The Undertaker vs John Cena won't happen this Sunday

[KaiserGlider]

In what has been the weirdest build to this match that I could have ever imagined, Cena has been calling Undertaker a coward for 4 weeks straight and Taker has had no response whatsoever, even on the go-home Raw before 'Mania. At first glance it seems like this is leading to Taker showing up on Sunday and then having an impromptu match with Cena on the show right then and there. But that's just fucking weird. Surely there's no way that they'll wait til literally the last second to officially add a match as big as Cena/Taker to a Wrestlemania card. What business sense does that make? So here's what I see actually going down, and it's right up WWE's alley:

It won't be a match but a segment. Taker shows up and agrees to face Cena... but at next year's Wrestlemania. And it'll be his retirement match. That way they can promote it for all it's worth and have another "once in a lifetime" thing (whatever that is) instead of paying off this weird ass build with an impromptu match out of nowhere.

Does this sound better than having the match this Sunday, or do you hate everything about this and want to just get it over with?

[The Legend]

^^^ I think what you said makes a lot of sense and could be the direction they go, but with a twist, I think they have to get physical a bit on Sunday. So, Cena set's up in the front row and is watching the show and then all of the sudden, the lights go out and Taker appears in front of Cena, rips him over the barricade and the two brawl for a bit. Then the announcement of a match next year is made later in the show.

[Hanley!]

That's a uniquely terrible idea, you could be on to something there.

[Str8Shooter]

They'll have a match at Mania, they're doing some weird meta build where they mention and tease the match so much that everybody watching knows it's happening without actually "knowing" it's happening, you know what I mean?

Honestly at this point I'm not sure actually announcing this match is getting more network subs anyway, I think anybody who's going to watch Mania has already made that decision.

[Messiah]

Announcing a match at WrestleMania for next years WrestleMania would be a huge fuck you to the crowd i. attendance and most likely get booed. And nobody cares enough about that match to announce it a year in advance anyway. You also run the risk of Undertaker’s body not being up to it.

It’s 100% happening Sunday. I don’t think it will be a long match though. Probably 15 mins.

[AkydefGoldberg]

Why delay the inevitable shitfest that a Undertaker Cena match would be by delaying it for a year? At their peak, yes it would have worked but there's no point dragging out the inevitable. Everyone assumed last year's Mania was the end for Taker yet he's returned and anything could happen such as Taker's fitness not holding out until then.

This potentially could open up the possibility of a gimmick change as they'd not want to reveal that before Mania. More than likely Cena will enter the ring and call out Taker and it'll be a crowd pop when he appears in whatever guise to have a match.

[Everlong]

This sounds like a bad enough idea that it could very well happen!

God the crowd would shit all over it. It'd be hilarious.

[PorkChop]

Undertaker would look horribly weak if it was delayed for a year. Cena has been calling him a coward week after week, so if he showed up and asked for a year's preparation, it would look terrible.

I don't put it past WWE to do this though.

[Everlong]

200 rep to Kaiser if he's correct in this prediction.

[Hanley!]

200 rep to Kaiser if he's correct in this prediction.

Don't trust him, Kaiser! He hasn't even given out last year's Roundtable rep yet!

[Everlong]

200 rep to Kaiser if he's correct in this prediction.

Don't trust him, Kaiser! He hasn't even given out last year's Roundtable rep yet!

Oh shit Completely forgot!

[KaiserGlider]

You guys have raised some good points for why the match should in fact happen on Sunday, but I don't know. I think it's a tossup. This build seems like it's geared for a segment/confrontation rather than an actual match. If it is for a match, then I don't understand why they would do it this way. It's like Wrestlemania 20 against Kane, but the opposite and shitty version of that. Instead of constantly sending messages and threats to his opponent, Undertaker has completely no-showed this entire feud and has let Cena call him a pussy over and over without doing jack about it. It has accomplished the opposite of create buzz or excitement about a potential match, and has made Taker look like a chickenshit heel. The payoff at this point is Taker just showing up to do... anything, not a collision between two guys to see who emerges victorious. And by the way, they dropped the ball with the whole mistique surrounding Undertaker's status when they had him randomly show up two months ago at Raw 25. Way to go!

It may not be too popular around here, but this match is still a draw with just about every other fanbase I've seen. At the end of the day, it's still John Cena and it's still The Undertaker, two of their biggest stars without a match at the start of Wrestlemania. Has something like that ever happened before? Surely there's at least a couple JC-THEPHENOM and HeadlessPete types who would fork over $9.99 if this match got the build it deserved. Yes, we know both wrestlers will show up, but at the same time you've got guys like me who smell a rat and figure it could just be a segment promoting 'Mania 35. Does WWE have nothing to lose and nothing to gain here? I doubt it. Yeah, even without Taker/Cena I think the Wrestlemania card looks good, but the buildup hasn't set the world on fire either. You could always do better. This story is closer to "lazy" than to "unique" as far as I'm concerned.

As far as having the crowd turn on them goes, it's a valid concern but not one that will stop them. Which is why there may not be an actual announcement (or have Taker talk at all for that matter). He will probably come out and have a staredown with Cena, then they will get in a brief fistfight which Taker wins and throws Cena out of the ring. Taker does his pose, Michael Cole says he has found his mojo again, Cena stands on the ramp clapping like a doofus, and the fans don't get restless because of the brawl. Then in a year the match is made. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe Taker really did retire after Reigns and this is just so fans get Cena/Taker in some capacity and shut up about it.

[DBSoT]

Taker can't work a full match anyway. Might as well make it a short brawl segment. The consensus is that Taker will return as his ABA gimmick, but I am not sure he could even pull off the Last Ride with killing someone.

[The Legend]

Taker can't work a full match anyway. Might as well make it a short brawl segment. The consensus is that Taker will return as his ABA gimmick, but I am not sure he could even pull off the Last Ride with killing someone.

He won't have to pull off the Last Ride. Cena will beat him. Either that or he'll just go chokeslam.

[Everlong]

It may not be too popular around here, but this match is still a draw with just about every other fanbase I've seen. At the end of the day, it's still John Cena and it's still The Undertaker, two of their biggest stars without a match at the start of Wrestlemania.

I feel like this is exactly why it has to happen this year though, right? What does it give them to push it off a year? Taker's not getting any younger, and neither guy is otherwise occupied this year.

[The Legend]

It may not be too popular around here, but this match is still a draw with just about every other fanbase I've seen. At the end of the day, it's still John Cena and it's still The Undertaker, two of their biggest stars without a match at the start of Wrestlemania.

I feel like this is exactly why it has to happen this year though, right? What does it give them to push it off a year? Taker's not getting any younger, and neither guy is otherwise occupied this year.

Taker's not getting any younger, which means it starts taking longer to recover. We've done a decade of Taker once a year matches. We might get another decade of Taker once every two years matches.

[Everlong]

It may not be too popular around here, but this match is still a draw with just about every other fanbase I've seen. At the end of the day, it's still John Cena and it's still The Undertaker, two of their biggest stars without a match at the start of Wrestlemania.

I feel like this is exactly why it has to happen this year though, right? What does it give them to push it off a year? Taker's not getting any younger, and neither guy is otherwise occupied this year.

Taker's not getting any younger, which means it starts taking longer to recover. We've done a decade of Taker once a year matches. We might get another decade of Taker once every two years matches.

I hate you for putting this into the ether.

[Messiah]

I wonder how much Undertaker makes nowadays. I mean, he probably gets at least 100k for just one match right? And that is probably being generous.

[Hanley!]

If it takes you a year to recover from a match, and another year to train for your next one, fucking retire.

People are always throwing shade at certain indy guys for endangering themselves by doing too much in the ring. Well at this point, a brisk walk is almost too much for Undertaker, so lets put him under that same level of scrutiny. He's been a physical wreck for a decade, and is now past the point of even being able to have a decent match with a good wrestler like Roman Reigns after a year preparing himself for it. If he keeps wrestling, he could seriously hurt himself. Even if he doesn't, the best he can hope for is to have a decent wrestling match.

The risk/reward here just doesn't make sense. Can the company stop wasting time with this guy and learn how to move on? This is already a stacked show, and could have been even more so if they had given Cena a half-decent opponent. We don't need a broken-down Undertaker anymore. Let him retire and then put him in the Hall of Fame in a couple of years. That's enough.

It may not be too popular around here, but this match is still a draw with just about every other fanbase I've seen.

I don't think ours is the minority opinion here. I don't deny that there are still people who want to see this match, but not nearly as much as they did a few years ago. There isn't a genuine buzz or excitement around it. And there are plenty who seem to have soured on the idea entirely. The casual wrestling fans that I know have no interest in the Undertaker because he represents the outdated product that they stopped watching in the first place. Meanwhile, many if not most of the hardcore fans online are bored of him and know that he can't deliver in the ring anymore. On the Observer forums they're just as negative on the Cena/Undertaker match as we are here.

The story here doesn't help, because it plays into the worst elements of this pairing. Part-time loser Cena is begging the broken-down Undertaker out of retirement in a desperate attempt to remain relevant. It turns this from a dream match into something sad and pathetic.

[The Legend]

It may not be too popular around here, but this match is still a draw with just about every other fanbase I've seen. At the end of the day, it's still John Cena and it's still The Undertaker, two of their biggest stars without a match at the start of Wrestlemania.

I feel like this is exactly why it has to happen this year though, right? What does it give them to push it off a year? Taker's not getting any younger, and neither guy is otherwise occupied this year.

Taker's not getting any younger, which means it starts taking longer to recover. We've done a decade of Taker once a year matches. We might get another decade of Taker once every two years matches.

I hate you for putting this into the ether.

Honestly, I just wanted to see if @Hanley! would reply to it/have his head explode.