-Gabriel Iglesias is our host and he is joined by Kevin Nash, Kofi Kingston, JBL, and Natalya this week. JBL notes HHH and Taker have been backbones of the company for decades. Nash puts over the intensity of the matches and says they are as good as it gets.
-Undertaker says there is nothing he has been more passionate about in his life than being a wrestler. HHH calls him the measuring stick and notes the majority of people would have failed if they were given the Taker gimmick. He continues that Taker was hard to get to know and part of the reason is because he wanted to protect the gimmick. You had to earn his trust and friendship.
-HHH notes he became friends with Shawn and that meant people were fond of him. Shawn notes everyone loved HHH, but hated him. Taker says back the he had no use for Shawn. He admits it was a red flag seeing HHH come in and being buddies with Shawn. He admits HHH was a hard worker though.
-HHH remembers being in a bar and Taker was looking at him and called him over. He had two shots of Jack and had HHH drink a shot with him, then patted him on the back and told him he was good with him. HHH says he had the highest respect for Taker.
-Shotgun Saturday Night: Feb 8, 1997: The early days of the show when it was broadcast in weird locations and had a lively crowd. This is a famous match where Taker hits a Tombstone on an escalator and HHH goes riding down. Good stuff!
-We jump ahead a few years and see HHH’s famous “I am the fucking game” promo. Hey, it’s William Regal and he notes both Taker and HHH have the fighting spirit. Around the same time, Taker made a change and became The American Bad ass as he wanted to be able to cut loose on the mic.
-HHH tells the story of Vince letting them both know he doesn’t have anything for them at Mania X-Seven. They were both pissed, but realized that meant they could face each other and Vince rolled it. Prichard notes the shiny object was Rock/Austin and yet, HHH/Taker became a diamond as well.
-Taker notes they had to make it interesting quick. We see Taker get split open with a sledgehammer and he says he bled like a stuck pig. “It was Main Event color”
-Commercials!
-WrestleMania X-Seven: My old review is here, and yes, it is still one of the greatest shows of all time. JBL notes it was the first Mania in a stadium in years (9 to be exact). Taker mentions it was his hometown and it was his dream to work in the Astrodome. He knew whoever followed them would have a really hard time. Eh, Rock and Austin were more than up to the task. It is a really fun, hard hitting match. HHH said he learned that if you had to hit Taker with chair, then hit him with a chair. They both agreed, “hit me safe, but hit me hard.” They cover the chokeslam off a scaffold area, but leave out the production mistake where they show it was padded more than they would like people to know. Again, not complaining as do what you can to be safe. Taker gets the win to end a really fun match.
-They became friends and HHH brings up that Taker had no issues and gave his blessing to HHH and Stephanie being together. I could see that being huge as if Taker didn’t have issue, how could any of the other boys have one. We get some rare footage of Taker being in HHH and Steph’s wedding. Cool!
-Taker says he didn’t know he had a winning streak at Mania until he got to ten. I had a friend who mentioned to me that Taker and Boss Man were both undefeated at Mania X, so that was the earliest I caught on to it.
-We get highlights of Taker beating Shawn at Mania XXV and XXVI and I am proud to say I was there for both of them. Easily the two greatest matches I have ever seen live. My old reviews of each show can be found here and here. Taker ends Shawn’s career and Shawn is best friends with HHH, so the story is easy to tell from there.
-We jump ahead a year and see the awesome sequence where Undertaker comes out and doesn’t say a word. HHH immediately comes out and he doesn’t say anything either but looks at The Mania sign. Taker turns and looks as well and there is a nod and it’s on! HHH had a case of The Rock’s goosebumps.
-Commercials!
-Of course they bring Shawn into the build and HHH tells Taker he has to take things to a darker place. Taker’s body was trashed as Michelle McCool brings up all the injuries and surgeries they knew he was going to need. Taker says he needed 3-4 injections in his hop sockets to get him ready for Mania matches. He mentions that when people pay money they want to see a guy that can still kick ass.
-WrestleMania XXVIII: Atlanta, GA: My old review is here and I was at this show as well. The last Mania I attended. HHH was blown away when Taker told him he had anxiety and doubts. “This was The Undertaker.” I enjoyed this match and feel it topped what they did at Mania X-7. Shawn notes he watched from a skybox and they have video of it. Cool! They just beat the tar out of each other! Taker says he was doing well until he did the dive into the floor and he knew his hip was on it’s last days. He doesn’t remember hitting anyone harder than he hit HHH that night. Taker says it was barbaric but was what was needed to tell the story. HHH: “I wore that motherfucker out with that chair.” Taker says he would expect nothing less with those chair shots.
-Commercials!
-We see the famous HHH Tombstone that had everyone buying the end of the match. My friend got up from his seat and was ready to walk next door to The Taco Mac to watch the rest of the show as he was pissed thinking HHH was going to win. Instead, HHH taps out to Hell’s Gate.
-Taker gets carted away though and he says it was pretty much legit as he was in rough shape. HHH gets emotional as he notes the business is weird as that was his friend and he half-way killed him with a chair. “That’s the way we did it.” We see them hug backstage as Michelle says you go harder on the ones you love and then hug it out after the match.
-Taker decides to get a hip replacement and the doctor tells him it was time 12 years ago. Taker got cleared and immediately went back to training for Mania and the rematch with HHH. The story this time was that Taker won the previous year, but was the one that was carted off because of the beating he took. HHH is now an executive and doesn’t want to go to that level to beat Taker. Taker knows HHH’s weakness though and brings up he can’t beat him because Shawn couldn’t do it and he isn’t as good as Shawn. That’s fantastic! HHH accepts and calls for Hell in a Cell. At the time I assumed HHH would be his career on the line as well but that didn’t happen.
-Shawn gets brought into the match as the special ref. They asked Shawn and he was all for it as those were his friends. He notes he has spent more time with Hunter and Mark than he has with his children.
-WrestleMania XXVIII: Miami: Hell in a Cell: End of an Era! My old review is here! The best HHH/Taker match and it is awesome.
-Commercials!
-This match had years of build behind it. Punk compares it to the a battle between the two toughest prisoners from a past era and everyone else in the yard is watching. Taker says they were having the match and felt it needed something and HHH told him to bust him open hard way. So it took a few shots but he split him open above the eyebrow. Shawn: “These two are murdering each other.” HHH says Shawn was yelling at them about the chair shots as he thought they were going to kill each other.
-Nash puts over Shawn for always being able to bring the drama. It was great stuff as Shawn having to end the match to let HHH do something he never did and at the same time getting revenge on Taker for ending his career. Then it happened! One of the greatest near falls of all time as Shawn hits a superkick and sends Taker into a Pedigree. Go back and listen to that crowd as they were ready to buy the Streak ending. Just a brilliant near fall!
-Commercials!
-Kofi at the desk now has a case of Rock’s goosebumps as he talks about the match. Taker thinks the false finish they had was the greatest one ever and notes as I did, that it convinced people The Streak was over. CM Punk calls them all masters of their craft and it all hit that night. Waltman says the match speaks for it self and put a button on the rivalry.
-HHH has nothing left as he tries a hammer shot and Taker stuffs him with a Tombstone for the win. They all go out together as REAL MEN and stand on top of the ramp to take a look back at the crowd. Great moment! Nash says it was three cowboys of that generation riding off into the sunset. Then, they had to go and soil it in Saudi! Just kidding! We get more backstage footage and I am sucker for all of that.
-The table talks legacy of both men and the rivalry. Taker says HHH is one of the people he knows he can call anytime he needs something. They are even closer now that they are retired for the ring. We see them at one of Taker’s One Man Shows. HHH calls Taker the heartbeat and there will never be another person like that.
-Fun episode and very relevant as the rivalry basically took place at Mania. They delivered in all three matches on the Grandest Stage and I was thrilled to be there for one of them. I know people joke about the End of An Era tag, but I get what they meant. Each man got back to Main Event Mania again, but there days of dominating the card were over as Taker was down to yearly Mania appearances and HHH was becoming an executive who wrestled when needed. There was a lot of Shawn in this, but that was expected as you can’t tell the story of the Mania XXVII and XXVIII match without mentioning Shawn’s two Mania matches with Taker. The backstage footage is always appreciated and having HHH and Hunter here to talk about the rivalry helped as well. Good stuff! Thanks for reading!
