Taker Injured and Taker Royal Rumble Thoughts

Yep, it's happened again. This time, a messed-up sciatic nerve resulting from a bad landing caused by a Big Show chokeslam. This is the second time he's been injured by a botched chokeslam from Show. The second was a few weeks ago and the first was back during the Ministry where he was supposed to chokeslam him through the ring and instead missed his mark; Taker landed with his hips and back on the mat in an awkward way.

Before I go any further, I want to address Big Show. From what I've heard, Paul Wight, out of the ring, is a really awesome guy. However, he scares me at times in the ring. I think he doesn't realize his own strength or when caught up in the moment, really lets it fly. And I especially don't like the fact that Undie's been the victim of this overzealous shit twice now. Don't get me wrong- I don't like to see any of the boys hurt but it especially pains me to think of Calaway, who is toeing the line between what his body can do and what his mind wants to do. That and I have the Foley Complex about him as it is; this just makes it worse when he returns to in-ring action.

But injuries aside, Undie still went out to show his mug at SD and RAW to add PPV hype and looking quite drugged up, may I add. Of course, with the condition he was in, no wonder. And he even made it to the Royal Rumble, 8th person in and 10th person out. I knew when he came out with such a low number, he definitely wasn't in it for the long haul. Actually, I was happy of this, because he was working injured. However, I thought they'd put him in towards the end- maybe 27-30.

But while he was there, he did make an impact and maybe this is why they chose to put him in where they did. He kicked some ass, cleared the ring, and continued to cement his "Top Dog of the Yard" deal. I don't think this couldn't really happen when you have guys like HHH, Austin, and Angle in there, who were healthy and expected to be in there for the long run. I'm also glad that he exercised some sense and got his big bad self out of there in about 20 minutes, tops. And I wasn't happy about their appearance, but the Hardys and Lita got some licks in and he sold them, another thing good of him to do, even if it was for them.

And even though he went apeshit on him about 10 seconds later, he did give Maven a rub. Maven's had a pretty easy ride there to get such a rub for my old-school fan mentality taste, but it was nice just on the principle of seeing Taker being such a good guy to put one of the really green guys over. And to all the 'net fans who jumped the "I Hate Taker" bandwagon, I'm sure Rock or Austin would have done it. *rolling eyes* The resulting pummeling was also kind of cheesy, especially those facial expressions of his, but was one of the more entertaining things about the Rumble. Just hope that popcorn he shoved in his mouth didn't have glass in it.

On the health front, it must have taken a hell of a lot out of him to be in there for the time he was. As I watched him, I thought of an aunt of mine who had a messed up sciatic nerve. This woman's not exactly a pushover and she was bedridden for weeks. And here he was, taking bumps and being thrown all around the ring, plus walking up a lot of stairs to the concession stand for the segment with Maven.

The above leads up to the fact I did a little browsing and found some fans bitching about him not being in the Rumble that long. And the following is why I decided to do a rant.

When I saw that, I honestly couldn't fuckin' believe people! The man has an injury that would drive everyone else to a bed for a long time- what do you expect from him?! Now, in an utopian world, I would have loved to see him come in at #1 and not leave until he dumped 29 other men out of the ring, sending them on their last rides over the top rope. But it wasn't going to happen and it won't ever happen.

While I pretty much cringed at every fall, deep down I knew we were fortunate to see him out there and I was grateful for it. And I gave him mad props for doing it, especially when there are other wrestlers who might just say, "fuck it" and stay home, even if they were big into the promotion for the PPV. But he didn't brush it off because they were expecting him to be there. And for those of you who are fans, I wish you would think of that and maybe realize that a little bit of Undie is better than none at all.