Making a Legend 

The next video in the series is: "Villains in Wrestling: Making People Hate You"

What I can tell you about behind the scenes is that conflicts between wrestlers were handled amongst themselves in a kind of wrestlers' court, and Undertaker, as respected as he was, was always the judge. He was the leader of the locker room. After Triple H got off management's shit list, he took an interest in the boss's daughter, Stephanie. Before he did anything there, he first got Undertaker's permission to date her. In earlier videos, there was reference to the Montreal Screwjob, an incident where a popular wrestler, soon to leave the company to join up with the rival company, was made to lose his final championship match without his prior knowledge of that plan. Behind the scenes, Undertaker is the one who got away with calling out McMahon for that decision to his face. That's the level of influence he had

I suggest watching "The Unreality of Pro wrestling" by Super eyepatch wolf if you want more of the real life buisness side.

The whole "disdain for authority and embraced as an outsider" thing is a MASSIVE appeal in wrestling in general. It's the whole reason that Vince McMahon, the owner of WWE, took on the gimmick of being the most despicable boss possible in his shows. It gave multiple wrestlers in his company a figure to directly rebel against, giving the fans catharsis by proxy for their own work, home and school situations. By the way, don't know if the Mountain was based on Brock Lesnar, but the Armored Titan from Attack on Titan was!

As far as Japan goes, it's a nation with a lot of traditions impacting every aspect of social life, and while a lot of the population will say that it would be better if things were less constrained, that doesn't translate into risking becoming a social pariah by actively trying to dial said traditions down a bit. A lot of rebellious characters are popular in Japan.

As someone who was there in the arena when brock lesnar broke the streak, his video made me cry all over again. Undertaker(Mark) was a once in a lifetime performer/performance. One that I don't believe could ever be replicated. I don't think a single person is more respected unanimously throughout the entire business, not just WWE. And if you want to know the backstage processes of wrestling back before say 2010, you'd need to talk to someone who was there experiencing it. Wrestling, especially WWE kept a lot of that close to the vest for the sake of not spoiling the show/surprise. But Mark is probably the one guy who deserves the title of Legend more than any other. Rest In Peace (not because he's dead. He's alive, but because that was Undertaker's catchphrase)

The backstage aspect of wrestling is something im obsessed with, Eyepatch Wolfs closest video to going over the behind the scenes is "Unreality of Wrestling" most of the backstage is coming up with stories that last anywhere from 3 months-1 year and making changes as people get hurt, or get unexpected reactions, and the stubbornness of the people writing these stories to change and adapt to fan reactions

If I remember correctly, the failed Sit-up was unscripted, but the second it happened, they ended the match early because, while he was still meant to lose, he had been in and out of matches for a while due to a pretty bad back injury. While it's a great moment, people HATED it due to the person who he was fighting that night. This is actually a great lead into his video on him, which is "The Unreality of Pro Wrestling", which is a good dichotomy between a Legacy fans loves, and a Legacy fans hated.

The gladiator analogy is mor accurate than he thought because many gladiators became celebrities and continued to fight even after they gained freedom, and only less than 1 in 10 gladiators ever died in the coliseum.

I’m a theater person, I’ve grown up performing and that was my major in college. One of the reasons I LOVE the Undertaker is because he was SO GOOd at the theatrical side (I mean, he’s and amazing athlete and fighter as well). Ministry Taker was absolutely PHENOMenal. …he was also my first crush and that scared my parents haha… but I still love him to this day 🖤

Paul Bearer was an actual legit mortician irl. They were like, put him with Taker.

Man... the end of the streak is something I'll remember for the rest of my life

Ah The Undertaker, this man is a legend for a very good reason. I still remember when he was the American Badass and had that kickass theme song, he'd show up riding a Harley. Man, those were the days 1:08 For context, up to this point, Undertake had a MASSIVE win streak at Wrestlemania, I think he was 22-0 or something along those lines. This...this was when the streak was broken 9:21 That's Jake "The Snake" Roberts and yes, bringing a python to the ring was his gimmick 12:44 Not just japan, even in the US, the WWE audience love the guys that rebel against the authority, the guys that don't fit in. ESPECIALLY back in the 90's 25:22 This is one of Taker's signature moves even to this day. It's called Old School. He grabs the opponent's arm and twists it, climbs the turnbuckle, walks on the rob then jumps down and hits the opponent's shoulder 30:30 Correct, Taker was the American Badass from 2000 to 2003

I unironically had Undertaker's Entrance song as my ringtone for years, until i get access to yt and stopped watching tv.

Rewatching these with you, I only just noticed how Eyepatch ties his videos together, with Triple H's rise in the previous one, into him being one of the major topics in this one, and then his latest wrestling video (the unreality of Pro Wrestling) is based on the guy he lost that 'last' match against when he left his hat and coat in the ring. I am personally a massive fan of that guy, but when you get to that video, you will find out I am definitely not in the majority! XD Great reaction, man! (and yeah, that Japanese woman with the broken nose - that was from some another woman wrestler 'shooting' on her (which means they actually attacked them during their match, rather than 'work' with them). Pretty sure the attacker got in a lot of trouble for it)

Glenn Jakobs, the guy who wrestled as the dentist, was also The Undertaker's in ring brother, Kane. That's probably enough for a whole video itself.

Letting Brock Lesnar end the Streak was such a big mistake. He had been in the business for so long and had already garnered for himself enough credibility to keep a place in the hearts of the fans without being the one to end it. It should have been something done by the younger generation, the up and comers of the business.

Of all the men and women who have come and gone in the world of wrestling, none has had a more profound legacy than The Undertaker, the guy he mentioned as Isaac Yankem, later was repurposed as Taker’s storyline brother, Kane, and like he said, he’s now the honorable Mayor Glenn Jacobs of Knoxville County. I’ve heard nothing but praise from the guys he’s worked with, one I remember hearing from is Maven Huffman in a video where he was giving his opinions on certain people he’s been around in wrestling

The Japanese woman (Act Yasukawa) with the bloody nose at 34:29 had several broken bones in her face. I don't know if it was just a broken nose at that point but they continued the match after checking to see how broken it was which is astounding to me because at the start of the match her opponent just started straight up actually for real beating the shit out of her for seemingly no reason. Then just continued beating the shit out of her when the match was started up again. The whole thing was a fiasco.

The evil dentist Dr Isaac Yankem later became Undertaker's on stage brother "Kane" and that dude was pretty terrifying when he came out and especially when he was unmasked. Hence why he looks like he can break you. Cause he can. Dude was crazy strong. Undertaker was basically the chief and leader of the wrestlers in the locker room because of his years of experience and popularity with the fans. Whenever someone had a dispute backstage theyd go to undertaker to help settle it. He was just that guy. I also heard he got so much respect and trust from the boss (Mr Mcmahon) because he never jumped ship to WCW when the ratings war was going on and everyone else at the time was after their own best interest.

… “I think WWE is just American Shakespeare.” Is such a based, yet incendiary commentary. I’m totally gonna quote that later just to mess with the theater majors. >)X^D

You mentioned wondering if Brock Lesnar was inspiration for the Mountain from GoT. Brock was actually inspiration for the armor titan from Attack on Titan

It is reading his lips that always gets me “do it” “finish it” a man willing to go but only on his terms

The Undertaker returned for one last match in 2020 before officially retiring in 2021.

Little addition: In 2014 at Mania when the steak was broken, during that match with Brock Lesnar, Undertaker got a concussion and collapsed backstage after the match and wash rushed to the hospital. He couldn’t even remember his own name until the next day. Vince McMahon, the CEO of the WWE actually left WrestleMania that night to go to the hospital because of how worried he was, as he and Taker had been friends for Taker’s entire career. When Vince showed up at the hospital, Taker while concussed responded “don’t you have a show to run?” Another edit: Taker doesn’t remember his match against Roman Reigns. The match was horrible as he was just exhausted at that point. The failed sit-up wasn’t planned. Also Taker didn’t retire until 2020. He had a few more matches before retiring in the Great “Boneyard Match” at WrestleMania 36.

The Undertaker was my very first taste of professional wrestling, specifically a VHS (yes, VHS) of his first battle with Kane a couple of years after it happened live. I was a first-grader at the time and I immediately fell in love with the spectacle. Given that he was the first, I quickly established 'Taker as my favorite wrestler and practically based a good chunk of my life around him; my first wrestling T-Shirt was an Undertaker shirt, my first poster was an Undertaker poster, my _second_ action figure was Undertaker because they were out of Taker figures at Walmart (but even so, I got a Masked Kane as my first figure). April 6, 2014. The weekend after my birthday on the 2nd. Brock Lesnar ended The Streak. Happy Birthday, here’s my present: a broken heart. The next Mania's main event was between the man who snapped my childhood in two and a pre-"Tribal Chief" Roman Reigns (SEW touched on him a bit in this video, but if you keep watching this series then _we'll get to him soon enough._ ) I legit fell out of love with wrestling for a bit. But, I guess my love for ‘rasslin extended beyond Undertaker after all, because I’m still a fan after all of that. The next in SEW's playlist is his video on wrestling villains. Get your English Major card ready, because it’s time to talk about what makes a compelling villain.

19:20 The original Halloween series is objectively weirder than everything that came after. Halloween 5 had Michael communicate telepathically with his niece, Halloween 6 had a Celtic cult that makes evil serial killer babies with the rune "Dor"/Thor on their wrist only because Michael's actor in the last film had it. At the end of that movie, Paul Rudd kills him and slime spills out Michael's face while he burns to death. And let's not forget how Michael lost both eyes in Halloween 2 and yet we still see them in every sequel, except the recent trilogy because 2 didn't happen. The Rob Zombie ones are by far the most normal movies because every weird thing is just Michael hallucinating. I didn't mention Michael getting his as beat by Xzbit

Your analysis with Shakespeare and Wrestling are spot on. Big time wrestling, like the Colosseum before, is the biggest form of theater “in the round.”

I started watching wrestling in 2000 and right away he became one of if not my favourite wrestler

Reusing gimmicks is a thing in wrestling. It's not super common, but it happens. The most notable one being that there have been, as of right now, 8 different wrestlers who have played the role of Tiger Mask. Or for some WWE examples, there has been 2 different versions of Sin Cara and 7 different people have been Doink the Clown.

Watched both of your wrestling vids. Man, watching a non fan actually watch with a thoughtful view is a breath of fresh air. Im 29, im an independent pro wrestler from Massachusetts. I also run my own promotion. Also have friends that are in, and have worked with men/women that are in WWE. Its my favorite thing in the world. Im enjoying your thought process of this crazy world. If you ever want to talk about wrestling, please, send me a message. Always love conversations about it. Ill be happy to answer any of your questions.

45:28 ooh, close. he’s actually the inspiration for the Armoured Titan in AoT

Glenn Jacobs was better known in his career as Kane who, in kayfabe, was the brother of the Undertaker. If they were tagging, they were the Brothers of Destruction.

Biker Undertaker wasn't actually more closer to how Mark Callaway really was. He really is a motorcycle guy.

If I had a nickel for every time Airier said "I should cut this out" only for him to not cut it out, I'd have way more than 2 nickels

The Undertaker is a legend. A man as synonymous with his craft as names like Hulk Hogan. The Undertaker character was a shadowy presence that pervaded the WWE for almost 40 years, and arguably to this day. The unstoppable force AND the immovable object. When he was working full time he was the ceiling. He was the final boss. He was the bar for badass, if you could stand up to the Undertaker you could stand up to anyone. He made stars overnight. When he was working part time, he became the shadowy god of the industry. The Undertaker was MORE. more than a title, more than a man. More than YOU (his opponent). And to step to the Undertaker was to tempt fate. But Mark Callaway was a real man. Who put his body on the line for decades, who held the locker room in line behind the scenes out of sheer respect because unlike others he wasnt a selfish bully or a politicking weasle. Willing to give up excess glory for the good of his fellow wrestlers and the business at large. Mark Callaway let us believe that there was something more, the one character that despite all logical thinking let us FEEL like this was real. Because, how else could a being like this exist? And for that im forever greatful. Undertaker IS Wrestling

In 1991 I was 12, I went to the video store and rented the VHS of that year's survivor series. I remember the match where Undertaker was introduced, he was part of Ted DiBiasi's Million Dollar Team facing off against Hulk Hogan's All-American Team. I lost my little mind when Undertaker sailed around the ring like he was 150 pounds. From that point forward I was a diehard Taker fan.

Very good that you bring up how important it is for these stars to know how to give and take these moves that they're performing in a video about The Undertaker. The Undertaker's finishing move, The Tombstone Piledriver, and really just piledrivers in general, is considered the most dangerous move in pro wrestling. The upper management has literally banned the move from use by 99% of wrestlers because it's just too risky a move to perform if you don't know how to protect your opponent from the actual impact of said move. You can literally kill someone with it if you aren't careful. The Undertaker is only allowed to use it because he does know how to safely perform it. There's actually a bit of controversy from early in Taker's career where Hulk Hogan claimed Taker failed to properly execute the move, and injured him with it. This not only damaged the people's trust in Taker for a while, but it also hurt Taker's confidence in himself when it comes to using the move. Thing is though, Hogan lied. Why? He was upset he lost, and wanted to make Taker feel bad. Hulk Hogan, great superstar, no doubt about that... But god DAMN that is one of the biggest bitch moves in company history.

OSW Review, Attitude Era Podcast, and Post Wrestling are good channels and podcasts that give backstage info while reviewing wrestling PPVs, and there’s tons of other wrestling podcasts here on YT and on podcast platforms. The trouble is finding one that’s not super biased. But the more you delve into the IWC (internet wrestling community), the more you’ll come across wrestling fan content that talks about the backstage aspect of wrestling b/c that’s what we (the IWC) do on pretty much every social media platform.

Wayland mercy is actually pretty dope and the biggest inspiration for one of the many forms of my favorite wrestler Bray Wyatt

If you want another video on a wrestling character like this I suggest the "Unreality of pro Wrestling". If not, I highly recommend "Villains in Wrestling: making people hate you"

His most recent "unreality of pro wrestling" by him is a really good too. Though idk how enjoyable it is to a non-wrestling fan. But it straight up made me feel bad and guilty as a wrestling fan. 😂😂

Theres a tv show called "dark side of the ring" which you might find interesting. Its abour the backstage stuff and involves very dark topics.

As for somebody dying while wrestling well, it wasn't during a match it was during his entrance, and it was live during a PPV, too, if I remember right. 🤔 Owen Heart (The wrestler that died) wasn't secured properly and fell down from a very high height because his entrance was coming down from rafters using a rope. The Inferno Matches (The ring with fire going up.) are definitely dangerous, which is why this match is rarely used and if they do the match they usually have people around ring with fire extinguisher in case the wrestler catches on fire. My suggestion on a video to check out is: Undertaker and Mick Foley reliving their infamous Hell in a Cell Match: WWE Untold by WWE.

The next SEW Wrestling video in his playlist is "Villian's in Wrestling: Making People Hate You". I wasn't really able to experience most of the Undertaker's Streak growing up but I was luckily able to watch Wrestlemania 29 live and got the experience the appeal of The Streak before he lost to Brock at Wrestlemania 30. While his Wrestlemania 33 match with Roman was the last proper match he had at Mania. His last Mania match was actually a Cinematic Match (Covid Pandemic is the main reason why) at Mania 36 against AJ Styles. It's honestly a fitting send off for Taker's Mania matches.

For when you finish Super Eyepatch Wolf's wrestling videos, I'd like to recommend his video "The Bizarre Modern Reality of the Simpsons." It's the tamest of his fandom deep dives, and my personal favorite besides the Garfield one.

If you want to know about the ‘behind the scenes’ there are several podcasts detailing all sorts of ‘dirt sheet’ stuff. 83 Weeks w/ Eric Bischoff Jim Cornette’s Drive Thru/Jim Cornette Experience Grillin w/Jim Ross Something to Wrestle w/Bruce Prichard The Undertaker would stay around until his 30th anniversary when he would finally retire in 2021.

I would really recommend watching Super Eyepatch Wolf's "Villains in Wrestling: Making People Hate You"

Taker actually retired on the 30th anniversary of his debut

42:00 Around here is reminding of a time when Chris Jericho immediately broke character but stayed in the match(weird phrasing but stick with me). Where his opponent Neville tears a quad and utters how he's hurt for real. The finish likely was likely something flashy to stun the audience. Instead, rolling him up right away but it wasn't the planned finish. The ref pausing and breaks the count to check the shoulders. Jericho immediately gets up so Neville can lie in a safer position to get help and pushes the ref. Attacking said ref is a disqualification, which then as Jericho yells "He's hurt!". The two argue which could be keeping up the heel image Jericho is and/or because the push wasn't planned either. The bell rings and Jericho is yelling and signaling out to the side where commentary is, also where there is a live line to the back to get help. Rather than keep the character and leaving his opponent broken, hurt and likely gone for awhile. He's there demanding someone already to come out and help, kayfabe(in character/play) be damned. Also, "The Last Ride" documentary was devastating to see behind the scenes. Mark being as upset with that match and struggle to leave wrestling like many iconic names before him. As there is a knowledge in wrestling. Wrestlers don't truly retire. Such as the Rock by becoming a full time Hollywood actor, but coming back to his roots. Shawn Micheals and Ric Flair, both legendary wrestlers that molded generations with a perfect send off. Coming back to regret and hurt their legacy.

I love that the streak started out as an accident It wasn't a thing until he was already 13 and 0 lol It wasn't until he was 9 and 0 someone told him backstage "Hey, you're undefeated at Wrestlemania" "... holy shit, you're right" 😅

There is one other medium that matches Pro Wrestling with it's story-telling and that is Soap Operas. That's why Pro Wrestling has kind of been referred to as a "male" Soap Opera over the years. Whether or not people want to admit it. Pro Wrestling and Soap Operas are the only two mediums that will keep a storyline going over the course of an entire decade or more. Edit: I stand corrected. There is also certain comic books and a couple novels. But people don't like to read

Having no knowledge of any of this wrestling stuff outside of littlekuriboh’s much snarkier “mark remark” series that ran for a few years and, now that you’ve introduced me to them, these, gotta say I’ve been really enjoying these reactions (despite having totally binged the playlist after your first video)

I know I'm seven months late to the party, but always remember these are real hits done in a "safe" way. The moves they do are not meant to not Hurt, they are meant to no Injure.

The stage craft comment always made sense to me. As a big wrestling fan, I never really could understand how people didn't appreciate it for what it is. Wrestling is the "play" or live performance version of action movies. Its like requiring a fight scene in an action movie to hit the spots just right in a single take in front of thousands of people. No editing, no reshoots, just go out there and make it all make sense in a single go. Crazy difficult.

The match with the girl with the bloody face is the infamous "Ghastly Match". It was a title match in a promotion called Stardom, where a young wrestler named Act Yasukawa was fighting an evil bitch who should burn in hell called Yoshiko. For reasons we still don't know to this day (because nobody involved will ever talk about it), Yoshiko started beating the living crap out of Act for real right from the start of the match. And, given Act was half her weight, you can see how it ended up. Act tried several times to get the match back on track, but it just wasn't happening. Yoshiko broke her orbital bone, factured her nose, and caused so much damage she needed to have her face surgically reconstructed. The match was stopped when Act's face swelled up so much she coudln't see and she looked like the Elephant Man. It was brutal. And the fact Yoshiko still has a job in wrestling is something everyone involved in employing her should be ashamed of. Act would be forced to retire shortly after the incident because of the damage caused to her eyesight. Although that nonsense about killing someone by breaking their nose and pushing bone fragments into their nose is bullshido. It's not true. There are dangers associated with breaking someone's nose - mostly to do with breathing. But it's impossible to push broken bits of nose into someone's brain. If that was true, every single pro-boxer would be dead by now from that injury.

So one thing I feel is not stressed enough from this video is the acknowledgement that wrestling is very much, ESPECIALLY back then, a dog-eat-dog business. WWF and WCW were the two big companies in the 90's and almost EVERYONE jump shipped at one point to the other, used the competition to get better contracts, and screwed over their fellow wrestlers to get the better pay check or sometimes just because they didn't like the guy. Mark Calloway is notable for being one of the most loyal people around at the time. Which got him a lot of leeway, the only time I can think of him ever having anything close to a problem with the people in charge of the WWF was a very notable incident I won't get into called the Montreal Screwjob where the company literally lied to and cheated a wrestler live on air, and even then there was never hard feelings. I'm sure you've heard of Hulk Hogan, well he backstabbed WWF multiple times, and was known to CONSTANTLY use his influence to RUIN other wrestler's careers so they couldn't get in the way of him being on top. That was just how Wrestling worked back then, and to a lesser extent even today. So when you hear stuff like Undertaker trying to help younger stars, or how he got say in some things, it's really a big deal. He had a LOT of respect from pretty much everyone.

Bikertaker was a dark time in wrestling history. Lasted from mid 2000 to late 2003, before he resurfaced with his dead man gimmick in 2004, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Nowadays I see it as basically Taker having a midlife crisis, so he decided to ride a big bike and dress like the cool kids, and act all tough and more like his real life redneck Texan self, and chewing tobacco all the time. He was also ironically booked more invincible than in his role as undead demonic wizard.

Comment for the algorithm gods. Also great video dude always been a big fan of the undertaker and im so glad you got a chance to experience just a bit of what we fans of wwe know and love

By the end of his carreer, Taker had a lot of creative control over his matches, and (IIRC) it was him who proposed losing to both Brock and Roman at WrestleMania.

Brock Lesnar wasn't actually made to win against the streak just because of his UFC accolades. It's because Brock is actually a REALLY good pro-wrestler. Before he was in UFC, before he was even in the WWE, he was a collegiate wrestler, and a damn good one too. He is a freak athlete, a once in a life time specimen. He probably could've gone to the olympics if he had chosen that path. But instead he chose to be a pro-wrestler, and amazingly, his olympic wrestling skills actually translate to pro-wrestling, which is actually really rare.

Here's a secret to punches in WWE, open fists and light connections to specific spots

There's a video from Uptomyknees called "wrestling isn't wrestling" that goes over the story of HHH's career, from the perspective of Kayefabe, at least mostly. It's a good watch and Uptomyknees is a writer so he might have some insight you'd fing interesting, I think the guy who made it got caught up in the MeToo stuff though, so you might want to avoid doing a video on it if you're not interested in drama. The video is pretty good though.

A good canidate for next one is "Undertaker and Mankind relive their Hell in a Cell match"

Almost 10 years later and I still get mad whenever I think about the ending to the streak. I wasn't mad exactly because Taker lost but because he lost to Brock Lesnar. Beating Undertaker in a WrestleMania was the ultimate push to a wrestler and Brock didn't need that, he was already over with the fans and the WWE had been building him up for a while already. There were other guys like Bray Wyatt who deserved it more. Bray had somewhat of a supernatural gimmick, he was even called the "New Face of Fear". Ending the streak would solidify him as the new scariest thing in WWE, instead they gave this prize to Brock because Vince McMahon love strong looking men. Anyway I'm losing track here, but yeah we wrestling fans complain a lot about booking decisions.

Gotta be one of my favourite wrestler essays from him

One of the greatest of all time... The wrong guy broke the Streak. I will die on this hill.

That was a pretty normal reaction to the "Gobbledy Gooker", who debuted at the same timr as 'Taker.

hope he checks out Villains in Wrestling and the newest one about the roman reigns The Unreality of Pro Wrestling.

If you're looking for video documentaries of niche subjects, I would highly recommend EmpLemon's videos. They're humorous, but greatly informative and interesting. He manages to make me invested in things I wouldn't have thought of looking up, such as Pro Wrestling.

A lot of wrestlers have done autobiographies

I watched the end of the streak online with via WWE's live streaming service from Australia and went it happened i genuinely cried like i had lost a family member. because i had grown up with taker being this unstoppable force.

33:38 you’ve essentially gotten the backstage stuff absolutely right first try, so far as I understand.

Also the fire was eating up the oxygen.

i was born in 84. I GREW UP WITH THE UNDERTAKER!

Wrestlemania 19 was in 2003, and Biker Undertaker was my favourite Undertaker

As a pro wrestling fan who grew up going to Shakespeare in the park. I have made the comparison between pro wrestling and Shakespeare many times. From the target market, to the seating arrangement, to the cultural reception of rather product...yeah it's strangely apt to compre the two. All I can think is that the reason things are remembered is because they are common, and they are common because they are popular to be ingrained in the cultural psyche. Which sadly puts Nikki Manage as our Bach...

Looks like a wrestling fan was created in this video. I used be into the story and the violence as a kid. Now as a grownup im more into the show and pageantry of it all. The little nuances you learn to pick up like when a guy gets caught on camera telling his opponent the next move and you realize who is calling the match.

On the subject of recycling characters, that really only works if the wrestler is masked. There were two Sin Caras and like 4 or 5 Doink the Clowns, but the less said about Fake Razor Ramon and Fake Diesel the better.

Wrestlemania 19 was in 2003.

Super Eyepatch Wolf simplified and summarized Naito's fall as the Stardust Genius and his subsequent rise to "Tranquilo" gimmick. Showbuckle explained *thoroughly* why, which was unfortunate that it was taken down (Japan doesn't have free use, so it's fair game to them, and NJPW is notorious for striking people who use their clips regardless if it's for transformative content or not), so here's the basis: Naito's entire goal was to main event the Tokyo Dome, one of Japan's biggest stadiums, at Wrestle Kingdom (Japan's version of Wrestlemania, happens at every Jan 4 of the year). He thought of himself as the top dog of the company, declaring himself so when he won their biggest annual tournament, the G1 Climax. At first, people did like him...and then one place didn't (Osaka). They showed exactly how they felt to the uninteresting goody two-shoes (near absolute silence). That sentiment spread to other areas and soon enough, majority of fans didn't like him. Worse so, people outright rejected him when he proclaimed that he would challenge for their top belt as the main event. New Japan, the pro wrestling company, saw this and put it to a vote between two main events as they were happening around the same time. The top belt (between Naito and their golden boy, Okada) or their secondary belt, the Intercontinental belt (between two fan favorites, Nakamura and Tanahashi). This is not even scripted, the fans outvoted the top belt match (was unusual at the time) by an overwhelming landslide, which shows how much they really didn't like Naito. He was destroyed by this result. And when he returned with his new gimmick, he challenged for the IC belt and won. But of course, this was the belt that cost him his main event and proceeded to treat it like trash. Tossing it, smashing it, and sometimes just "forgot" to pick it up. It did get damaged though and he did get scolded by the management behind the scenes. Over time, his gimmick did garner acceptance from newer fans, who related to him....because Japan is a "lovely" country with the most "positive" of societal pressure, one that drives people to either become shut-ins, suicidal, or outsiders (the worst stigma in a homogenized society). Then, he finally did get the main event of the Tokyo Dome....and he lost. Not because he wasn't good enough, but because he was distracted. His mind flashed back to his previous gimmick and tried to win the match with his old finisher, the Stardust Press (a corkscrew moonsault). The pressure of being in the main event got to him and he lost. It took him two years to get over that and finally win.

You need to watch this years Royal Rumble

The next video in order would be Villains in Wrestling: How to Make People Hate You. I’ve been a major fan of the Undertaker since I was a kid, he started his career as that character when I was three years old and frankly he’s been my favorite part of wrestling the entire time I was watching prior to Bray Wyatt happening (rest in peace). I legitimately cried when Brock broke the streak (not helped by the fact that Brock is, to me, the most boring and overrated wrestler in the last ten years. If you want to see just how bad wrestling can get try watching his matchup with Goldberg at Wrestlemania 33 if you need an effective sleep aid).

Little but important fact, the Streak was unintentional at the begining but after 5 or 6 years they noted the fact that the undertaker never lose on WrestleMania and decide to go for that path, Undertaker (Marc) offered several times to various wrestlers to break the Streak and no one acepted for respect, including Brock Lesnar who wanted to change the decision several times with no succes... And other thing to understand scripted wrestling marches, yes! The Match si scripted but no fully scripted, the Matches are like 20% scripted, the begining, who wins, who shines more and some spots, but for most Of the Match specially if is a long Match like 10 minutes or more, they improvise the moves, talking constantly on the locks or on the floor to cordinate the next moves... And the broke nose girl, was no scripted at all, was a real fight for jealously the other girl was hiting her to destroy her face intentionally... Sorry if i write something on a wrong way, i don't speak English and use this videos to practice, hugs from Argentina

Eyepatch addresses it in future videos, but the point is while many things are scripted, there's also a lot of stuff that just happens to turn that way or is/is based on reality, like wrestles liking or hating each other, being related etc. Also audience reaction to them and their grow can dictate a lot how story will go. While you could compare it to serialized stories, where things can change overtime, things get retconned etc. writers still usually plan ahead somewhat (unless they just wing it and make things up as they go, like with Star Wars sequels), but in wrestling you really can't plan ahead. That's why Eyepatch keeps saying those are stories that can only be told in wrestling, because many things just couldn't be predicted and/or just happened this way and depending on talent and current people at WWE you either capitalize on it and create great story that flows naturally or waste it and story goes nowhere. As for that match where Undertaker failed to raise up, I can't say for 100%, since I also only ever watched Eyepatch videos, but I think the reason why it was so shocking was exactly cos it *wasn't* scripted. The match was scripted for Undertaker to lose and there was general script how it's supposed to go (i assume not every single move is scripted and some of it wrestlers just have to improvise), but the script probably was supposed to go that after that slam, Undertaker *would* use his signature move of "raising from death" and *after* that, the match would be concluded, making sure he thrown everything he could, before losing, but while doing that Calaway actually lost his strength. He wasn't acting, he fallen from exhaustion for real. The shock on his face *is* because he suddenly felt pain and exhaustion he couldn't fight and push forward. While the other wrestler does suck at acting, his shock was genuine, because that wasn't supposed to happen. You can see in further clips, after officially finishing Undertaker off, they stopped fighting and let Calaway rest on the ring. He literally couldn't keep fighting anymore. That's ultimate example of why wrestling is unique form of story telling that you can't copy. They could script entire fight and sure they could script that happening, but the fact it happened for real, when nobody was expecting it, you *can't* copy that anywhere else. That's why wrestling is both fake and real at the same time.

With how impressed he is by Undertaker's top rope walk, I'd love to see his reaction to Rey Fenix or Komander running the top rope.

PLEASE do more of these wrestling videos sometime!

With the supernatural aspects, that's not even as crazy as it got. There was a match against God once. It wasn't good, but it was surreal.

You really should watch a video about the Undertaker/Mankind Hell in the Cell match. It's one of the most insane and dangerous matches ever.

Are you actually going to do the next episode? Its been around a month. And if you arent i would like to suggest another wrestling video, "Wrestling Isnt Wrestling" by "uptomyknees" (or something along those lines, i might have to check again.)

How to make people hate you is a great video

The early 90's up until about 1994-1995 did NOT have a distinct look. They were very much holding onto the 80's, which were holding onto the 70's. Other than some subtle fashion choice differences and a little more color, things didn't change much from the late 60's until after the mid 90's. And I'm not just talking about Pro Wrestling. The entire pop culture scene was kind of stuck in a time prison for 20-25 years.

Star wars has has only become a Disney franchise in 2012. It was Lucas Arts before that.

I’m sure people have told you but it isn’t eyepatchwolf but look up wrestling isn’t wrestling. It is an amazing look at the carrier of HHH up to about 8 years back acted out super well.

12:31 more than any other dramatic performance, audience Really Matters in wrestling; and the disdainful outsider sympathetic angle is very specific to Japan

35:35 Consumed by their own demons. Yeah there's really nothing positive you can say about that situation.

you really need to listen to some Jim Cornett, A real fount of wrestling knowledge and history.

Wrestlemania 19 was in 2003

dude, i wouldn't mind getting into a discord call and answering any and all questions you have about the ins and outs of pro wrestling. not trying to clout chase or nothing. but as a fellow writer and a wrestling fan of nearly 40 years, i want to help you understand this world all the better.

Look at Sting next maybe?