Talking Taker

100 - WrestleMania XX

The Dead Man rises! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match for a special "live" episode as they get together in person to mark a milestone with their 100th show and cover the resurrection of The Phenom as he takes on his brother Kane at WrestleMania XX. After 4 years The Undertaker has returned to his glory days and his "old school" roots to kick off the next chapter of his career. And the best part? We were there for it! Alex and Travis reminisce about attending WrestleMania XX at Madison Square Garden and spending a weekend in New York City as unsupervised high school students. We talk about our plan to get out of school, the wrestlers we bumped into across town, our many instances of culture shock, and all the things you didn't see on TV at the show. Plus Alex interviews his parents about just what they were thinking sending 2 kids across the country to WrestleMania! Along the way to the match we'll also discuss the epic buildup including Kane's shirtless eulogy, Vince's exceptional heel work, a Royal Rumble shocker, Taker's paranormal mindgames, more announcer amnesia, misadventures with Bobby Heenan and Mean Gene, and, of course, the incredible return of Paul Bearer! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 
Check out our brand new Spotify Playlist highlighting all the music featured across our episodes throughout the years and see if you can remember which songs went with each match! 
Don't forget to vote for your Top 10 PPV Matches from the Biker Taker run! Click on the link to vote for your Top 10 and we'll reveal the fan's vote on next week's show. 
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099 - Survivor Series 2003

Big Evil rests in peace! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the final match of the Biker Taker run - a Buried Alive Match vs. Mr. McMahon at Survivor Series 2003! Yes, it's as insane as it sounds and we'll cover every minute of it as we lay to rest this iconic 3 and a half year stretch of Taker's career. We'll discuss Taker's final bike ride, defeating the WWE Champ and U.S. Champ 4 times in one night, the crazy parallels to 2019, Vince's incredible (and incredibly blasphemous) heel work, Father Frank, Taker traveling back to the graveyard, the sword of Damocles, a gaggle of maggots, an all-time gusher of a blade job, and our new sponsorship from Oops I Crapped My Pants! Alex and Travis also get to cover the Smackdown taping that was the first wrestling show they ever attended together as it falls smack dab in the middle of this buildup. Plus we close it all out by discussing our favorite moments and memories of time-traveling motorcycle ride and share both of our Top 10 PPV Matches from this run! Click on the link to vote for your Top 10! And as always, Taker Easy! 
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098 - No Mercy 2003

The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar get overshadowed by The McMahon Show on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the penultimate contest of the Biker Taker Era - the Biker Chain Match at No Mercy 2003. But even though BIg Evil is back in the main event scene with Lesnar, this storyline gets completely co-opted by the first ever Father-Daughter Match in WWE History. (Yuck.) We'll tear all this family drama apart before covering a match whose stipulation doesn't really make any sense. In fact, The Dead Man himself can't even explain it! This episode is jampacked with 2 months worth of build-up as we talk talk Brock's new and hilarious personality, a incredible match with Kurt Angle, Paul London's re-debut, Heidenreich, Brock and Sable's love connection, Taker's complete dominance of this feud, Blind Melon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Tazz's Keys To Victory, The F.B.I.'s continued incompetence, BIg Evil turning blue, and an answer to a theory we've long-held about Taker's backstage whereabouts. Plus we react to The Undertaker's surprise return to Raw in 2019 and his upcoming Extreme Rules match! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!
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097 - SummerSlam 2003

People get ready, the A-Train's a-coming! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover Big Evil's battle with the former Prince Albert (and future Lord Tensai) at SummerSlam 2003. It's a match you probably forgot about, but don't skip over this one - we've got plenty of absurd and hilarious buildup to cover. Just why on earth did the WWE see so much in the nipple-pierced, hairy-chested behemoth that was The A-Train instead of someone like a Kanyon or a Chuck Palumbo? And why did The Dead Man get stuck carrying this dead weight on the 2 biggest shows of the year? We'll try to figure it out. Plus we're talking more jaw-dropping raps from John Cena, The World's Hairiest Love Machine, Sable's hotel key, the greatest moment in Matt Bloom's career, Mr. McMahon's type, maybe the weirdest Smackdown main event ever, Taker's strangest tag team partner ever, and the true reason why Travis hated Bradshaw for all these years. Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!
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096 - Vengeance 2003

Word Life! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the classic clash between the Old School Dead Man and the New School John Cena at Vengeance 2003. John Cena is red-hot and on a rapid rise to the top at this time. But Big Evil is still the Big Dog and has a few lessons about respect to teach the Doctor Of Thuganomics. But that's not the only feud we're covering as we also take a detour to Little Italy and recap Undertaker's short-lived rivalry with the F.B.I. This episode is jam-packed as we cover Cena's intense (and un-PC) freestyles, Italian wack-jobs, more Nathan Jones, Chuck Palumbo's cigar, the greatest Last Ride ever, the reunion of the Middle Aged Ministry Of Darkness, a rare team-up between Taker and Brock Lesnar, Cena getting handsy with Stephanie, Orlando Jordan's yawner of a debut, and so much more. Plus Alex and Travis offer their initial assessment of the Saudi Arabian debacle between The Undertaker and Goldberg. And we hear about an incredible fan interaction with Taker himself! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 
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095 - WrestleMania XIX

The Undertaker goes for 11-0! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover Big Evil's taking on the biggest handicap of his streak. No - not The Big Show and A-Train. We mean Nathan Jones! Yes, we're discussing the rapid rise and fall of the Colossus Of Boggo Road, his short-lived team-up with The Dead Man, and their WrestleMania match that wasn't - or was it? Why was the WWE so high on this bloke? What made them change their mind so quickly? How did Taker get stuck in the middle of it all? It's all very confusing and crappy and we'll try to understand just how it all went down. Along the way we'll also talk about Taker as a Tough Enough trainer, our conjuring of Bill Demott, the Full Blooded Italians, Tazz's questionable commentary, watching this show on WWE.com, the WWE's favorite band in the whole world, and arguably the single dumbest backstage segment we've covered in 95 episodes! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 
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094 - No Way Out 2003

It's the most Out Of The Box episode of Talking Taker ever! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every PPV match of The Undertaker's career as they unbox the first ever PPV match between Taker and The Big Show at No Way Out 2003. After a few stops and starts throughout their careers these two giants finally face off on PPV and we discuss if it lived up to the enormous hype. But more importantly we're talking about a month of some of the most bonkers build-up we've ever discussed on the show. Brian Kendrick delivering a singing telegram? Yep. Brother Love coming out of a box? Yep. Chris Kanyon impersonating Boy George? Yep. The Undertaker cuddling an adorable puppy? Yep - all these things really happened on Smackdown in 2003 and we'll discuss each one of them. Plus we'll cover the rises of The A-Train and Nathan Jones, the greatest sweater you'll ever see, The Dead Man's new catchphrase, more confusing WWE Network edits, and the debut of one of Big Evil's signature finishing moves. Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!
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093 - Royal Rumble 2003 Watch-Along

We're rollin' rollin' rollin' into 2003 with another Royal Rumble Watch-Along on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the Dead Man's return to action after being tossed off the stage by his former tag team partner and riding buddy The Big Show. We'll cover this devastating attack by Aiken, SC's favorite son plus the misleading vignettes that led up to the PPV before we cue up the WWE Network and provide our signature running commentary for the big match. Taker's not in it too much, but he does make quite the impact when he arrives and goes hunting for Brock Lesnar. But don't worry - we've still got plenty to talk about riff on including the Smackdown 6, Tommy Dreamer, Bull Buchanan, Bill Demott, Maven, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Kane, A-Train, Batista, John Cena, The Hardyz, and more! We'll give you the time cue so you can sync up and watch with us. But as always if you can't watch-along don't worry - we know you'll still be able to enjoy our conversation as well as Big Evil and The Next Big Thing continue their rivalry. Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 
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092 - No Mercy 2002

WARNING - this episode is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as we cover quite possibly the bloodiest match of Big Evil's career as he battles Brock Lesnar inside Hell In A Cell at No Mercy 2002. You know we're busting out our patented Blood Tracker for this one to count all the times we're seeing red during this match and the buildup to it. Unfortunately, that's not the only thing that gets messy on the road to the PPV. That's because this week we're not just Talking Taker, we're also Talking Tracy! An evil woman from the Undertaker's past has been dug up by Paul Heyman to distract The Dead Man - and it's as terrible as it sounds. We'll cover all this plus all of the drama surrounding Undertaker's cast, more Mattitude, the best/worst Smackdown intro ever, Heyman's MVP performance, Chuck Palumbo, Tajiri, giant popcorn bags, and Taker's absolute gusher of a blade job. You don't want to miss this one - download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 
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091 - Unforgiven 2002

#SaraRuinsEverything! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the first ever encounter between Big Evil and "The Next Big Thing" Brock Lesnar. It's an awesome battle between the dominant, young rookie and the Decade Of Destruction. And unfortunately it's overshadowed by the return of the Undertaker's wife Sara and her unborn child. Alex and Travis discuss the highs and lows of what was at times a truly awesome feud and at others utterly abysmal. Along the way we'll talk about The Undertaker's final Raw appearance for a while, the PG-13 word of the week, another fun triple threat with some rising stars, the rise of Matt Hardy V1 and his pivotal role in this rivalry, Taker's weird one-off entrance music, the way this match parallels a Taker's rivalry with Shawn Michaels, more great work from Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon's peaches, and much more. Plus we explore some of the reasons why The Undertaker gained a bad reputation with the "smart marks" during this era and if he deserved it or not. Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 
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