Mark Callaway - On the Undertaker's Last Ride

Congratulations to everyone and everything to do with TWA! Happy 200th! A good job done by all!

And congratulations to Emma! Have fun at Nottingham University!

And now, down to business. This week - MARK CALLOWAY - ON THE UNDERTAKER'S LAST RIDE.

I think it would be fair to say that in all of my years of watching wrestling, all these years watching technical wizards, monstrous powerhouses, high-flying marvels, that The Undertaker is probably one of my all time favourites. Having been misused by WCW (where have I heard that before), Mark Calloway came to the WWF in 1990, and became the most lethal force to ever enter a McMahon ring - The Undertaker. With Brother Love as his manager, the Undertaker totally destroyed Koko B. Ware, Dusty Rhodes and The Hart Foundation.

This was an awesome spectacle, which really hit it's stride when Brother Love was replaced by Paul Bearer. Before I start sounding like a history teacher, just look at the names he dominated - Jimmy Snuka, Jake Roberts, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Giant Gonzalez, Yokozuna, Mabel, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Kane, Mick Foley, Kamala - the list goes on and on.

But the Undertaker I was in awe of changed recently - the Lord of Darkness morphed into the American Bad Aass. But why did this change take place? Here is my theory. During the latter days of the Lord of Darkness, he began to physically slow down. This was probably the reason he was teamed with the Big Show. As part of a team, the Big Show could paper over the cracks that began to appear in the Undertaker's armoury. Mark Calloway took time off, months off, to heal. The many injuries that had accumalayed over the years - knee, shoulder, back. It was probably during this time that the change occured. When he returned as the American Bad Ass, it wasn't just the music and clothing that had changed. The wrestling style had also. Gone were the awesome top rope walks, the power clotheslines, the moves that made him the most agile big man in wrestling.

Watching him in the ring, it was obvious, in my opinion anyway, that he had come back too soon. Look at the heavily strapped elbow. Look at the way he moves around the ring. The limp is plain for all to see, and when he moves around quickly, he looks awkward. And the most obvious change - the finishing move. The Tombstone piledriver is now gone. With his knee problems, the move would put tremendous pressure on his knees. So the Tombstone was replaced by the Last Ride powerbomb.

The change was complete. The Lord of Darkness had become what seemed like an amalgamation of Steve Austin and Kevin Nash - the American Bad Ass.

It seems that in my articles here I am saying that certain people should retire. With Hogan it's because he's 47, and I don't like him. With Mark, it's totally different. I admire him as an athlete, an entertainer, and most of all, as a person. He has provided me, and the rest of the world, with great entertainment over the past 10 years, and I would really hate to see anything happen to him, so, for his own sake, for his own health, I hope he sees sense soon, and doesn't become the injury-ridden lumbering hulk that was Andre The Giant in his later years.

Until next time....