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shotswerefired voted for 60 images [View All]

4 years, 9 months ago

shotswerefired posted 10 images [View All]

4 years, 9 months ago

shotswerefired rated justine ouellet

justine ouellet 8/10

4 years, 9 months ago

shotswerefired added 1 item to In Praise of The Undertaker list

"Mark Calaway is probably my best friend in the business, and for the longest. In the summer of 1990, I was back from college and I was staying at my parents' house in Greenwich, Connecticut. My dad would have special talent come out to the house. Mark came walking through my dad's front door. Big, huge, but young -- no tattoos, just an alabaster glow of skin. Oh my god, he was so pale. We just hit it off. You've got two kids in their 20s, just starting in the business. And that's what our relationship would be built on: trust, respect and looking out for each other. From a physical standpoint, Mark Calaway is darn near superhuman. He should be a science experiment when it's all done. He's been through the wringer on every single thing and still has the drive to go after it. But I think that's where Mark struggles now. He's not as fast. But you can do different things and tell a different story. Mark has always been about performance. Telling a really great story. He doesn't have to jump over the top rope and fly to the floor. Excuse the pun, but what he wrestles with the most is his own personal feeling of, "Did I give a good performance?" I've seen that. I'll go back to one specific instance, at Survivor Series in 1991. It was Hulk Hogan vs. Taker for the WWE championship. Mark picked him up and then gave him the Tombstone. It was clear as day, to me, that Mark had protected Hulk, but Hulk claimed that his neck was hurting and that he was stunned for a second. I'll leave it there, whether there was any embellishment from Taker's opponent at that time. Hogan was the icon. Taker was just coming up. It wouldn't have been the first time with those older-school guys vs. the rookie. I remember Mark walking through the curtain and thinking he had let us down, that he had just messed up the Golden Goose, had screwed it up. He was so upset and distraught. That's how much he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's in the hardest match of his life right now, because it's against himself. I do understand the limitations of the body, but so much of this is in his head. Even though we sometimes don't want him to be, he is a human being. He does have feelings. He has such respect and love for the business, and specifically the fans, that he never would want to become a cliché. That would be the death blow to him. He wouldn't want an obligatory clap. He wants to earn that adulation. With "The Last Ride," it's absolutely an honor and a privilege to have the company do this for Mark Calaway. He's absolutely a singular and iconic talent. The character is just awesome, and it has grown with every generation. It's been the connective tissue [of the WWE], not only from an audience standpoint, but also linking in multiple eras of superstars. It's kind of like if Michael Jordan was still playing, and performing at a high level. What Jordan is to basketball is what Undertaker still is to the WWE. There never has been, nor will there ever be, a character like The Undertaker."

4 years, 9 months ago

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