Could a new Undertaker work?

JP Liz V1

The undertaker gimmick has been one of if not the best gimmick ever in WWE so do you think a new one would work, perhaps the son of Undertaker, debut at WM and take over from his father or should the whole gimmick just retire with Mark?


I know there has been a fake one before

Loughc

Personally I don't think it could work. Mark calaway made that gimmick work. No one else could do it justice IMO.

Sirsok

I like the mordecai gimmick, just Kevin Thorne wasn't ready at the time....this day and age gimmicks ,especially gimmick names, are hard to get over.

I know accession and Wyatt are gimmicks but tryin to get a taker-esque gimmick over nowadays would prove to be extremely hard.

I for one would love loads of gimmick names to come back, ultimate warrior, macho man, hawk ,animal, axe, smash, crush , earthquake, typhoon all kick ass names but imagine a guy coming in now with the name ultimate warrior. Fans would **** all over it and warrior would be givin the name Jimmy Helwiggler.

rovert

Loughc wrote: »

Personally I don't think it could work. Mark calaway made that gimmick work. No one else could do it justice IMO.

And it took time to develop too. When character debuted reaction seemed to be "WTF", "too cartoony" and "I give it 12 months tops". The quality of his character and output dramatically waxed and waned too. Sometimes it ran into absolute dead ends to pardon the pun. Modern WWE would just realise a guy at those stage.

Edge to pick a wrestler changed so much through his career especially the period between 1998 to 2001. Characters don't really develop anymore in WWE they largely remain the same.

brianregan09

My only problem with Corbin is his face doesn't match the rest of him , If ya did a shot of the camera panning up along his body it'd be all perfect till ya reach his face, He has the face of a 12 year old , Grow a beard or something

rovert

brianregan09 wrote: »

My only problem with Corbin is his face doesn't match the rest of him , If ya did a shot of the camera panning up along his body it'd be all perfect till ya reach his face, He has the face of a 12 year old , Grow a beard or something

When I first posted "the Undertaker is Corbin's mentor now" thing on here I said it was a really good idea as Undertaker before he went to WWF had similar issues in terms of his facials when he was Mean Mark Callous. Undertaker hopefully will pass on the knowledge on how he learned to project himself move.

Vince McMahon's answer to it was BE A ZOMBIE. It was a crude but an ingenious short term "fix".

Rjd2

rovert wrote: »

. Characters don't really develop anymore in WWE they largely remain the same.

Dunno about that, John Cena since his debut hasn't released a grey or pink t shirt yet.

Scavenger XIII

A follow-up to the gimmick, no definitely not.

However Corbin does look like he could have a similar in-ring style if he develops well, certainly reminds me of him in terms of stature.

Itssoeasy

NO.

Ridley

I don't think just copying the rasslin' zombie shtick would work. Doubt any of us would have the patience for it. "Son of Undertaker!!" *lightning* would be worse. Korporate Kane and his eeeevil nephew.

I would like to see a guy of similar build (and ability) do a man with no name bounty hunter/APA-like gimmick though.

B.A._Baracus

Son of The Undertaker would never work But WWE do like to rehash gimmicks.
A new Undertaker-esqe gimmick could work if it wasn't PG. But it would have to be altered to fit todays audience I feel.

Say you replaced the supernatural elements with the occult then.... well I guess I am basically saying 1999 Demonic Heel Taker could work, but the idea of a 'Dead Man' wouldnt work for someone new in today's WWE.

RobbingBandit

No, Undertaker went through evolutions of the character but when it was all said and done it always reverted to the original dry ice smoke enhanced entrance, the biker gimmick was the worst imo.

Look at the bad rep the Ascension are getting for being so similar to The Road Warriors. Copying some ones gimmick is a quick way to get over but it doesn't work in the long run.

JohnMarston

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Son of The Undertaker would never work But WWE do like to rehash gimmicks.
A new Undertaker-esqe gimmick could work if it wasn't PG. But it would have to be altered to fit todays audience I feel.

Say you replaced the supernatural elements with the occult then.... well I guess I am basically saying 1999 Demonic Heel Taker could work, but the idea of a 'Dead Man' wouldnt work for someone new in today's WWE.

A new ministry of darkness under relative new faces might work. Given the current way they treat new stables however it would probably go too cartoony and you'd end up with a dungeon of doom group, where they cant be taken seriously

jaykhunter

Nope, it's like a New Razor/New Diesel smell, it wouldn't work. Fans would immediately take a strong disliking to it. Just make a great new character and book him strongly. I don't know if we'll ever get any character as grandly respected and booked accordingly as The Undertaker. I don't think WWE are capable of booking another like him either!

"Son of Andre" worked great for Giant!:pac:

gerrybbadd

This was discussed at length a few years back.

It was suggested that in his last match, Undertaker's spirit would transfer over to whomever was going to take over the gimmick. Then, Mark Calloway would regain his human-ness and finally be able to retire, free from his Undertaking obligations. Whomever the torch got passed to would then carry on the character, same entrance, moveset etc.

I liked the idea in a way, but it would have to be given to someone that would have the lastability that Undertaker has had.

CastorTroy

If they did ever decide to do it, I doubt they would have many volunteers for it. That's a big legacy to follow and can be sure fans wouldn't be keen on the idea.

Ridley

gerrybbadd wrote: »

It was suggested that in his last match, Undertaker's spirit would transfer over to whomever was going to take over the gimmick. Then, Mark Calloway would regain his human-ness and finally be able to retire, free from his Undertaking obligations. Whomever the torch got passed to would then carry on the character, same entrance, moveset etc.

"For you see, the true Undertaker was in you all along."

*urn floats from Calloway on fishing line into Corbin's hands*

You got the moves, you know the streets
Break the rules, take the heat
You're nobody's fool

You're at your best when when the goin' gets rough
You've been put to the test, but it's never enough

You got the touch
You got the power

*Calloway stops at top of ramp to give crowd thumbs up*

IvySlayer

gerrybbadd wrote: »

This was discussed at length a few years back.

It was suggested that in his last match, Undertaker's spirit would transfer over to whomever was going to take over the gimmick. Then, Mark Calloway would regain his human-ness and finally be able to retire, free from his Undertaking obligations. Whomever the torch got passed to would then carry on the character, same entrance, moveset etc.

I liked the idea in a way, but it would have to be given to someone that would have the lastability that Undertaker has had.

I suppose they could still use the urn in some way, but no don't see it happening, unless Bray Wyatt is being groomed for it already

Scavenger XIII

Ridley wrote: »

"For you see, the true Undertaker was in you all along."

*urn floats from Calloway on fishing line into Corbin's hands*

You got the moves, you know the streets
Break the rules, take the heat
You're nobody's fool

You're at your best when when the goin' gets rough
You've been put to the test, but it's never enough

You got the touch
You got the power

*Calloway stops at top of ramp to give crowd thumbs up*

I'd buy that, but only if they get Stan Bush playing on Raw. :pac:

Kerplunk124

briany

I like the way people have been trying supernatural gimmicks in wrestling for a long time but, to my knowledge, only one has ever gotten over in the way that The Undertaker did. To me, that makes The Undertaker an anomaly rather than something to be tried again and again.

The problem with supernatural gimmicks is they're hokey. Every single one is like something written by a D-grade screenwriter and the Undertaker was no different but Mark Calloway had the look and presence to make it into something special. Even Triple H says this on his Austin podcast that The Undertaker gimmick should basically not have worked the way it did and it was down to Calloway and where he took the character. He owned it so well, in fact, that it can't ever be done again without looking like a rip off or a pale imitation.

With every paranormal, spooky or just outsider character there's an extremely fine line between 'woah' and 'who the f*ck is this eejit?'. A line that WWE, and wrestling in general, errs on the wrong side of way too much. Again, when they do get it right, it's unusual.

Bray Wyatt is currently teetering right on this line. He used to be cool and spooky. Right now, he's a mumbling loner who's being strongly booked in matches, but his character lacks a point or direction. Is he possessed by a 'demon' or did he just go overboard on the Zeitgeist DVDs?

ERG89

sugarman wrote: »

The whole american badass gimmick kinda ****s all over that idea as he was 'free' for a few years previously.

Does he regret doing that?
I always get the impression he wish he didn't do it. Even though I found it entertaining particularly as a heel, the DDP rivalry was a low point

briany

I didn't like the whole ABA/Big Evil thing at the time but, looking back, it's the only time he ever got to do any really decent promo work, and he showed an aptitude for it, too. He's done some stuff on the mic in this last 10 years or so but none of it all that entertaining. His Big Evil stint was worth it alone for that silencing of the annoying 'What?' chant.

'Say 'What' again if you sleep with your sister... *crowd shuts the hell up*

Ageyev

Agree with the comments about the time needed to "develop" the Undertaker character. It helped that Vince liked him and they stuck with it for so long particularly through the dry period of the mid-1990s. Taker was a house show headliner during that period. Imo he only got decent with the Mankind feud. BikerTaker was awful, he came back from injury overweight and took about two years to get into shape and have some good matches in 2002.

Don't think WWE have the patience to stick with a gimmick like that for long enough these days, business model is a bit different too. If Bray Wyatt is still talking in riddles in ten years then I'll be proven wrong.

incrisis

I am getting to thinking that they are trying to turn Bray Wyatt into the next Undertaker type.

CastorTroy

Do we can expect Bo as the new devil's favourite demon?

Lexicious

gerrybbadd wrote: »

This was discussed at length a few years back.

It was suggested that in his last match, Undertaker's spirit would transfer over to whomever was going to take over the gimmick. Then, Mark Calloway would regain his human-ness and finally be able to retire, free from his Undertaking obligations. Whomever the torch got passed to would then carry on the character, same entrance, moveset etc.

I liked the idea in a way, but it would have to be given to someone that would have the lastability that Undertaker has had.

Ridley wrote: »

"For you see, the true Undertaker was in you all along."

*urn floats from Calloway on fishing line into Corbin's hands*

You got the moves, you know the streets
Break the rules, take the heat
You're nobody's fool

You're at your best when when the goin' gets rough
You've been put to the test, but it's never enough

You got the touch
You got the power

*Calloway stops at top of ramp to give crowd thumbs up*

That...That would be pretty awesome to watch, just not sure how long it'd last.

JP Liz V1

gerrybbadd wrote: »

The Sun have taken an old Boards theory and ran with it, it seems

Roman to die after Strowman's attack, to rise as the "New Undertaker"

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/3317421/roman-reigns-new-undertaker-wwe/

I wonder would Vince allow this Taker to happen, would he reign supreme:P

CastorTroy

I'm sure that would definitely get the fans cheering him. :pac:

DM_7

Reigns is already like what comic fans back in 92 could have imagined Taker as in 2017.

Long Hair, silent type, wearing all black, military look instead of a suit get up, got a suntan along the way.

Stick Reigns in sunglasses and he would be like a Duke Nukem crossed with Undertaker.