The Undertaker Vs Spike Dudley WWE RAW 12-10-2021
The great American poet Tom Kiefer once wrote, "You don't know what you got til it's gone"
While presumably written about a lost love, this is the only hair metal power ballad that truly captures the way I feel about The Biker Taker. The Biker Taker refers to The Undertaker's run from 2000 to 2004, where he let the deadman gimmick...well...die. This Undertaker more closely resembled "Mean" Mark Callous from WCW than The Phenom from WWF. The debut of this version of The Undertaker was shocking. Last anyone had seen from Taker was the Ministry of Darkness. That version of Undertaker was a satanic cult leader bent of domination. This version rode a motorcycle. It seems at first glance that The Undertaker got confused about what a Hell's Angel was. There's also the fact WWE never explained how The Undertaker completly changed his gimmick. Just a suggestion, maybe a throwaway line of dialogue next time Vince. When The Undertaker made his return in 2000, I was shocked at what I saw. I didn't know about "Mean" Mark, and I couldn't believe what I saw. This Undertaker was.....a person. A person who rode a motorcycle. That was his main characterization. I was a big Undertaker fan and I went with it, but the whole time I was waiting for him to become the old Undertaker. We all were. Sure, Biker Taker was fine but I spent those four years just waiting for that gong to hit once more.
Tom Kiefer gets it man
I'm not going to defend the babyface Biker Taker stuff. A lot of it is pretty cringe in retrospect. However in late 2001, The Biker Taker made his first heel turn and it was incredible. For years, The Undertaker was forced to be a stoic supernatural force. As Biker Taker, he was allowed to open up and do things we hadn't ever see him do before. Hell, he cut his hair! We got to see Taker doing comedy for the first time. We got to see Taker stooging off for the first time. We got to see Taker showing weakness for the first time. Sure Taker had showed weakness before, but it usually required smoke and mirrors. I'm not joking. It was smoke coming out of coffins and mirrors hiding that it was actually Marty Jannetty teleporting to the rafters. This version of Taker allowed him to cut loose. But I never appreciated it. I liked the heel stuff, but I kept looking back instead of forward. Don't look back in anger, look forward in anger because now I'm pissed I didn't appreciate what we had. I really dug the Undertaker late career resurgance, especially in light of the late late career unsurgance....definitely a word. However, there's a case to be made that heel Biker Taker is the best week to week run of his career. He was still a full-time guy, and he was a blast.
It's another rousing edition of Monday Night Raw in 2001 as The Undertaker will be taking on Little Spike Dudley. I can't believe I haven't gotten Spike in an entry yet, so now I feel like a failure as a writer and as a man. I owe Spike a full length entry, but for now I'll just leave you with acknolweding Spike Dudley may be the greatest wrestler at taking an asskicking. Stay Tuned. This match is for the WWE Hardcore title which Taker captured the night before against Rob Van Dam.
The Undertaker is out first on his hog, nobody has a bigger hog than him dude. This is of course the era of Taker where he was coming out to "Rollin" by Limp Bizkit. I've mentioned before my love of Limp Bizkit. When I got my first car, within a week I made sure to cruise down the highway blaring that song. Why do people like me? The Biker Taker is a cool looking character. It's hard not to get behind someone who's nickname is "Big Evil". Spike Dudley is out next, and it's always so sad when a wrestler is wearing a generic WWE shirt. Can someone get poor Spike some merch so he can promote himself. The WWE brand has enough, they don't need Spike advertising. This is a Hardcore match so expect lots of wristlocks. Spike gets the plunder from outside the ring to throw it in, but Undertaker catches every single one and shakes his head. This doesn't bode well for Spike. Spike can't figure out how to safely get in the ring so HE JUMPS ON TAKERS HOG. HES MAKING VROOM VROOM NOISES. BAH GOD. Taker doesn't like when a man touches another man's hog, look at his political affiliations, so he rushes after Spike. Spike evades and gets in the ring and Taker figures out he was tricked. Spike does a house show dive to Taker, but Taker catches him and drives Spike into the post. Taker brings Spike into the ring and drops him with a big right hand. I adore the big Undertaker punch. Undertaker drives Spike into the corner and sets him up in the tree of Joey Lawrence, WHOA, before kicking him in the stomach. Undertaker takes a bit too much time intimidating the ref because it allows SPIKE DUDLEY WITH A KENDO STICK TO THE UNDERTAKER'S HOG. THIS TIME I MEAN HIS WEINER, NOT HIS MOTORCYCLE. Undertaker sells the hell out of it, which is a prime example of Taker extending his range in the gimmick. Spike nails Taker in the legs with the kendo stick, but Taker catches the next blow and he is pissed. He tosses Spike across the ring and throws the stick away. Spike comes back with Doug Funny offense, as he starts banging on a trash can lid and using Undertaker's brain as the percussion he needs. Big Evil needs to think Big Evil or he's in trouble here. Spike rushes Undertaker, but a big boot to the trash can lid and Spike is down. Taker starts BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF SPIKE WITH THE LID. He's using it one handed and overhand. Don't see that everyday. Undertaker has had enough of this shit and signals for the last ride. Spike collapses, and Undertaker works on him some more by rubbing his forearm across Spike's head. That was weird. Undertaker calls it and LAST RIDE TO SPIKE DUDLEY THROUGH A TRASH CAN FOR THE WIN
Really really fun and I think there's an outside shot that Biker Taker makes the Hall of Fame. Maybe it's because we've hit the early 2000s nostalgia cycle, but man I dug heel Biker Taker. It was such a fresh take on the character and really opened up a lot of possibilities. I won't let that happen again. I'm going to appreciate it the next time a pro wrestler completly overhauls his gimmick and becomes a motoryclce entuhsiast. Never again. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice....you won't Because
I'm nobody's fool
TLDR Review
Biker Taker keeps on rolling. Spike Dudley keeps on dying. I just wrote a perfect Arlo Guthrie song
If you're interested in more condensed version of my thoughts, You can check out my Twitter where I talk about wrestling or stress out during Boston Celtics games. Hell, I'll even take suggestions for matches you want to see reviewed. You can also check out my Youtube where I make weird videos where I put on wigs in front of a camera to mask my true identity.