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Your favorite version of The Undertaker

"Ministry of Darkness" Undertaker was the best. Loved the look.

98-99. His promos were sick, his character kept getting darker and darker, and he had my all time favorite theme

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A sucker for purple, circa 1994

Undertaker circa 200-2002 gained alot of weight.

I like his 2002 theme (Heel)

His 2003 theme is a close 2nd (Face. Same theme as above avec lyrics "You're Gonna Pay")

I like the one where he was called the deadman :shifty:

I'm gonna go with 1998.

I love Taker but I was in love with 98 Taker he was crazy awesome.

ministry taker would be my first, followed by 2007-2008 taker (when he had recently started using hell's gate and more MMA moves in his repoitare, his matches against edge were great, especially at summerslam 2008)

How can you not love Ministry Undertaker?

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http://islander31.tripod.com/uthands.jpg

This wasn't his best run, although it did include his feud with Mankind, but it's always been my favorite for some reason.

Ministry Taker fit his character the best. He's supposed to be dead. But no one said WHY they like the American Badass character yet...I know you are out there. I'm calling you out.

I thought the American Badass was great. It really switched his character up, and ultimately probably added years of relevance to his career. It gave the Deadman schtick a rest and allowed it to come back strong and classic.
It also fit far better with the style of that era, and helped humanize the character more.
I grew tired of it towards the end, but I really enjoyed it for the first year or so, and when he turned heel and feuded with Flair.

Basically I'd say both the change to and change back came at the right times.

It's just not my favorite incarnation though.

I also don't see how the 2004 and 2010 versions are any different. Aside from some attire changes, but those occured in like 2005.
Undertaker has pretty much been the same deal since that return. It's really just a self-aware, slightly updated version of The Undertaker gimmick.

I don't think they'll make any further changes. Especially if they haven't since 2005. He's got to be in his final couple years now, and I highly doubt they'd shake it up now.
He'll probably retire in his current capacity. I know people want to see new things, or a throwback to the Ministry, but that's in the past.

I'd fully expect him to be more or less The American Badass in any further appearances he does after retirement though. It'd be more just his on-air persona than any kind of "gimmick."

The 1999 Version he was more darker

When I started watching wrestling The Undertaker was using his Ministry Lord of Darkness gimmick, maybe I hated it at first but now I think it his best gimmick IMO. it made Kevin Sullivan look like a bitch compared to 'Taker.

Heel biker taker. His promos and interviews were the best he's ever done imo(probably because he wasn't relegated to all this "ooooooo I'll take your soul" nonsense) and he was far more sadistic and twisted than he ever was as the deadman.

ministry of darkness taker

Ministry Taker was incredible. But my favourite has to be his Big Evil heel run from the end of 2001 - mid 2002. Loved his run with the hardcore title and later the Undisputed title.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeritron (Post 3365589)

I also don't see how the 2004 and 2010 versions are any different. Aside from some attire changes, but those occured in like

I guess cuz he started using his "Lord of Darkness" attire to the ring again, like in this pic:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...as_sombras.jpg

In 2004 he was strictly using the Chuck Norris hat + trenchcoat combo.

But yeah, like you said, aside from the attire change, there was no real difference

My first real exposure to the Undertaker was when he returned from his long injury sabbatical at Judgment Day 2000. I'm inclined to go with the heel Red Devil BikerTaker who was kicking ass as the Undisputed Champion and had that awesome match with Jeff Hardy on RAW, as well as several amazing encounters with Kurt Angle.

The Deadman thing I get and it's obviously still over, but I find it too kiddy and cartoonish for today's world. The BikerTaker character seemed real. Like a guy you would meet in a bar who probably sold crystal meth or something and who would fucking kill you if you looked at him wrong.

Big evil, heel taker always worked best for me.

Without a doubt, pure evil Ministry Of Darkness Sacrificing Your Shit Demon Spawn Satanic Undertaker is #1. Heel Big Evil Undertaker is #2.

My buddy who thinks wrestling is gay and makes fun of me for watching wrestling actually liked Biker Taker when we were watching his Hell In A Cell match with Brock Lesnar. Buddy thought that Taker was in definitely in a Biker Gang

Michale Cole has the "And I Quote" catchphrase today, but in 2002 I remember Cole used to say..."Big Evil.....RED DEVIL" alot

Ministry Taker was incredible. The slow build up and gradual development to the Ministry and Ministry Taker from 98-99 was my favorite.

The storylines and feuds between Austin, McMahon, Rock and Taker and Ministry vs Corporation was amazing.

Going back and watching some of the clips from 1999, I had forgotten just how great the writing and storylines actually were back then. It makes me miss it even more than I already did, which I didn't think was possible.

Although I did love the return of Taker in 2000 too, and I thought the biker/American badass gimmick was a cool and fresh change of character for Taker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fox (Post 3365890)

The Deadman thing I get and it's obviously still over, but I find it too kiddy and cartoonish for today's world. The BikerTaker character seemed real. Like a guy you would meet in a bar who probably sold crystal meth or something and who would fucking kill you if you looked at him wrong.

To be fair, going by what I've read in autobiographies and out of character pictures, Taker pretty much is the American Badass character.

Pretty much like Steve Austin always says, the best wrestling characters are usually just the persons real life persona, with the volume cranked way up.

Ministry Taker as the best with American Badass Taker and Classic purple gloves Taker as my next favorites.

What made his Ministry of Darkness stable amazing was how it was basically Taker, the Acolytes/APA, and then a bunch of nobodies but made it work so that people really believed they were a tough force.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supreme Olajuwon (Post 3365254)

yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 3365994)

Also, what also made it amazing, was the way that everyone was 'converted', it wasn't just a bunch of heels stuck together with Taker. Hells Henchmen became the Acolytes. Paul Bearer became 'Brother Paul' within the cult, and went back to his old look. Phineas Godwin/ Dennis Knight became Mideon became completely deranged. And of course King Mabel becoming Viscera (loved the kidnapping of Mable at the 99 Rumble, stuffing him in the trunk and driving away, only for him to be converted to the cause on Raw).

The whole thing had so much depth, and its stuff like that I miss the most.

Damn shame they pissed it away with the Corporate Ministry. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome at the time, because all the big heels were together as one. But looking back you have to wonder how much longer the Ministry could have gone on.

Plus, this :

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...e.jpg?x=176393

and this :

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...jpg?1276388425

were awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord-Of-Darkness (Post 3366049)

Hell yeah. To me this is what made the Attitude era so great. The depth of the writing and storylines, was so good. You had DX vs The Corporation vs The Ministry, and even the lower card guys (who you knew would never main event or move up the card too high) had something to do and were involved in a storyline or feud.

That was Russo's doing, making sure the mid and bottom guys always had something to do. Vince McMahon only cared for the main event

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Pierre (Post 3365349)

I'm gonna go with 1998.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Naitch (Post 3366237)

That was Russo's doing, making sure the mid and bottom guys always had something to do. Vince McMahon only cared for the main event

If that's the case, then despite Russo's reputation since his WCW tenure, I've got to give him credit for that. To me, that is how you keep things interesting, talent happy, develop characters, see who's talented/going to step up and build stars for the future, by actually giving them time to showcase/something to do. It's something that WWE (and the business in gen) has been missing the last 8-9 years and hopefully WWE is starting to get back to that.