The Commentary: A Casket Kills The Match, Not The Streak

I have taken a lot of pride over the past several years of being the ultimate optimist when it comes to professional wrestling, especially on this website.

I sat through the atrocity that was WWE from mid-2010 through early-2011, and still held out hope that there was going to be some salvation in The Nexus or that there was a purpose to David Otunga main eventing “Monday Night Raw” against John Cena. I tried to buy into Lord Tensai as a major player, even with rice being thrown up in the air after he left the entranceway. I’ve even attempted to buy into the undercard for WrestleMania XXX, one that looks like it will be among the worst of the past several Manias (and that’s a bold statement giving the last three).

But man. I’ve lost about all my optimism with the upcoming match between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar at the Superdome.

WWE’s build towards what will ultimately be the match that makes the dead man 22-0 has been absolutely baffling. Let me begin with this: I have no problem with the booking being based around Lesnar wanting to beat the streak. Wanting to beat the streak is comparable, at this stage, to wanting to win the world title. This is not the issue.

But Paul Heyman says it every week. Brock Lesnar is the Beast Incarnate. He is a former legitimate world champion in a sport where your physical attributes set you aside from the rest of the pack. He can crack a man’s arm at a moment’s notice, and probably would have broken Batman more than Bane did in The Dark Knight Rises.

So why is he struggling with a 49-year-old man?

I get it. WWE tries to sell Lesnar’s fears on not the man in the ring, but the demonic, supernatural character that is The Undertaker. This was extremely evident by having him scared of the casket that opened and getting run off, thrown over the box and retreating up the ramp. But does this make any sense at all?

CM Punk is significantly smaller in stature to Lesnar. Last year, Punk’s WrestleMania feud with Taker was built around humanizing the gimmick. Punk and Heyman showed no fear in making a mockery of Taker’s connection to Paul Bearer and Bearer’s death, trying to display the human element that The Undertaker rarely ever displays.

It’s the complete opposite for a man that should show no fear at all. The feud that’s been presented on television has given little reason for any of us to have any reason to believe Lesnar is a legitimate challenge to the legendary streak, and that while the match will be of quality, will be nothing more than a footnote.

WWE is trying to sell the taco shell without any of the meat.

For me, with these Undertaker matches, as long as the match was good, I was happy. I never believed Triple H had a shot at beating him, but I knew the two would put on a storytelling clinic. I had confidence that him and Punk would put on a show-stealer last year, and they did. But the introduction of a wooden box last night put this year’s streak match into high vulnerability.

The best part of streak matches over the past several WrestleMania’s has been the false finish. WrestleMania 25’s clinic between Taker and Shawn Michaels showcased some of the best false finishes wrestling has ever seen, and it garnered a genuine reaction from the crowd in attendance. WrestleMania 27 saw Triple H put The Undertaker in the Tombstone Piledriver, igniting the Georgia Dome on fire. The next year’s bout even teased the ultimate backstabbing of Shawn Michaels hitting Sweet Chin Music into a Triple H Pedigree, a spot that, in my opinion, is the closest I ever came to believing he actually could lose at Mania. The same can even be said on the other perspective, with Punk kicking out of the Tombstone off the GTS in the Meadowlands.

But now, it appears at least, WrestleMania XXX will feature a casket match between Lesnar and Taker. All the winner has to do is roll his opponent into the casket and close the top. And this is about the worst possible scenario there can be for a guy who’s legacy hangs on the nail of the dramatics.

Imagine the reaction that would result in Undertaker attempting not to tap to the Kimura Lock, as the New Orleans crowd willed the walking dead through the pain. Think about Lesnar kicking out of a Tombstone out of nowhere, slaying the beast. With a casket match, we get none of that. The climax of the match will be based off Heyman trying to help Lesnar close the top, trying to cheat. Maybe they even do, and the referee throws Heyman out for cheating.

Does that sell this match though, one that WWE has already struggled majorly to do so? Hardly.

Many will blame this stipulation on the fact that Undertaker cannot handle the physicality of a Lesnar match, and if that’s the case, then the company made the wrong decision in pairing these two together. Why put two people who can’t work with one another, for whatever the reason, in the ring together and sell it as one of the main events of the biggest show of the year? If it’s just a matter of trying to mix things up, then they picked the wrong scenario.

Don’t get me wrong, I do anticipate enjoying the match because they are two of my favorite performers and are great at telling a story. But the buildup to this, as Doug McDonald notes in his podcast, has been ridiculous. And I have little investment in this, which should never be the case for a streak match.

The Undertaker will defeat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX. People will pop, and many will enjoy the match. But whereas it is normally a roller coaster ride getting to the showdown, this feels more like a ride on a Segway.

Hey, to be fair, Undertaker may need one to take out to the ring next year to face Sting in California.

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