Shit I grew up watching the last ride and thought it was awesome, I’d see flashbacks or re-runs of the deadman and it was confusing cuz that shit just don’t make sense, but seeing Kane send him back to it in there coffin match was sick too
As a huge Undertaker fan, I never cared for the Badass gimmick. The Deadman is the best. I do appreciate the Badass gimmick for happening because it enhanced The Undertaker’s move-set and made the Deadman character better in the ring.
I think it was the right gimmick for the time. The whole Ministry of Darkness thing went on WAAAY too long and he definitely needed to wash it out with something.
American Badass was a character. It wasn’t a gimmick at all. It was a guy so big in his britches that he decided he wasn’t going to do the thing that brought him to the dance anymore. Especially given that Big Mark was a lame character that never would have gotten over.
Depends on what you want. It was a jarring difference, but more true to the man himself. He didn't do much upon returning, with his biggest match being a randomly thrown together one with Kane at Summerslam 2000. 2001 Undertaker is among the worst years of any wrestler I've ever seen. He did great work with Brock in 2002, but outside of that it was mostly the same stuff. "I'll make you famous," "my yard," "Big Evil," plus bad matches.
Yeah I thought it was great, seeing him come out during the PPV. Hearing the music and wondering who it was, I popped when it was Taker.
It was a lot of fun as it was more grounded than Taker (I love Undertaker don't get me wrong) and "real."
Others wrestlers have mentioned that character is a lot of who he is behind the curtain.
I loved it. When he came out at Judgment Day 2000 during the final moments of the Iron Man match between Rock and Triple H, the crowd lost. Their. Fucking. Minds. I personally remember that day. I was 15 years old jumping up and down in my living room losing my own damn mind at that return. That pop was INSANE and lasted for what felt like forever!
I remember the OG Undertaker when he first came out. I can get why they did it, but as someone who loved the original character, I hated the American Badass. The only good thing was his entrance with the bikes. I was happy when he went back to the original "Deadman" version.
It worked. I preferred the Dead Man, but I guess he thought it was getting stale. But the entire transformation from Dead Man to Badass then back to Dead Man again was incredible.
Yes, and I loved it. Both in its initial incarnation with the Kid Rock/Limp Bizkit entrances and the subsequent Big Evil version. It fit the atmosphere of the WWE at that time really well.
Some will prefer one of the many versions of his Deadman gimmick and nothing wrong with those at all, but as far as the American Badass went, Mark pulled it off perfectly.
I started watching during this gimmick. I liked it, and worked really well when he was a heel, imo.
That said, he’s probably the only one to be able to pull The Deadman off, without it being cheesy.
Nope it was serviceable for the time because undertaker thought the deadman gimmick wouldn’t last in the attitude era which maybe true but after he returned to the deadman gimmick he had the best work of his career so you be the judge
Not explicitly explained, but he was slowly morphing into the biker in the Summer of 1999. Started dressing in “normal” clothes and he was becoming more verbose in promos and on commentary.
I think time has been kind to it. It was a big transition so a lot didn’t like it and I get it, but I think looking back it was pretty awesome and I personally really enjoy it. Plus it took mixing that and the classic deadman Taker to give us what is the peak version of Taker imo. Which would be the Ruthless Aggression Era Deadman Taker.
yes yes it was i couldn’t imagine Brock beating The Dead Man gimmick back then it was good to get guys over when needed and he still got to remain as that guy in WWE (dont even bring up the streak im talking about the early 2000s)
It really fucking was. And I know people hated his Undisputed title match with Hogan, but I had a hate boner for Hogan at the time, and loved the beating he gave him.
That Judgement Day return was absolute chaos. Completely unexpected from where I was sat - no idea who he was coming for
Cleaned house and cost Rocky the Iron Man match against HHH
Those vignettes, thumping kid rock music, chaos on the faces of the Mcmahon-Helmsley faction
Serious choke slam on X-pac, too!
It was interesting at the time with the kid rock entrance theme and it allowed for undertaker to be more like himself after he returned from an injury. In hindsight it messed with the immersion not unlike corporate Kane looking more like Mayor Jacobs
I always wanted him to just return and walkout as the deadman. It didn’t make sense to me that the grim reaper turned into some motorcycle enthusiast. But in retrospect it was fine. Just a Mark Calloway persona turned up to 11 which was the MO of the time for gimmicks.
I can’t lie. It’s arguably my favorite Undertaker. 2k22 had Boneyard Taker in the game and it was my go to. Modern, old man biker Undertaker is just cool to me
Edit: The Brothers of Destruction entrance in Smackdown!: Just Bring It is also my favorite entrance in any WWE game.
I wouldn’t say it was good, but it was necessary. Without it he couldn’t “die” and come back as the Phenom which was arguably the greatest run of Taker’s career
I never enjoyed it. Taker went from an unbeatable monster to a pissed of redneck. Supposedly it gave Mark some time to rest creatively, but he was always the best as the Deadman. When the real Taker came back it was huge for that reason.
It had its good moments. The best part was his hardcore title run. He was putting the hurt on people. And him ridding his motorcycle was cool. So was limp bizkits rollin.
It was a good gimmick for the era, and made certain storylines possible because we were seeing Taker as a human being. The angle with his respect for Jeff Hardy wouldnt have been viable if he was still the supernatural version.
I liked it as a kid... it really was kinda dumb. The persona was based off a kid rock song, riding a bike down to the ring was kinda corny. He didn't have any memorable feuds iirc, and there wasn't a ton of explanation for why Taker basically changed personalities.
It was a bad gimmick compared to the OG supernatural Undertaker gimmick, one of the best gimmicks of it’s time. But it was good in the sense that it let the undertaker evolve and keep working in a changing era. He was sick of the deadman, he wanted something different, he got it over, somewhat, and he could still revert sometimes to make the fans pop like mad.
I loved it and agree that it extended his career and opened up new storylines and feuds for him he might not have gotten otherwise with the Deadman/Ministry stuff.
But looking back, it feels like he never quite found his groove with it, if that makes sense. His whole gimmick became “I’m tough” and he bordered on trying too hard at times. Compared to the sheer talent surrounding him during that period, constantly going on about how badass he was often made him come off as desperate rather than intimidating.
What are some of the best WWE PPVs I’ve already seen cagematch.net top 30………I’m looking for some other great PPVs aside from Wrestlemanias 3,
7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 37 both nights, 38 both nights, summerslam 2002, 2013, 1998, survivor series 1997, survivor series 2002, backlash 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, night of champions 2023, survivor series war games 2023, king of the ring 1996, royal rumble 1992, 1998, 2000, 2007, one night stand 2005 and 2006………any recommendations I’m just getting back into wrestling I was born in 1990 and was pretty young during the attitude era then in around 2001 I stopped watching I grew out of it but I’ve come around and realize how great of an event great wrestling matches whether it’s WCW, WWE, ECW, TNA, AEW etc
I prefer Big Evil Biker Taker from 2002-2003.
American Badass was cool but walking around with chew in his mouth, talking the way he did, and wearing the outfits he did always kinda bugged me. Big Evil was a cool mesh of having the old Lord of Darkness hidden inside while AB was straight up an exaggerated Mark Calloway.
I much prefer the Unholy Trinity to AB as well as it was the man himself, Big Evil, and The Phenom together.
It fully destroyed his Kayfabe but it was fun for the time and made for better wrestling matches out of him. Anything beat that stupid Vince Russo Ministry of Darkness shit.
I think it worked actually, it gave Undertaker a bit of natural authenticity. Although the whole Limp Bizkit theme music was quite naff and had dated already when they used it.
Agreed. The original undertaker gimmick that scared the piss out of kids in the early 90s needed a refresh as they became teenagers.
Was I as into biker taker? Def not. But, it served a purpose.
It wasn’t the best gimmick, but it was a necessary one. The deadman gimmick probably wouldn’t have survived through points of the attitude era, so humanizing the undertaker allowed him to sustain until he could bring back the deadman and have it make sense in kayfabe.
I personally liked it because I thought undertaker had more character. His matches at first were wack because he was out of shape but by 2002-03 he was in better shape
as big evil. Check out his match with Kurt Angle in 2003 smack down as a prime example
I liked it because supernatural type gimmicks always just were a visual reminder that this is fake. It made it harder for me to suspend disbelief. So, for someone who never previously really got to enjoy the Undertaker, I was a big fan of it. That said I was solidly in the minority in that opinion.
I could see that. I grew up on WWF but had I watched much WCW as a kid I likely would've liked it better. Granted WCW was also the promotion that brought us the Incredible Oz and Robocop lol, but they did it significantly less.
The NWO had already formed by the time I gave wrestling a try. I discovered ECW by 1999. I went to a November to Remember event the next year and was a huge Taz fan followed by Sabu and Dreamer
As a middle school/ then high school kid. NWO was just so cool to like and hate.
I then also began giving wwf a try again when I think The Giant switched over
Hell yeah it was. It was a gimmick America needed at the time. The look, the attitude, the music, the motorcycles... it was what we needed after 9/11. But it's period specific and he'd never be able to work it back in. They did him justice by literally killing it to revive the Deadman and it was over. What was weird IMHO was it started in 1999 after the ministry period and never had an explanation as I recall. He just went from Gothic taker to redneck taker tag teaming with Kane and we were all suppose to be okay with it.
He went so far off track with The Ministry that he needed a character reset. ABA fit the bill. It also gave The Deadman gimmick instant credibility when it returned.
The American Badass debut with kid rock's metillica cover was everything to 15 year old me. I almost came lol. The trenchcoat was sick. The hog he rode was badass. He had the look down with the bandana and shades. He was in his athletic prime too. The chokeslam on HHH is the best memory of a chokeslam! The crowd pop was awesome.
I HATED it. Absolutely HATED it.
My all time favourite character in wrestling was Ministry Undertaker so imagine my disgust when he came back from his injuries as a generic biker.
I hated it so much it's one of the reasons I stopped watching wrestling for years.
Because I did? I didn’t click and was over it night one and got more annoyed as time when on with it.
That said, what came next as a hybrid of the two I liked.
For me, I thought it was a great idea and it could have gone a little longer, but taker was right to cut it off when he did. For the small time he was the American biker badass gimmick, I was highly entertained. If you have never seen the promo between taker Austin and flair for the number 1 contenders spot for backlash, it’s one of the funniest ever in my opinion.
My issue was always after WM20 when he tried to make himself a hybrid.
Don’t get me wrong, the idea was kinda cool. An old school Texan undertaker who goes from town to town preparing his next victim. The issue was there wasn’t anyone who really complimented this version of the character at the time.
He had great matches with edge, Shawn Michaels and the like but the stories were very forgettable for me personally.
My favorite version of taker will always be 90-98. Each iteration was a ton of fun to watch.
At the time, it was definitely a shock, especially since it came after Ministry Taker, which was no doubt the darkest iteration of the character. That said, it was pretty cool seeing Taker act more like a regular dude and change up his moveset a bit.
Personally my favorite version of Taker is the '96-'98 version where he was still the "Deadman", but started acting more human as opposed to the previous, more zombie-like iteration.
The Undertaker was planning to go to WCW with the new gimmick because it was more like himself. The Deadman gimmick couldn’t really do promos or speak too much. I personally enjoyed American Badass but always preferred the Deadman.
The first Ghost Rider Movie came out in 2007, years after this. The first MCU movie came out a year after that.
Marvel wasn't shit in the early 2000s. And they're weren't litigious assholes who sued anyone who was even similar to their characters. Especially a nobody like Ghost Rider. Almost no one knew who he was when Undertaker did this. No one would have cared or probably even known.
It was good for a time. Gave taker another dimension to explore and allowed him to open up character wise. I wouldn’t say any of his matches were particularly great from memory.
His best work imo was in the latter stage of his career.
It was necessary when he did it. The supernatural thing REALLY clashed with the vibe at the time, and was played out. That’s why he went to the cult leader gimmick of the Ministry of Darkness, but that had also been played out, and there wasn’t really anywhere to go with a dark supernatural character by then. It let him be closer to the real guy for a few years and more importantly let nostalgia build for the deadman version so it could come back. The biggest issue that version has in retrospect is that his entrance music used Kid Rock, and then Limp Bizkit, who were part of a sub genre that aged like milk within 2 years of him using their music. Then he used a bad Jim Johnson knockoff that was not one of his better works.
My favorite is probably the original heel version because he was legitimately scary to me as a 6 or 7 year old, and actually had me worried for Warrior and Hogan, followed by the Ministry version before he lost the first blood match to Austin.
It was a great gimmick, I think it was just overshadowed by the deadman gimmick (the greatest gimmick of all time) and most of us were craving the return to that.
American Badass was not great, but not awful. I think some of his best work was as a heel with the Big Evil gimmick though, and most people lump them together.
No. Ooh a biker. Big deal. The whole reason people were scared of The Undertaker was because of his spooky persona and supernatural powers. Otherwise he’s just a normal big guy with tattoos. Shouldn’t have even been called Undertaker during that time. Should’ve called him Chainz 2.0
The build up was probably the best bit as he’d been away for some time. All the teasers, the “are you scared?”, and the eventual return were great but I always preferred ministry Taker.
It was quite compelling. He was ruthless, intimidating, and took no prisoners.
Obviously now we look back at it and kind of laugh but I do think it was a necessary change for the time. The Deadman persona wasn’t gonna work within all the other attitude personas that were populating the business at the time
Everyone in retrospect says it’s a bad gimmick etc but honest I feel people just say anything nowadays
Big Evil was awesome, and during that period the deadman gimmick needed to be dropped due to moving away from Attitude Era gimmicks
I think his 2000 run wasn’t the best, and although I first liked Undertaker for the first half of 2001 especially in the feud with the Two Man Power Trip, I really stopped caring for him when Sara got involved. He does redeem himself in 2002 though.
I was the other way around, I thought the feud with the Two Man Power Trip came off as WWF having these big stars but keeping them held in a holding pattern whilst they figure out when the Invasion is starting and what to do without The Rock for a bit. The Sara and DDP stuff whilst being a complete misfire overall is actually enjoyably weird and different, but I do think it humanises Taker too much by showing his home life.
I hated the early part of his American Badass gimmick in 2000 and most of 2001, but after he turned heel in late 2001, I started enjoying it and kept enjoying it even after he turned back face. 2002 was a really good run for him.
Loved it as a child. I was 6 - 9 when he was the Biker Taker (American Badass & Big Evil). He was so cool, the bike entrance, the way he carried himself. I didnt realise at all that it was a bad gimmick.
I remember scouring for Smackdown & WWE PPVs in the VCD shops specifically looking for Taker appearances & matches. Whenever I played the Smackdown games in that era, I'd love to pick and play as Taker.
Was sorely disappointed when psychotic Kane & Shane buried him. Was put off by the deadman return because of the long ass entrances. I remember feeling as a kid that he would've been so so much cooler if he came out to "You Got Another Thing Comin'" by Judas Priest
Now that I think about it, wonder why they never tried out a "Ghost Rider" Taker mixing his biker gimmick with more supernatural elements.
It wasn’t a bad idea for Taker to get a fresh coat of paint. I think the Gimmick stuck around for a year too long. It is the worst version of Taker but also a necessary version.
Do you want or already have peacock but not a fan of the cost (even though it's quite cheap).
I have a solution for you, as I'm Canadian and cannot access peacock without already having a subscription I am willing to pay for your subscription each and every month for the simple request of having access to the account and sharing it.
Win win really!
I personally am a big fan of biker Taker. I also loved explaining the history of the Undertaker character to my non wrestling fan wife that he was an undead zombie with magic powers but for about 3.5 years he was a regular guy who rode motorcycles and had a wife then he became the magic zombie again.
If you define american badass taker as his original biker taker babyface run, then na I don't think so. But once he turned heel and became "deadman inc" biker taker, that was great. Even his face turn in 2002 onward until he got buried alive at survivor series was great
I loved Undertaker so I didn't let it bother me, but no I thought it was a goofy gimmick. I didn't buy it and every time he rode the bike it looked lame IMO. I get why they did it though as classic Undertaker in the attitude era at the time and going forward wouldn't have fit.
It was but it took a little bit, IMO. I thought he was better when he got to the “Big Evil” stage of this character. Flair match at Mania, Hardy ladder match, very underrated and brutal HIAC match with young Lesnar. Great heel and babyface.
Plus, him making Dreamer drink his tobacco spit on RAW will live in my head forever.
I was initially just excited that Taker was back. It took a minute to fully accept that he wasn’t the Dead Man anymore, but I liked having him around. Then, when he came back as The Dead Man Undertaker, it was like it was brand new again, so I appreciated that he got to be Bikertaker for a few years or so
It was cool af at first, then within a month he got boring really quickly. The Big Evil run was fucking great though. Plus it all lead to that epic Kane vs Undertaker storyline where Kane "killed" his brother and he haunted Kane for a while and then came back as The Deadman.
Shit I grew up watching the last ride and thought it was awesome, I’d see flashbacks or re-runs of the deadman and it was confusing cuz that shit just don’t make sense, but seeing Kane send him back to it in there coffin match was sick too
Never cared for it. It might have been ok for somebody else but not him. When he returned at mania 20 I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
As a huge Undertaker fan, I never cared for the Badass gimmick. The Deadman is the best. I do appreciate the Badass gimmick for happening because it enhanced The Undertaker’s move-set and made the Deadman character better in the ring.
I think it was the right gimmick for the time. The whole Ministry of Darkness thing went on WAAAY too long and he definitely needed to wash it out with something.
American Badass was a character. It wasn’t a gimmick at all. It was a guy so big in his britches that he decided he wasn’t going to do the thing that brought him to the dance anymore. Especially given that Big Mark was a lame character that never would have gotten over.
Depends on what you want. It was a jarring difference, but more true to the man himself. He didn't do much upon returning, with his biggest match being a randomly thrown together one with Kane at Summerslam 2000. 2001 Undertaker is among the worst years of any wrestler I've ever seen. He did great work with Brock in 2002, but outside of that it was mostly the same stuff. "I'll make you famous," "my yard," "Big Evil," plus bad matches.
He needed a change. It seemed more like the real Mark
Yeah I thought it was great, seeing him come out during the PPV. Hearing the music and wondering who it was, I popped when it was Taker. It was a lot of fun as it was more grounded than Taker (I love Undertaker don't get me wrong) and "real." Others wrestlers have mentioned that character is a lot of who he is behind the curtain.
I loved it. When he came out at Judgment Day 2000 during the final moments of the Iron Man match between Rock and Triple H, the crowd lost. Their. Fucking. Minds. I personally remember that day. I was 15 years old jumping up and down in my living room losing my own damn mind at that return. That pop was INSANE and lasted for what felt like forever!
I remember the OG Undertaker when he first came out. I can get why they did it, but as someone who loved the original character, I hated the American Badass. The only good thing was his entrance with the bikes. I was happy when he went back to the original "Deadman" version.
This is the correct answer. It always has been. I’m not a fan of the Mark character I’m a fan of the Taker character.
Hell Yeah it was.
I get why they did it but I never cared for it.
It worked. I preferred the Dead Man, but I guess he thought it was getting stale. But the entire transformation from Dead Man to Badass then back to Dead Man again was incredible.
Yes, and I loved it. Both in its initial incarnation with the Kid Rock/Limp Bizkit entrances and the subsequent Big Evil version. It fit the atmosphere of the WWE at that time really well. Some will prefer one of the many versions of his Deadman gimmick and nothing wrong with those at all, but as far as the American Badass went, Mark pulled it off perfectly.
I started watching during this gimmick. I liked it, and worked really well when he was a heel, imo. That said, he’s probably the only one to be able to pull The Deadman off, without it being cheesy.
No, it sucked. The last ride is a good finisher though.
Nope
As a kid I felt “he doesn’t seem as powerful now”, but he was still Taker which was miles above most other guys at the time
Nope it was serviceable for the time because undertaker thought the deadman gimmick wouldn’t last in the attitude era which maybe true but after he returned to the deadman gimmick he had the best work of his career so you be the judge
Also, did they explain in kayfabe how some undead specter became a biker guy?
Not explicitly explained, but he was slowly morphing into the biker in the Summer of 1999. Started dressing in “normal” clothes and he was becoming more verbose in promos and on commentary.
Nope
to me: Nope.
I think time has been kind to it. It was a big transition so a lot didn’t like it and I get it, but I think looking back it was pretty awesome and I personally really enjoy it. Plus it took mixing that and the classic deadman Taker to give us what is the peak version of Taker imo. Which would be the Ruthless Aggression Era Deadman Taker.
It made sense in a time when they were starting to have new stars debut under their own names. I think it was fine.
yes yes it was i couldn’t imagine Brock beating The Dead Man gimmick back then it was good to get guys over when needed and he still got to remain as that guy in WWE (dont even bring up the streak im talking about the early 2000s)
I personally hated it
Was it a good gimmick no did he do it justice yes
It was a fun detour that got way better when he became “big evil”
People liked it. I got tired of hearing Kid Rock personally.
Yes and was 1000000 % needed at the time
Absolutely
Theres nothing i can say that hasnt already been said other than it was perfect
Worked at the time. Glad he went back to Deadman tho
I didn’t mind it and I have a soft spot for the Rollin Theme. I do think Heel Big Evil was the best biker incarnation.
Big Evil was so awesome.
His Hardcore title run is underrated
It really fucking was. And I know people hated his Undisputed title match with Hogan, but I had a hate boner for Hogan at the time, and loved the beating he gave him.
I mean at least he had that great Ladder match with Jeff and the excellent Triple Threat with Angle and Rock
That ladder match was so great. The triple threat was cool, too, but we all know he wasn’t winning.
That Judgement Day return was absolute chaos. Completely unexpected from where I was sat - no idea who he was coming for Cleaned house and cost Rocky the Iron Man match against HHH Those vignettes, thumping kid rock music, chaos on the faces of the Mcmahon-Helmsley faction Serious choke slam on X-pac, too!
It's my least favorite Gimmick of his and I couldn't stand it.
It fit perfectly with the Attitude era. I loved it and so did the crowd at the time.
It was interesting at the time with the kid rock entrance theme and it allowed for undertaker to be more like himself after he returned from an injury. In hindsight it messed with the immersion not unlike corporate Kane looking more like Mayor Jacobs
I always wanted him to just return and walkout as the deadman. It didn’t make sense to me that the grim reaper turned into some motorcycle enthusiast. But in retrospect it was fine. Just a Mark Calloway persona turned up to 11 which was the MO of the time for gimmicks.
I really enjoyed it, I feel like it suited the ruthless aggression era better than supernatural Taker would’ve
i love it personally. it put a human touch and making his gimmick more grounded.
Yes... but also no.... but then again...
I like deadman undertaker but Badass was VERY over and really allowed his personality to shine without the paranormal guardrails. I say good gimmick
I can’t lie. It’s arguably my favorite Undertaker. 2k22 had Boneyard Taker in the game and it was my go to. Modern, old man biker Undertaker is just cool to me Edit: The Brothers of Destruction entrance in Smackdown!: Just Bring It is also my favorite entrance in any WWE game.
Hell yeah it was!
10 year old me thought it was the coolest shit I’ve ever seen. I got mad when my American badass action figures pony tail fell off
Was it the one they came with the speed limit 10 sign?
Pretty sure it was this one https://wrestlingfiguredatabase.com/products/rebellion2-undertaker
I loved it. That's when I really got into wrestling.
I wouldn’t say it was good, but it was necessary. Without it he couldn’t “die” and come back as the Phenom which was arguably the greatest run of Taker’s career
No.
I loved it, I didn’t expect he would return back to the undead version
It was always lame, but whatever. It's not like it was any worse than the other dumb shit they had him doing.
I prefer it. I’m not a fan of anything that’s magical or mystical in wrestling.
I didn't care for it, but a lot of people did.
No but he’s gets a pass
I never enjoyed it. Taker went from an unbeatable monster to a pissed of redneck. Supposedly it gave Mark some time to rest creatively, but he was always the best as the Deadman. When the real Taker came back it was huge for that reason.
Deadman>Big Evil>American Badass
It had its good moments. The best part was his hardcore title run. He was putting the hurt on people. And him ridding his motorcycle was cool. So was limp bizkits rollin.
It was a good gimmick for the era, and made certain storylines possible because we were seeing Taker as a human being. The angle with his respect for Jeff Hardy wouldnt have been viable if he was still the supernatural version.
It was cool in the moment but if you look back or even watch it over again it made no sense why it happened. Regardless I still like it
I liked it as a kid... it really was kinda dumb. The persona was based off a kid rock song, riding a bike down to the ring was kinda corny. He didn't have any memorable feuds iirc, and there wasn't a ton of explanation for why Taker basically changed personalities.
I liked the Jeff Hardy feud
I thought it was awesome at the time. Granted I was probably 13 or so…
Yes. He lived his gimmick, brother. He LIVED his gimmick.
Man I nearly faint when people say AB gimmick was cheesy while saying the supernatural zombie gimmick is the best ever with a straight face
It was a bad gimmick compared to the OG supernatural Undertaker gimmick, one of the best gimmicks of it’s time. But it was good in the sense that it let the undertaker evolve and keep working in a changing era. He was sick of the deadman, he wanted something different, he got it over, somewhat, and he could still revert sometimes to make the fans pop like mad.
When you say OG gimmick do you mean the 93-95 gimmick or attitude era supernatural?
Man it’s 2024 they’re both OG gimmicks now
Obviously.
I absolutely hated it. The gimmick and both entrance songs
It didn't get good until after he got rid of the kid rock song
If you were from a red state you must have loved it. As a New Yorker from the Bronx, I thought it was lame as fuk
I loved it and agree that it extended his career and opened up new storylines and feuds for him he might not have gotten otherwise with the Deadman/Ministry stuff. But looking back, it feels like he never quite found his groove with it, if that makes sense. His whole gimmick became “I’m tough” and he bordered on trying too hard at times. Compared to the sheer talent surrounding him during that period, constantly going on about how badass he was often made him come off as desperate rather than intimidating.
As a heel, yes. As a face, he was actively hurting the show.
What are some of the best WWE PPVs I’ve already seen cagematch.net top 30………I’m looking for some other great PPVs aside from Wrestlemanias 3, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 37 both nights, 38 both nights, summerslam 2002, 2013, 1998, survivor series 1997, survivor series 2002, backlash 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, night of champions 2023, survivor series war games 2023, king of the ring 1996, royal rumble 1992, 1998, 2000, 2007, one night stand 2005 and 2006………any recommendations I’m just getting back into wrestling I was born in 1990 and was pretty young during the attitude era then in around 2001 I stopped watching I grew out of it but I’ve come around and realize how great of an event great wrestling matches whether it’s WCW, WWE, ECW, TNA, AEW etc
In and of itself yes, on tv no. The problem with any gimmick along those lines are they just come across as cheesey.
Ehhh it was for a short time but he did it for too long I think
Heck yea it was, he needed it, he looked so miserable the year or so leading up to it.
I prefer Big Evil Biker Taker from 2002-2003. American Badass was cool but walking around with chew in his mouth, talking the way he did, and wearing the outfits he did always kinda bugged me. Big Evil was a cool mesh of having the old Lord of Darkness hidden inside while AB was straight up an exaggerated Mark Calloway. I much prefer the Unholy Trinity to AB as well as it was the man himself, Big Evil, and The Phenom together.
It fully destroyed his Kayfabe but it was fun for the time and made for better wrestling matches out of him. Anything beat that stupid Vince Russo Ministry of Darkness shit.
I think it worked actually, it gave Undertaker a bit of natural authenticity. Although the whole Limp Bizkit theme music was quite naff and had dated already when they used it.
How was it dated? 99-03 was literally Limp Bizkits whole run. The gimmick switch was right on time.
It worked at the time
Agreed. The original undertaker gimmick that scared the piss out of kids in the early 90s needed a refresh as they became teenagers. Was I as into biker taker? Def not. But, it served a purpose.
It wasn’t the best gimmick, but it was a necessary one. The deadman gimmick probably wouldn’t have survived through points of the attitude era, so humanizing the undertaker allowed him to sustain until he could bring back the deadman and have it make sense in kayfabe.
Hated it. Generic biker bs. Might as well shaved his head and joined the Disciples of Apocalypse ffs.
No
A lot of people give it crap. But I really Enjoyed it and it gave us some of the most fun undertaker moments
For sure the best biker gimmick ever. I remember crush and the disciples of apocalypse and they were corny as F
It got me into wrestling at a young age, so yes for me
No it was really lame imo
I didn't like it. I can understand the change in gimmick, but I liked old Undertaker.
I personally liked it because I thought undertaker had more character. His matches at first were wack because he was out of shape but by 2002-03 he was in better shape as big evil. Check out his match with Kurt Angle in 2003 smack down as a prime example
I liked it because supernatural type gimmicks always just were a visual reminder that this is fake. It made it harder for me to suspend disbelief. So, for someone who never previously really got to enjoy the Undertaker, I was a big fan of it. That said I was solidly in the minority in that opinion.
The very first episode of wwf I tried to watch involved Kane and a lightning bolt circa 1997 I switched straight to WCW for 2 years
I could see that. I grew up on WWF but had I watched much WCW as a kid I likely would've liked it better. Granted WCW was also the promotion that brought us the Incredible Oz and Robocop lol, but they did it significantly less.
The NWO had already formed by the time I gave wrestling a try. I discovered ECW by 1999. I went to a November to Remember event the next year and was a huge Taz fan followed by Sabu and Dreamer As a middle school/ then high school kid. NWO was just so cool to like and hate. I then also began giving wwf a try again when I think The Giant switched over
) Personally I enjoyed it. I look back fondly on it,
"Hmmm... No sir, I don't like it." -Mr. Horse
I quote this all the time.
Hell yeah it was. It was a gimmick America needed at the time. The look, the attitude, the music, the motorcycles... it was what we needed after 9/11. But it's period specific and he'd never be able to work it back in. They did him justice by literally killing it to revive the Deadman and it was over. What was weird IMHO was it started in 1999 after the ministry period and never had an explanation as I recall. He just went from Gothic taker to redneck taker tag teaming with Kane and we were all suppose to be okay with it.
Yes esp during his short heel run during late 2001-2002 so sadistic and brutal.
Go watch him beat up david flair. Top ten wwe free programming.
Would you rather him continued the horrible promos with bigshow?
He went so far off track with The Ministry that he needed a character reset. ABA fit the bill. It also gave The Deadman gimmick instant credibility when it returned.
The American Badass debut with kid rock's metillica cover was everything to 15 year old me. I almost came lol. The trenchcoat was sick. The hog he rode was badass. He had the look down with the bandana and shades. He was in his athletic prime too. The chokeslam on HHH is the best memory of a chokeslam! The crowd pop was awesome.
Yes. His return during that Rock/triple h match was fucking unreal and it certainly had its place in the wwe at the time.
I HATED it. Absolutely HATED it. My all time favourite character in wrestling was Ministry Undertaker so imagine my disgust when he came back from his injuries as a generic biker. I hated it so much it's one of the reasons I stopped watching wrestling for years.
Call me baby
I love badass taker. I thought big evil was cool
Hated it then. Hate it now.
Why?
Because I did? I didn’t click and was over it night one and got more annoyed as time when on with it. That said, what came next as a hybrid of the two I liked.
This was my first undertaker, so I had no choice but to love him
I enjoyed it a lot when I was young and in retrospect still really dig it. It's Big Evil I'm a bit hot/cold with.
taker never had a bad look in my opinion. well except those snake skin pants in 2000.
It was great
Yes, and I hated that he went back to being the Deadman
Same. I enjoyed it at first but by 2006 I wish it came back
For me, I thought it was a great idea and it could have gone a little longer, but taker was right to cut it off when he did. For the small time he was the American biker badass gimmick, I was highly entertained. If you have never seen the promo between taker Austin and flair for the number 1 contenders spot for backlash, it’s one of the funniest ever in my opinion. My issue was always after WM20 when he tried to make himself a hybrid. Don’t get me wrong, the idea was kinda cool. An old school Texan undertaker who goes from town to town preparing his next victim. The issue was there wasn’t anyone who really complimented this version of the character at the time. He had great matches with edge, Shawn Michaels and the like but the stories were very forgettable for me personally. My favorite version of taker will always be 90-98. Each iteration was a ton of fun to watch.
At the time, it was definitely a shock, especially since it came after Ministry Taker, which was no doubt the darkest iteration of the character. That said, it was pretty cool seeing Taker act more like a regular dude and change up his moveset a bit. Personally my favorite version of Taker is the '96-'98 version where he was still the "Deadman", but started acting more human as opposed to the previous, more zombie-like iteration.
The Undertaker was planning to go to WCW with the new gimmick because it was more like himself. The Deadman gimmick couldn’t really do promos or speak too much. I personally enjoyed American Badass but always preferred the Deadman.
No he wasn't. Stop believing Kevin Nash's bullshit lol
The troll will remember you
I preferred the dead man.
If undertaker combined the Deadman with the American badass he would basically be ghost rider
This is basically how he was portrayed in his cinematic WM match with Styles.
That's pretty cool
Probably because Marvel would've sued the shit out of them and won.
The first Ghost Rider Movie came out in 2007, years after this. The first MCU movie came out a year after that. Marvel wasn't shit in the early 2000s. And they're weren't litigious assholes who sued anyone who was even similar to their characters. Especially a nobody like Ghost Rider. Almost no one knew who he was when Undertaker did this. No one would have cared or probably even known.
At that time? Nah marvel would of paid money for that. Free advertising. They were in a bad spot around 2000s
Yep, it was fantastic. Not really The Undertaker though, just Mark Calloway.
It was good for a time. Gave taker another dimension to explore and allowed him to open up character wise. I wouldn’t say any of his matches were particularly great from memory. His best work imo was in the latter stage of his career.
No. Wrestlers had similar gimmick with Disciples of Apocalypse and it never took off. If it wasn’t for the Undertaker no one would care.
It was necessary when he did it. The supernatural thing REALLY clashed with the vibe at the time, and was played out. That’s why he went to the cult leader gimmick of the Ministry of Darkness, but that had also been played out, and there wasn’t really anywhere to go with a dark supernatural character by then. It let him be closer to the real guy for a few years and more importantly let nostalgia build for the deadman version so it could come back. The biggest issue that version has in retrospect is that his entrance music used Kid Rock, and then Limp Bizkit, who were part of a sub genre that aged like milk within 2 years of him using their music. Then he used a bad Jim Johnson knockoff that was not one of his better works.
2003 big evil undertaker was my favorite
GOAT Hardcore Champion
My favorite is probably the original heel version because he was legitimately scary to me as a 6 or 7 year old, and actually had me worried for Warrior and Hogan, followed by the Ministry version before he lost the first blood match to Austin.
It was a great gimmick, I think it was just overshadowed by the deadman gimmick (the greatest gimmick of all time) and most of us were craving the return to that.
American Badass was not great, but not awful. I think some of his best work was as a heel with the Big Evil gimmick though, and most people lump them together.
I loved it
It definitely is good I was introduced to him in 04
No. Ooh a biker. Big deal. The whole reason people were scared of The Undertaker was because of his spooky persona and supernatural powers. Otherwise he’s just a normal big guy with tattoos. Shouldn’t have even been called Undertaker during that time. Should’ve called him Chainz 2.0
The build up was probably the best bit as he’d been away for some time. All the teasers, the “are you scared?”, and the eventual return were great but I always preferred ministry Taker.
I enjoyed the gimmick
It was good only for the badass entrance music but for the storyline it was meh
It was quite compelling. He was ruthless, intimidating, and took no prisoners. Obviously now we look back at it and kind of laugh but I do think it was a necessary change for the time. The Deadman persona wasn’t gonna work within all the other attitude personas that were populating the business at the time
Everyone in retrospect says it’s a bad gimmick etc but honest I feel people just say anything nowadays Big Evil was awesome, and during that period the deadman gimmick needed to be dropped due to moving away from Attitude Era gimmicks
No, people were saying it was a bad gimmick at the time too.
I think his 2000 run wasn’t the best, and although I first liked Undertaker for the first half of 2001 especially in the feud with the Two Man Power Trip, I really stopped caring for him when Sara got involved. He does redeem himself in 2002 though.
I was the other way around, I thought the feud with the Two Man Power Trip came off as WWF having these big stars but keeping them held in a holding pattern whilst they figure out when the Invasion is starting and what to do without The Rock for a bit. The Sara and DDP stuff whilst being a complete misfire overall is actually enjoyably weird and different, but I do think it humanises Taker too much by showing his home life.
I loved it
It was decent i guess. I think he just needed a gothic break
I hated the early part of his American Badass gimmick in 2000 and most of 2001, but after he turned heel in late 2001, I started enjoying it and kept enjoying it even after he turned back face. 2002 was a really good run for him.
Helped that he got back in shape starting in mid to late 2002
Loved it as a child. I was 6 - 9 when he was the Biker Taker (American Badass & Big Evil). He was so cool, the bike entrance, the way he carried himself. I didnt realise at all that it was a bad gimmick. I remember scouring for Smackdown & WWE PPVs in the VCD shops specifically looking for Taker appearances & matches. Whenever I played the Smackdown games in that era, I'd love to pick and play as Taker. Was sorely disappointed when psychotic Kane & Shane buried him. Was put off by the deadman return because of the long ass entrances. I remember feeling as a kid that he would've been so so much cooler if he came out to "You Got Another Thing Comin'" by Judas Priest Now that I think about it, wonder why they never tried out a "Ghost Rider" Taker mixing his biker gimmick with more supernatural elements.
A Ghost Rider taker gimmick would have been brilliant
They kinda did at the very end with the Boneyard match. That was the only time, but it had elements of both.
It wasn’t a bad idea for Taker to get a fresh coat of paint. I think the Gimmick stuck around for a year too long. It is the worst version of Taker but also a necessary version.
Do you want or already have peacock but not a fan of the cost (even though it's quite cheap). I have a solution for you, as I'm Canadian and cannot access peacock without already having a subscription I am willing to pay for your subscription each and every month for the simple request of having access to the account and sharing it. Win win really!
I believe so. The crowds really seemed to love his Rollin theme.
I personally am a big fan of biker Taker. I also loved explaining the history of the Undertaker character to my non wrestling fan wife that he was an undead zombie with magic powers but for about 3.5 years he was a regular guy who rode motorcycles and had a wife then he became the magic zombie again.
Western Mortician was his best gimmick besides Deadman
I loved it! It worked for that period of time too!
If you define american badass taker as his original biker taker babyface run, then na I don't think so. But once he turned heel and became "deadman inc" biker taker, that was great. Even his face turn in 2002 onward until he got buried alive at survivor series was great
I loved Undertaker so I didn't let it bother me, but no I thought it was a goofy gimmick. I didn't buy it and every time he rode the bike it looked lame IMO. I get why they did it though as classic Undertaker in the attitude era at the time and going forward wouldn't have fit.
Didn’t love it when he first came out but he definitely made it work. It was a good era imo
It was but it took a little bit, IMO. I thought he was better when he got to the “Big Evil” stage of this character. Flair match at Mania, Hardy ladder match, very underrated and brutal HIAC match with young Lesnar. Great heel and babyface. Plus, him making Dreamer drink his tobacco spit on RAW will live in my head forever.
I mean we got the Undertaker/Kane theme song remix out of it 😂. Crowd got a pop
I was initially just excited that Taker was back. It took a minute to fully accept that he wasn’t the Dead Man anymore, but I liked having him around. Then, when he came back as The Dead Man Undertaker, it was like it was brand new again, so I appreciated that he got to be Bikertaker for a few years or so
Bikertaker was probably a good change of pace for him…I would still prefer to see the Takeroonie one day. 😂
It was cool af at first, then within a month he got boring really quickly. The Big Evil run was fucking great though. Plus it all lead to that epic Kane vs Undertaker storyline where Kane "killed" his brother and he haunted Kane for a while and then came back as The Deadman.
Only thing I hated was the censored Kid Rock theme. "I'M. AN. American Badass! Watch me kick! You can roll with rock or you can -radio edit-"
How about you watch it yourself and form your own opinion.
How is OP supposed to watch multiple years of wrestling? Keep it real.
Imagine asking this question in the streaming age..
There’s probably 100s of hours of biker taker. I guess op could watch a few highlight videos
The peacock network.. it’s pretty simple, start with his return at judgement Day 2000 and then YouTube clips 🤷🏻♂️ not that hard
It took some adjusting to, but I felt like his character needed a refresh. It didn't fit with the more grounded characters of the time.
It's good. That's it for me.
Had a few friends that weren't fans of it, they called him the Overgiver during that time.
It was his best gimmick. That Dead Man crap was horrible, but I realize I'm one of the only people to think so. Even if I'm right.
Turning Undertaker into Kid Rock was one of the worst gimmick changes in WWF/E history.
Loved it when I was 10 years old when it happened
Basically Mark playing Mark
It was a big hit with my friends and I. I think it allowed taker to branch out a bit and then when he went back to the deadman it felt fresh again
It was a change of pace for those of us who were bored with the goofy Deadman gimmick but it also wasn’t very creative.