You had to keep kayfabe to be a fan of the Matt Hardy stuff. He didn't ruin it he was trying to bring it back. Do you think Undertaker is really a zombie mortician? No but through kayfabe you accept the character for what it is. Kayfabe is about keeping with the character/story and that is what WWE has done with particular story. They don't seem to be able to do it with their current talent though.

I agree and Becky works best in that grey area but WWE presents her as a bad guy on TV. WWE themselves ignore the reactions that fans give so why should I care about them?

And what great story were they telling in that main event? Here's how the story seemed to me. And I'm going to talk completely from a point keeping kayfabe in tact:

Tripe H and Undertaker had a match seven and a half years ago (rife with shennanigans, and plenty of Shawn Micahels action) while both of the legendary competitors were nearing the end of their careers, but they still had something left in the tank. Something that was to all be left in the ring, and something that was to signify "The End of an Era". The match was incredible, and a fitting end to a storied rivalry. One people will speak of forever.

Fast forward to a month ago or so, and the two are scheduled to wrestle AGAIN for...I dunno, they never really said what for. They just said it was going to happen, even though Triple H wears a suit to work every day and the Undertaker has lost twice at Wrestlemania between near death experiences and hip replacements, or whatever the fuck. This match is billed as "The Last Time Ever". They have the match (rife with shennanigans, and plenty of Shawn Michaels action), but at least one of the competitors is in piss shape, and much of the match is spent with both competitors taking very long rests.

Now we're scheduled for those same people from The End of an Era who had already been in the ring together for The Last Time Ever to be involved in yet another match with a man who SWORE HE WOULD NEVER COME OUT OF RETIREMENT and a WELL PAST HIS PRIME brother who refuses to GET A FUCKING HAIRCUT.

Don't talk to me about ruining kayfabe.

I didn't see all the Shawn Michaels shenanigans you say. The way I seen it was they teased Taker/Shawn with Shawn not really wanting to get involved until he seen fit. Shawn didn't have alot to do with the match until the finish. HHH and Undertaker put on a great match and that's what made the show of respect form HHH and Shawn mean so much before Taker and Kane took them out. That was one of the best matches I've seen this year and I watch alot of wrestling.

How's this for a story?

Cedric Alexander has been scratching and clawing to get into WWE his whole career. He sees an opportunity in a Cruiserweight Classic tournament that he has to lose twenty pounds to even be eligible to compete in. He comes up short in the quarterfinals, but his impressive performance encourages the entire audience to chant "HIRE CEDRIC" so loud that the boss has no choice but to come out and acknowledge him with a hand raise. His dreams come true as he does get hired, and after a fairly long wrong, he captures the Cruiserweight title at Wrestlemania in a match against his good friend. He defends that championship valiantly on a regular basis and is UNDEFEATED in the year 2018, widely heralded as the most fighting Cruiserweight champion in its short history.

On the other side, you see Buddy Murphy, a man who saw very early success in the start of his WWE career, capturing tag gold with Wesley Blake and having a good run. After that run however, he was shoved to the side and all but forgotten about, though his talent was undeniable. Seeing an opportunity to capture glory again, Murphy gets in the best shape of his life and cuts weight to join the 205 Live roster as it's "Best Kept Secret". He goes on a tear, toppling foe after foe in an attempt to capture the Cruiserweight championship, ultimately falling JUST a bit short on a couple opportunities, most notably against current champion, Cedric Alexander. With a fire that has never left his belly, he secures a number one contendership on a show in his HOME TOWN that the company hasn't had a televised show in thirteen years. The entire country is on his back, so it's now or never.

That's simple. That's effective. Both men are in the best shape of their careers. It's that easy.

But marks like you would rather see Kane in a wig.

Why did Shawn HAVE to set up that table, for one?

Did he HAVE to superkick Undertaker?

Yeah because who cares about Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy. They probably have a great story and quality booking but as soon as you started describing their story I tuned out. I have no reason to care about these cruiserweights anymore now that they are not on Raw. They're just there in my opinion and something I have to search for if I want to watch which I don't find alot of time to do.

What about any of that makes me a mark destroying kayfabe then?

If you FOLLOW a good story, you'll ENJOY a good story. I understand not following it, as life happens, but I've happened to follow both of the stories we're talking about every step of the way, and I know which one I enjoyed more ON THE SAME FUCKING SHOW.

And no matter WHAT you're watching, Kane's fucking wig is STUPID.

To help HHH, duh. He didn't get involved and ntil the finish of that match. Before hand it was Taker taunting Shawn trying to get him to do something. Also from the start of the match with HHH changing it to a no DQ and the look Taker give him with HHH's preceding nod. It was just good old school wrestling in my opinion.

That you can't believe Kane has hair while in character.

It's not that I can't believe it. It's just that he's been on screen in the same show WITHOUT the hair. And it looks really, really, really fucking stupid. If you were watching a movie with a monster, could you get as into it if you could see the monster's zipper sticking out on his costume the entire time? If there's no way to make it look good, get fucking rid of it.

I literally watched Clown directly after Raw tonight, and I knew that it wasn't real, but it wasn't so shitty looking that it distracted me from the action. That fucking wig that Kane wears is.

But Kane still looks good with the hair. Way better than he did bald, plus its well known Kane's mask includes hair.

Meanwhile, Kane would probably look twice as intimidating both bald AND with the mask. Frustrating. Like talking to you about this.

Good is subjective. Kane looks good with hair that doesn't look so fucking stupid. I'm done with this, though. Glad you enjoyed that dumb match that sucked. See you in the Impact thread.

Kane only looks good bald without the mask. Feel like he wouldn't look scary without hair while wearing the mask.

Honestly Kane's hair has never stuck out to me so I just seen that as a weird gripe. Also hell yeah, we can argue about how good the LAX/OGz feud has been.

Yesssss, this.

I liked Cedric and Buddy, was a good undercard match. But the main event was a proper WWE main, I loved it. Don’t get the hatred for it, especially Thrilla’s vehement discust.

It's so fucking weird with Kane. They clearly want him to be this nostalgic character, but they put him a mock outfit from his 2002/2003 period where they completely shat on the gimmick. Like, I know he doesn't like working in the full face mask and I'm sure not having the sleeve is a lot more comfortable, but he's not going out there and working the 2001 Royal Rumble every week now. Pop him in either new attire or his classic original outfit (which might look weird without the hair).

I dunno, it's just so weird how the WWE goes about nostalgia sometimes.

The wig is part of the gimmick. Going back to when he first unmasked, his hair was real until that day. He then cut his hair so when he took the mask off it was supposed to be about how he got burned.

Yes we all know it's fake, but it's supposed to be fake. It's no different than wearing tape to sell and injury.

Shawn Michaels wearing a wig would be stupid because it would just be Shawn Michaels wearing a wig.

Did we watch the same match? Pretty much from the start of the match it seemed "obvious" that HBK wasn't there to watch and support HHH in a "fair fight", but that he was out there to distract Taker and interfere. (While Kane was there to counter him, but mostly just stood around and let him)

Which is why I don't get why they were so angry with Taker/Kane beating them up.

"How dare you not show us respect after we built this up as a fight between two legendary figures for the last time ever, but then instead of a fair one on one contest we teamed up to beat you!"

I know technically it wasn't against the rules, but it was pretty "immediate" that HBK wasn't out there just to support his friend, but to help him win.

When Kane had long hair, it was long hair. Lol, it's pretty much exactly the same thing as Shawn Michaels dressing up as what he used to look like.

Pretty ridiculous that Taker and Triple H used to mock the WCW guys for being too old. When Piper and Hogan had the Cage Match at Halloween Havoc '97, Piper was 43 and Hogan was 44. When Triple H and Taker vetoed Flair coming in in 1998, because he was too old, he was 49.

For those wondering, Taker/Trips in Melbourne had a combined age of 15 years on the Hogan/Piper cage.

Triple H at 49 is in better shape than Hogan and Piper were at 43 though. He has no business hogging the spotlight at this point in his career, but I don't get that old man way past his prime feel from him.

In better shape? Maybe. He's not as over as either of them were though. I think he's starting to feel his age.

I haven't seen this recent match he just had with Undertaker, so that might change my perception of him. Those Hogan/Piper matches in WCW were so ridiculously bad though, I can't imagine Triple H or even Undertaker in the shape he's in now ever getting to that level of flaming garbage.

Didn't see it that way at all. HBK didn't really get involved until the finish. Taker was taunting him throughout the match and HBK would stay on the outside doing nothing.

He was involved pretty much the whole time. Explain that table spot.

He stopped Kane after Kane grabbed HHH's leg. Taker was trying to get him to do something throughout the match but Shawn waited for a moment Taker wasn't expecting.

I heard Shawn was bumping all over the place and getting thrown out of the ring, put through tables, etc.