It was 2004. WrestleMania 20, yes.....That was the time I first acquainted myself, in real, with WWE. I never got a chance to watch that ruggedly notorious 'WWF' where fights were fought to the extremes. Pro wrestler of that era, Attitude Era WWE calls it now, were used to shed their blood in bucketful. They cut themselves, threw themselves in fire and whatnot, jumped from 30 feet high cages or 20 feet ladders, buried themselves in mud and cement and above all, did them all for their fans' sake. They came up with a new definition of 'entertainment'. They were the real Supermen. But by 2004, internet had arrived. And things were bound to change.
So 2004. Yes, the time WWE relaunched themselves in India after a two year period hiatus. The reasons of hiatus were and are still unknown. I had cable TV in my home. It was April and when I switched on the TV, a new TV channel named Ten Sports was flashing across my screen and the very first thing I saw broadcast there was WrestleMania 20 where two of the company's most hardworking and underrated workers in Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were finally crowned world champions after putting more than 15 years of service for pro wrestling. Madison Square Garden, yes. The World's most famous arena. And biggest wrestling spectacle of planet Earth. Benoit and Eddie couldn't have asked for anything else that night. It was surreal. It was emotional and it was magical.
And then it was dark as well. The Undertaker. Yes, The Undertaker whose legends I and many of my age and younger than my age were told about, was in front of me. His presence was such and the occasion and atmosphere of MSG was so overwhelming that you could sense it wasn't real. It was otherworldly. Everything with Taker was always otherworldly. He was making a return, yet another, after one of his many supposed deaths, and I was in awe. Awestruck, yes. When he arrived, his on-screen brother, Kane, who screwed him some 8 months earlier, wasn't sure. He was color blinded. Arena wasn't dark when Gong hit and then blue color tinged with black wore down on everyone. It was like everyone was bathed in blue. Some 20,000 people. Then lightening struck. Fog arrived almost instantaneously. And so Taker finally made his presence known. Again in flesh and blood. Again fully rejuvenated. Again ready to bring down hell on his adversaries. Again there to oblige his 'creatures of night'. The Wrestling God had surfaced once again.
And that has been the story of Mark Calaway, 'The Undertaker' ever since. Firstly arrived in 1990 Survivor Series as one of the last crew member of Ted Dibiase Crew, The Undertaker became a pop culture phenomenon. He is the most memorable of creations of Vince McMahon. Vince experimented with an idea which was laughed at in the beginning and confirmed as a failure but Vince was bloody-minded. He treated Undertaker as a novelty creature and treasure for himself. He used him only sporadically in the beginning and mostly for spooking the others. Meanwhile he provided the Taker with ample opportunities to rebuild himself and become a better in-ring performer. And so Undertaker became those rarest of pro-wrestlers who combined brute force of his 6' 6" frame with technical wrestling skills. In couple of years' time, Vince and Hulk Hogan, the top performer for the company for so many years, felt so confident in his abilities that they made him a world champion. 1992 was the year and his famed WrestleMania Streak was not even on the cards. He was scheduled to lose only in his 5th WrestleMania appearance against Giant Gonzalez but somehow that angle didn't work. Meanwhile, business for Vince McMahon picked with new age wrestlers like Shawn Michaels, HHH, Diesel, Bret Hart, Stone Cold and The Rock. These were the guys who are now acknowledged as the greatest in pro-wrestling world. Some of them became the 'face' of the company like John Cena of today. And I for one always wondered why not Taker for top spot? After all, he stood alongside Vince during those bloody Monday night wars with WCW and other promotions. He was loyal beyond doubt and an assured performer. He was always there, so why? But only couple of years ago, during one of his podcasts at the time when WWE was celebrating Taker's 25 year journey with the company, Stone Cold Steve Austin, arguably the biggest name of WWE's most popular Attitude Era, explained this 'why'. Taker was the locker room leader when all these stars were working their asses off to become better wrestlers. He was teaching them, mentoring them to become good performers and better wrestlers. He commanded respect. They called him 'Boss' and knew they were the 'boys'. Meanwhile Taker was becoming a myth with each passing year. He was consistently transforming himself. Crowd never got bored with him. He invented new training regime and innovated with 'casket matches', 'Buried alive matches' and his legendary, Hell in a Cell matches. These were his creations. He was a pioneer. And he was a proper old-school pro-wrestler who never for once broke his on-screen character. All this while, he now had his WrestleMania Streak going and it was slowing becoming 'The Thing' to cherish in WWE spectacle. It was certainly the biggest thing in all of WWE and not even the world championships meant anything in front of it. Many succumbed to this temptation. There were legends, there were rookies and there were Giants and all of them were defeated on that night of WrestleMania when WWE ensured to the world that they must take notice of it. The Streak became a holy Grail and then Taker knew, being a passionate follower of this art-form, that it was time to have someone a crack at it because nothing could ever go on top of the sport itself. One wrestler who could really claim to hackle him in his heydays was Brock Lesner and Taker gave him the rights to break the streak. So came the night of WM 30 and Lesner became the conqueror of the streak. Taker was now 50 years old and knew his time was really coming fast. He wanted to retire in 2011 only but Vince McMahon always pleaded him to stay. At this juncture of his life, Taker really was an authority in himself having nothing else to conquer. So everything decided now. Taker wanted to retire and couple of nights ago, in Sunshine City of Orlando, Texas; Taker hung his boots. He left his gloves, hat and trench coat in the middle of 'his yard' and paid utmost respect to the ring that made him the greatest vigilantes of planet Earth. Men shed Men tears, Women shed women tears, millennials cried their eyes out but The Deadman didn't flinch for a moment. Then the Gong hit. Three times. Three final times. Then the darkness followed. That same blue-tinged darkness. Still darkness. Complete darkness.
The Undertaker had left!!!!
So 2004. Yes, the time WWE relaunched themselves in India after a two year period hiatus. The reasons of hiatus were and are still unknown. I had cable TV in my home. It was April and when I switched on the TV, a new TV channel named Ten Sports was flashing across my screen and the very first thing I saw broadcast there was WrestleMania 20 where two of the company's most hardworking and underrated workers in Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were finally crowned world champions after putting more than 15 years of service for pro wrestling. Madison Square Garden, yes. The World's most famous arena. And biggest wrestling spectacle of planet Earth. Benoit and Eddie couldn't have asked for anything else that night. It was surreal. It was emotional and it was magical.
And then it was dark as well. The Undertaker. Yes, The Undertaker whose legends I and many of my age and younger than my age were told about, was in front of me. His presence was such and the occasion and atmosphere of MSG was so overwhelming that you could sense it wasn't real. It was otherworldly. Everything with Taker was always otherworldly. He was making a return, yet another, after one of his many supposed deaths, and I was in awe. Awestruck, yes. When he arrived, his on-screen brother, Kane, who screwed him some 8 months earlier, wasn't sure. He was color blinded. Arena wasn't dark when Gong hit and then blue color tinged with black wore down on everyone. It was like everyone was bathed in blue. Some 20,000 people. Then lightening struck. Fog arrived almost instantaneously. And so Taker finally made his presence known. Again in flesh and blood. Again fully rejuvenated. Again ready to bring down hell on his adversaries. Again there to oblige his 'creatures of night'. The Wrestling God had surfaced once again.
And that has been the story of Mark Calaway, 'The Undertaker' ever since. Firstly arrived in 1990 Survivor Series as one of the last crew member of Ted Dibiase Crew, The Undertaker became a pop culture phenomenon. He is the most memorable of creations of Vince McMahon. Vince experimented with an idea which was laughed at in the beginning and confirmed as a failure but Vince was bloody-minded. He treated Undertaker as a novelty creature and treasure for himself. He used him only sporadically in the beginning and mostly for spooking the others. Meanwhile he provided the Taker with ample opportunities to rebuild himself and become a better in-ring performer. And so Undertaker became those rarest of pro-wrestlers who combined brute force of his 6' 6" frame with technical wrestling skills. In couple of years' time, Vince and Hulk Hogan, the top performer for the company for so many years, felt so confident in his abilities that they made him a world champion. 1992 was the year and his famed WrestleMania Streak was not even on the cards. He was scheduled to lose only in his 5th WrestleMania appearance against Giant Gonzalez but somehow that angle didn't work. Meanwhile, business for Vince McMahon picked with new age wrestlers like Shawn Michaels, HHH, Diesel, Bret Hart, Stone Cold and The Rock. These were the guys who are now acknowledged as the greatest in pro-wrestling world. Some of them became the 'face' of the company like John Cena of today. And I for one always wondered why not Taker for top spot? After all, he stood alongside Vince during those bloody Monday night wars with WCW and other promotions. He was loyal beyond doubt and an assured performer. He was always there, so why? But only couple of years ago, during one of his podcasts at the time when WWE was celebrating Taker's 25 year journey with the company, Stone Cold Steve Austin, arguably the biggest name of WWE's most popular Attitude Era, explained this 'why'. Taker was the locker room leader when all these stars were working their asses off to become better wrestlers. He was teaching them, mentoring them to become good performers and better wrestlers. He commanded respect. They called him 'Boss' and knew they were the 'boys'. Meanwhile Taker was becoming a myth with each passing year. He was consistently transforming himself. Crowd never got bored with him. He invented new training regime and innovated with 'casket matches', 'Buried alive matches' and his legendary, Hell in a Cell matches. These were his creations. He was a pioneer. And he was a proper old-school pro-wrestler who never for once broke his on-screen character. All this while, he now had his WrestleMania Streak going and it was slowing becoming 'The Thing' to cherish in WWE spectacle. It was certainly the biggest thing in all of WWE and not even the world championships meant anything in front of it. Many succumbed to this temptation. There were legends, there were rookies and there were Giants and all of them were defeated on that night of WrestleMania when WWE ensured to the world that they must take notice of it. The Streak became a holy Grail and then Taker knew, being a passionate follower of this art-form, that it was time to have someone a crack at it because nothing could ever go on top of the sport itself. One wrestler who could really claim to hackle him in his heydays was Brock Lesner and Taker gave him the rights to break the streak. So came the night of WM 30 and Lesner became the conqueror of the streak. Taker was now 50 years old and knew his time was really coming fast. He wanted to retire in 2011 only but Vince McMahon always pleaded him to stay. At this juncture of his life, Taker really was an authority in himself having nothing else to conquer. So everything decided now. Taker wanted to retire and couple of nights ago, in Sunshine City of Orlando, Texas; Taker hung his boots. He left his gloves, hat and trench coat in the middle of 'his yard' and paid utmost respect to the ring that made him the greatest vigilantes of planet Earth. Men shed Men tears, Women shed women tears, millennials cried their eyes out but The Deadman didn't flinch for a moment. Then the Gong hit. Three times. Three final times. Then the darkness followed. That same blue-tinged darkness. Still darkness. Complete darkness.
The Undertaker had left!!!!
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