Survivor Series 2000 -- Fitting Tribute or Disrespect?

This year's Survivor Series 2000 marked a decade of the Phenom in the World Wrestling Federation. A decade that was filled with great matches, mark-out worthy entrances and promos, and just one kick-ass wrestler and one awesome wrestling persona to make it all work. Taker's seen the highs and lows of the WWF, from the booms to the busts of the mid-90s, and has stood his ground all the while, and being a consistent main-eventer and fan-favorite throughout the years.

Anyhow, like I began to state, Survivor Series marked his 10th year anniversary with the WWF. Most thought that since this was his 10th year with the fed, something would be made out of it. Maybe release a new video in his honor, or re-release some of his old-school ones? Or maybe a segment during the Survivor Series or RAW is WAR? And maybe they'd honor him in the highest way possible -- his fourth WWF Heavyweight title reign, at such an appropriate PPV. Well, none of this happened. It was mentioned a few times that it was his 10th year anniversary, however that was it.

This led some of the Undertaker's fans to create an uproar over the Internet. Many said that it was dishonorable to not give him any tribute of any kind. Many said that the belt was his and that they screwed him over. And now it's my time to express an opinion or two.

First of all, I didn't really expect much fanfare regarding his 10th year anniversary in the WWF. Why, you may ask? Well, because the man's pretty humble. Well, as humble as you can be in the wrestling business. And I doubt he'd want or expect a lot of fanfare. I think he's done a lot of his celebrating by doing a few interviews that touched on his thoughts about his career. However, I think there should have been at least a small segment chroniciling his career and reiterating through the years how he's tightly woven himself into the tapestry that is the World Wrestling Federation.

And his title match is something I have a big problem with. Now, I'm not going to bitch and moan because he doesn't have the title. And as much as I love Undie, I will be the first to admit that he's lost a few steps and might not be able to regularly defend the belt. That and I doubt he made much of a deal out of not winning it, either because's so old-school and he'll put people that he feels will benefit the company as a whole.

Getting back to my beef is I have a big problem with the way the match was handled. I didn't buy the PPV but from what I read and the reports I saw, he had a good solid match with Kurt Angle. Some gave it 3 out of 4 star ratings. But that match was soiled by the ending. If they're desparate enough to want to rehash Doink v. Crush from WrestleMania IX, go right ahead. Just don't do it during this man's anniversary match. And I feel that it would have served him better justice to have a clean ending to the match; no DQ, no Eric Angle: Just a man to man match with a clean ending, even if it wasn't in Taker's favor.

So in getting back to answering my original question, I feel that they kind of dropped the ball on this one. While I didn't want to see a huge spectacle, a nice little montage wouldnt' have hurt. And his Survivor Series match wasn't handled well at all. I feel that the match should have been more old-school, at least just to honor Taker; no interference, no multiple Kurts, and most importantly, a clean finish.

 

 

Date Written: (12-8-00)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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