10 Stars That Are Definitely Future WWE Hall Of Famers
2. The Undertaker
WWE almost certainly has something special planned for Takers eventual retirement. This will likely coincide with a Hall of Fame induction, as well as an enormous merchandising blitz. Why? Because a strong argument can be made that The Undertaker is the greatest WWE Superstar of all time, thats why. Heres a guy that the fans still enjoy watching and, crucially, are still afraid of more than 24 years after his WWE debut. He never defected to the competition; he never badmouthed the company, he never diminished in the eyes of the fans and he never put in anything less than 150%. He held dominion over the wrestlers court and he held spellbound audiences in the icy grip of his gloved hand. Undertakers grasp of ring psychology and his inherent charisma were such a powerful combination that nobody complained when he rose from the dead, or emerged from gimmicked caskets that were conveniently placed at ringside... ...And he worked with some GODAWFUL opponents, yet still brought each and every one of them to their best ever match. Ric Flair, who has wrestled everyone in the history of the universe (probably), had his best match since Steamboat with Taker. In fact, The Undertaker was the career-best opponent for a LOT of WWE stars, including Batista, Edge, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan, Kane, Jake Roberts, Shawn Michaels and many others besides. The Undertaker is a man so tough that he dropped down from the ceiling of a 16ft cell and landed on a badly infected foot (that he shouldnt even have been able to walk on). Hes so tough that despite being knocked unconscious at WrestleMania XXX, he was still able to go ahead with the finish and did so well enough that almost nobody noticed. Today, The Undertaker is STILL guaranteed to put asses in seats (and his eventual return to pass judgement upon Brock Lesnar will have any true fan salivating at the thought of it). He has drawn a LOT of money for the WWE over the years and he has stayed loyal to the company during its darkest hours. In short, The Undertaker will be used as the high water mark for several generations of WWE Superstars, as a reliable main event money machine that combined an old school work ethic with in-ring showmanship and a unique, startling presence, to incredible effect. Essentially, anyone out there that doesnt respect The Undertaker doesnt respect the wrestling business. He is the sort of performer that Hall of Fame institutions are created for. Nuff said.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ