The Taker Character Opinion Trilogy -- Part Three

Alrighty, kiddies, this will probably be the last of these. Why, you may ask? Well believe it or not, I've come to that point where I =accept= the new Undertaker incarnation. Yep, no bitching and moaning about him being a flaming Redneck. However, bad news for those of you who think I pick on him too much. The fashion critiques, groans about the chaw, and general teasing about whatever goofy things he's involved in will remain.

Now let me get to why I'm finally at this acceptance stage. I think the primary reason is that he's having fun. That's right- when that guy gets out there, you can tell he's pleased as punch to be there. And I think back to 1999 and how he looked then. Taker has even admitted that he didn't like the Ministry angle and boy did it show. You could tell he was unhappy with being out there and doing what I guess any leader of a evil faction should do without batting an eyelash. Someone I know who's also a UT fan mentioned to me about how he looked absolutely terrified to be out there with the goofy sacrificing of Mideon and how his hands shook terribly. I guess I was too much in shock of seeing that horsehit to notice. Outside of all the goofy bullshit he participated in, but he had injuries that were demanding to be rested. And the combination of this angle and the injuries made him look miserable.

Now, it's almost like there's a different guy coming out from behind that curtain now. We have a new Taker. We even have a Taker that uses slang (a weird thing after so many years of regal speech) and smiles from time to time (also a weird thing to see). And a Taker who looks really good in jeans, but not so good in gold snakeskin pants, beanie caps, or rib eatin' bibs (sorry -- couldn't help it *grin*). An Undertaker whose evolution has skewed off the timeline yet hasn't, if you catch my drift. Taker understood he couldn't let go of Undertaker's roots completely, so he's incorporated some of the old stuff along with all the new stuff, in hopes to placate everyone. We still have the bell toll but instead of being incorporated with the funeral dirge, we now have Limp Bizkit. He has resurrected the whole Deadman deal, just in time to mark his decade in the WWF and to market a cool new shirt. And like he said, even if he's not dressed like Satan anymore, he's still down with the devil and will go medieval on your ass. Well, at least he's down with the devil on his baseball cap.

Another thing that's also been different with Taker since his May 2000 return that he's been pretty open with doing interviews and such now. And I might break some of my don't talk about Calaway the man rule in here. Some may think that he's revealing everything, but I don't think so. Yes, we may know a bit more about Mark Calaway but we don't know enough to crack the surface as to what makes him tick inside. But I like it that way. He's not into the kayfabe thing anymore, but he still keeps things secretive.

But the general impression I get of this boy (at least by going by what little we know about him) is that's he's mainly a redneck boy. In fact, he's probably a lot like most of the guys I know, from their obsession with either vehicles or bikes to a penchant for beer and hard liquor (reason I get teased about my frou-frou wine) to liking sports to guns, hunting, and other outdoor sports to chaw (at least some), along with all the other things. Like Jane Goodall with her chimps, I could do a study on redneck guys.

And since it appears that he's comfortable in his skin, I bet it's probably an awesome thing for him personally to be able to show this side of himself after all these years. Like he's mentioned, this is what you see of Undertaker when he's on the street. This is who the Undertaker was (and the part the fans never saw) after he was done slamming people in caskets or entering the ring with druids (you know: your average day job stuff). It's just that he got tired of wearing goofy capes and doing long diatribes, that's all, and decided to forgo the theatrics.

And another thing that is surprising with this new era of Taker's career is how open he was with admitting he is married, along with bringing the wife to at least two outside events with him. Also, from what he said about her in his Byte This! interview, she's the reason he's so happy now, both professionally and personally. If any guy out there in the business deserves this, it's him. For about 15 years or so, he's given happiness to the fans and it's about time he has some in his life.

Even though I've accepted the character, I do still cringe at seeing him in the ring. And I do get a bit irked knowing that what probably really helped to set in the tell-tale effects of long-term abuse in the ring was 1999, where he languished for so long (9 months or more) until the had to write him out of the script and forcibly send his big ass home. But I still enjoy seeing him out there, happy and obviously having a ball. And seeing that totally has overridden any arguments I have about the character direction. Especially so because he wanted this. This is his vision for the Taker 2000.

And come to think of it, I find it kind of weird why some of us have had (and are still having) a shit fit over it, when he's changed the character so many times. Maybe it was the truly real human aspect of it that bothered some of us and that he wasn't as supernatural and as regal in appearance as were were used to seeing. That change was very extreme but if the man himself if fearless enough to try it, we should just hold onto the ride and see where he leads us.

 

 

 

 

Date Written: (1-16-01)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

&nb