For Whom The Bell Tolls

For Whom The Bell Tolls

By: Matt Lingerfelt 

Can it be true? Can this really be happening?? The Undertaker has returned. Finally the Deadman has come back to seek vengeance on Brock Lesnar for breaking his undefeated streak… and it’s not even WrestleMania. Can this really be happening? What does this mean??

Unfortunately, I think it means that the never-ending rumors of The Undertaker retiring might actually be coming true this time. For the past few years leading up to WrestleMania, rumors would start about how this will be his last match. And to be honest, after his last fight with Lesnar at WrestleMania 30, I was afraid that it might have been. Not because the streak was over, but because of the physical toll that it took on him. Considering he only wrestles about once a year, that was concerning.

So here we are, less than thirty days before SummerSlam and we are watching Taker come back to television to set up a match with Lesnar, which was outstanding by the way. It was an old school brawl that needed the whole locker room to keep them apart. I was standing up yelling at the television and enjoying the whole thing. It was great!!!

But this made me think, why now? Why is he coming back so early and not at WrestleMania? I believe what we are starting to see is the “Last Ride” of the Undertaker. He’s finishing up what needs to be done with Lesnar and setting up his final match at WrestleMania 32, in Texas.  But who is going to be fighting him in his last match? To be honest I think we all know who it’s going to be.

Sting vs Undertaker…. The fans have been calling for this match ever since Sting decided to come to WWE. It makes perfect sense. There’s no one left for Undertaker to beat. He already finished the streak (which I still disagree with). He has “pass the torch”, so to speak, to Bray Wyatt as the one who will carry on with the “supernatural” gimmick.  He already has faced HHH in a match that was billed to be the End of an Era at WM28. So it makes perfect sense. Sting would still be considered an outsider by most WWE fans. He is the only person who is still “active” who would have the respect from the fans and performers to allow for Taker to end his career with.

One other aspect to consider too is that Sting stayed with WCW all the way to the end. He never left, and the fans respected him for that. But so did Taker, he could have left WWE during the Monday Night Wars and gone to WCW to make MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars. But he didn’t, and I believe that is why he receives as much respect from the fans and WWE.

This may be the Last Ride for the Deadman, and that makes me sad. But it may also be the best ride yet.  So when he’s on television watch it, enjoy it, and remember it. Grab your kids and say, “hey that’s the Undertaker and he’s the last of the old school”. Cause there’s no one left who can raise the hair’s on the back of your neck quite like the one for whom the bell tolls.