cause if 'Taker is as badly injured as thought, he wouldn't be able to put on a show that would see Batista beaten enough that Kennedy could just walk up and pin him.

Will be an interesting show; just to see how they do it.

Dragan

If it was me i would run the risk and have Taker bring back a posse of evil little bastards like back in the day. Whoever is number one contender then needs to work through the posse to get the Taker.

Of course, you could make that entirely believable if someone on Smackdown had been worked into a position of ever being a viable threat.....think what you could do if Rock, Stone Cold etc were still active. :rolleyes:

Fozzy

I don't think you could have Taker just drop the title. Could you imagine him having a speech like Batista did last year when he got injured? It'd have to be in a match

While Ph3n0m's idea is a good idea and it'd be cool to see play out, I doubt they could ever do that. What if the crowd is sort of split between two guys, and the guy who is picked to lose doesn't think it was fair? He's lost out on a world title run and it'd cause unnecessary conflict. It'd be cool to see for some random tournament though

Brow

I dont want Batista as champ again for a while. And I want Kennedy built for a year before cashing in. It's a shame this happened but in an ideal world...

Batista destroys Taker, climbs the cage. As he's climbing, Kennedy runs into the cage, 1,2,3. Title won before Batista hits the floor or something to that effect. Or Kennedy just takes out Batista and gets the 1,2,3. Anything but Batista winning the belt again!

Vince135792003

I see Batista winning which will then lead to a glorious summer of Henry versus Batisita.

I don't want to see it but at least it would make sense since I'm pretty sure it was Henry who in the storyline, took out Batista or was at least feuding with him at the time he got injured.

Ph3n0m

Fozzy wrote:

While Ph3n0m's idea is a good idea and it'd be cool to see play out, I doubt they could ever do that. What if the crowd is sort of split between two guys, and the guy who is picked to lose doesn't think it was fair? He's lost out on a world title run and it'd cause unnecessary conflict. It'd be cool to see for some random tournament though

In that case if the crowd were listless or undertermined, then the decision could be made backstage based on some other criteria.

Tourneys are always cool - remember the whole Hogan/Andre/DiBiase fiasco - where the final was Savage vs DiBiase and Hogan snuck in, put a sleeper on DiBiase, Savage hit the elbow and got the belt - thats what I would like to see or atleast a variation of it.

AlphaMale 3OO

somebody said give flair the belt and im sorry for going off topic but flair is a fcuking joke these days and he's ruining his legacy. His body is old and hagard and the "believeability" of a near 60 year old man beating a man 30 years his junior is proposterous. I love the old nature boy of the 80's and 90's but its becoming harder and harder for him to move around the ring and it seems hes constantly in great pain while his matches are a complete bore (my dad, not recognising him the other day, laughed at "that old man trying to wrestle"). he should have quit 5 years ago. back on topic, takers injury could be a blessing in disguise for his remarkable legacy as he may now call it a day, preserving great memories of one of the best performers in wrestling rather than hanging around for another 15 years of painful watching and shting all over his legacy a la flair. somehow i cant see a 30-0 Mania streak. Taker is my favourite and i want to remember him as the best.

J.R.HARTLEY

Fozzy wrote:

I was just thinkin, the best way I think they could deal with it is to have Kennedy win the title in some way, but without using his MITB contract. Then he could be stripped of the title shot as he'd already be champ, and someone else could gain the title shot. I just wouldn't waste the MITB on something like this, but Kennedy would be a useful champ

have to say i agree, i'd like to see kennedy win it like they did at rumble 94 where loads of wrestlers lead by a heel help pile him(taker) into a casket, make him dissapear for a few months to come back and win his title back off kennedy which then sets up for MITB at WM 24, i'd hate them to waste the MITB shot prematurley, now not exactly like that, but that style of story would be nice.

Glenman

How did Taker manage to compete in a steel cage match with Batista with this injury? Surely he was doing himself furthur damage?

SilverFox261

He was definately doing himself more harm. But saying that he wrestled the last man standing match with the injury. He's just one tough SOB.

nacho libre

Just to let people know there is a video up on wwe.com of Taker' being carried out by druids after the match.

Dickmcsavage

I thought the druid thing was a cool way of exectuing Taker's exit. Actually I'll go further than 'cool' and say it was perfect! There was no way he was just going to walk off and not appear for months nor was he going to be helped to the back by refs etc only to be given updates on his condition on SD from week to week. Undertaker's character is mysterious and his exit was exactly that. Fair play to whoever came up with that one.
On that note, I hope Taker comes back with the 'bad ass' gimmick. I haven't been mad about him since he returned as the 'deadman'. Same storyline every month. If he returns as the 'bad ass' he'll have more freedom to be able to express himself on the mic and in the ring.

ec18

Dickmcsavage wrote:

I thought the druid thing was a cool way of exectuing Taker's exit. Actually I'll go further than 'cool' and say it was perfect! There was no way he was just going to walk off and not appear for months nor was he going to be helped to the back by refs etc only to be given updates on his condition on SD from week to week. Undertaker's character is mysterious and his exit was exactly that. Fair play to whoever came up with that one.
On that note, I hope Taker comes back with the 'bad ass' gimmick. I haven't been mad about him since he returned as the 'deadman'. Same storyline every month. If he returns as the 'bad ass' he'll have more freedom to be able to express himself on the mic and in the ring.

Hellz Yeah him coming back as the bad ass would rock.....Especially if they built it up the way they did for the last return with the kids from the shining....then he came out on the bike and kicked the McMahon-Helmsely faction round.....It was awesome...I'd love to see taker on the mic more he cut some great promos as the Bad Ass.....especially the one leadin to him vs HHH at mania...."This is my Yard, Bad things Have been Happenin here for a very long time....I Believe they call it a DECADE OF DESTRUCTION"


Or after he knocked McMahon out......to Stephanie..."When he wakes up tell him the big dog just took back the yard"


Brillant stuff

ShawnRaven

It's about the only thing that would make me welcome Taker back atm, the whole deadman thing never did it for me, and when i heard he was coming back as that for Mania 20 i nearly cringed. He's been as boring as hell since. At least he was interesting as the bad-ass demanding respect.

The problem with that is it got boring after a while. And because he wasn't the deadman and couldn't roll his eyes back, he just gave a crazy old man stare instead.

VR!

ec18

the crazy old man stare was cool....cause lets face it he is a crazy old man

ShawnRaven

Crippled hasbeen is more the term i would use
VR!

AlphaMale 3OO

validreasoning! wrote:

Crippled hasbeen is more the term i would use
VR!

Fcuk you. And anyone who thinks the bad ass is better than the deadman is delusional. Taker has always been the best like that. How many Undertakers ride around on motorbikes?

Mossy Monk

forbesii wrote:

Fcuk you

Easy tiger.

ec18

forbesii wrote:

Fcuk you. And anyone who thinks the bad ass is better than the deadman is delusional. Taker has always been the best like that. How many Undertakers ride around on motorbikes?

Probably more undertakers drive bikes than you think he wasn't there as the undertaker he was the american bad ass Undertaker was his ring name...Austin wasn't really stone cold and triple H isn't really a game....see the names don't have to make sense......Taker was better as the bad ass cause he could respond to other people......Instead of rolling his eyes....or saying rest in peace......old school maybe but boring....everyones entitled to their opinions so be cool alright....less of the language....shows when you've run out of things to say

Vince135792003

I feel sorry for forbesii.

He shouldn't have said that but I think validreasoning! oozes X-pac heel heat with some of his posts and the one about "crippled hasbeen" in regards 'Taker was a fine example.

ShawnRaven

I'm just tired of the same old **** from him every year though, Taker has been boring since his character came to it's creative peak in 99, once he came back, they gave him the bad-ass and worked it well. After a six month layoff when he took time out, he came back as the dead man and has done **** all except win one title, and he couldn't even stay active enough to properly defend it.

Sorry, but you hear people saying Flair is too old. At least Flair can still go, Taker can't, and theres you're proof... and if guys like forbesii can't handle it, then tough sh*t because it's the truth, and there isn't enough bitching in the world that will make any difference!

VR!

Bubs101

Vince135792003 wrote:

X-pac heel heat

Mind explaining this phrase? I always thought X-pac was really popular

ShawnRaven

He was but by the time 2000 around, people stopped caring about him because there was nothing really there for him. A good example of this was at InVasion 2001, he got booed out of the building, despite playing the face. By the time 2002 and his participation in the nWo 2002 angle. People were just booing him for the sake of booing him.

In 2005, people did exactly the same for John Cena, and some are still doing it to this day

VR!